This Photo by Unknown Author is

licensed under CC BY-SA-NC CHAPTER 1

SAFETY AND SAFETY AWARENESS

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 Content
1.1 Definition of safety, accidents, hazards and
risks
1.2 Incident and causes
1.3 Accident Causation Theories
1.4 Productivity aspects of safety
1.5 Safety and Health Policy statement This Photo
by Unknown
Author is
1.6 Steps in Implementation Safety and Health licensed
under CC BY

Policy

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 Definition
This Photo by
Unknown Author is
licensed under CC BY

 Safety
 is the state of being "safe”, the condition of being protected
against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional,
occupational, psychological, educational or other types or
consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any
other event which could be considered non-desirable

 This can take the form of being protected from the event or
from exposure to something that causes health or economical
losses.

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 Definition
 Accidents
 an unexpected, unplanned event in a sequence of events,
that occurs through a combination of causes which result in:
 physical harm (injury, ill-health or disease) to an individual,
 damage to property,
 a near-miss, a loss
 any combination of these effects.

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 Definition
 Hazards
 a source or a situation with a potential for harm in terms of
human injury or ill health, damage to property, damage to the
environment or a combination of these.

 Risks
 a combination of the likelihood of an occurrence of a hazardous
event with specified period or in specified circumstances and the
severity of injury or damage to the health of people, property,
environment or any combination of these caused by the event.

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Hazard symbols @ pictograms
1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

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 Pictograms

1. Explosives
2. Flammable
3. Oxidising
4. Gas under pressure
5. Corrosive
6. Toxic
7. Health hazards
8. Serious health hazards
9. Dangerous for the environment

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 Pictograms description
1.  Explosives
 These are chemicals and preparations that explode. This is a
straight replacement for the previous explosive
classification. The symbol is a pictogram of an exploding
bomb.

 Meanings:
 Unstable explosive
 Explosive; mass explosion hazard.
 Explosive; severe projection hazard.
 Explosive; fire, blast or projection hazard.
 May mass explode in fire.
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 Pictograms description
2. Flammable
 Chemicals that may catch fire in contact with air, only need brief
contact with an ignition source, have a very low flash point or
evolve highly flammable gases in contact with water.

 Meanings:
 Extremely flammable gas.
 Flammable gas.
 Extremely flammable aerosol.
 Flammable aerosol.
 Highly flammable liquid and vapour.
 Flammable liquid and vapour.
 Flammable solid .

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 Pictograms description
3. Oxidising
 A classification for chemicals and preparations that
react exothermically with other chemicals.

 Meanings:
 May cause or intensify fire; oxidiser.
 May cause fire or explosion; strong oxidiser.
 Usually found on bleach, oxygen for medical purposes
etc.

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 Pictograms description
4. Gas under pressure
 Gas stored under pressure, such as in gas containers. This is a
new symbol that wasn't represented under the old
classification system. The symbol is a gas cylinder.

 Meanings:
 Contains gas under pressure - may explode if heated.
 Contains refrigerated gas - may cause cryogenic burns or injury.
 Usually found on gas containers.

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 Pictograms description
5. Corrosive
 Chemicals that may destroy living tissue on contact. Matches
the previous symbol for corrosion, the pictogram shows
corrosion of material and skin.

 Meanings:
 May be corrosive to metals.
 Causes severe skin burns and eye damage.
 Usually found on drain cleaners, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid,
ammoniac etc.

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 Pictograms description
6. Toxic
 Chemicals that at low and very low levels cause damage to
health. Replacing the old classifications of toxic and very toxic.
The symbol is a skull and crossbones.

 Meanings:
 Fatal if swallowed.
 Fatal in contact with skin.
 Fatal if inhaled.
 Toxic: if swallowed.
 Toxic in contact with skin.
 Toxic if inhaled.

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 Pictograms description
7. Health Hazard
 Chemicals that may cause damage to health. Also known to mean
caution. This is the closest replacement to the previous harmful and
irritant classifications. The symbol is an exclamation mark.
 Meanings:
 May cause respiratory irritation.
 May cause drowsiness or dizziness.
 May cause an allergic skin reaction.
 Causes serious eye irritation.
 Causes skin irritation.
 Harmful if swallowed.
 Harmful in contact with skin.
 Harmful if inhaled.
 Harms public health and the environment by destroying ozone in the
upper atmosphere.
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 Pictograms description
 8. Serious Health Hazard
 Also known to mean long term health hazards. These are chemicals that can
cause serious and long term damage to health. The symbol shows a person
with damage.

 Meanings:
 May be fatal if swallowed and enters airways.
 Causes damage to organs.
 May cause damage to organs.
 May damage fertility or the unborn child.
 Suspected of damaging fertility or the unborn child.
 May cause cancer.
 Suspected of causing cancer.
 May cause genetic defects.
 Suspected of causing genetic defects.
 May cause allergy or asthma symptoms or breathing difficulties if inhaled.

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 Pictograms description
9. Dangerous for the environment
 Chemicals that may present an immediate or delayed
danger to one or more components of the environment.
The symbol is of a dead tree and fish.

 Meanings:
 Very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects.
 Toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects.
 Usually found on pesticides, biocides, petrol, turpentine etc.

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 1.2 Incident and causes

 Accidents are defined as: ...an unexpected event that may result in
property damage, and does result in an injury or illness to an employee.

 Incidents, on the other hand, are:... an unexpected event that may

result in property damage, but does not result in an injury or illness.
Incidents are also called, "near misses”.
 Basically, by definition, all accidents are incidents, but NOT all incidents
are accidents.

 Near miss, an event which did not result in injury or damage to property
but had the potential to do so

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 Causes an accident

1. Basic causes
2. Indirect causes
3. Direct causes

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 Causes
Poor Management Safety Policy & Decisions
Personal Factors
Basic Causes
Environmental Factors

Unsafe
Unsafe Act Indirect Causes Condition

ACCIDENT
Unplanned release of energy
Personal Injury
es and/or
s Property Damage
C au Hazardous material
e ct
r
Di 26
 Example of
UNSAFE ACTS:

 Protective equipment or guard provided but not used

 Hazardous method of handling (failure to allow for
sharp or slippery objects and pinch points, wrong
lifting, loose grip, etc.)
 Improper tools or equipment used although correct
tools available
 Hazardous movement (running, jumping, stepping on
or climbing over, throwing, etc.)
 horseplay

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Example of UNSAFE CONDITIONS:

 Ineffective safety device

 No safety device although one is needed
 Hazardous housekeeping (material on floor, poor
piling, congested aisles)
 Equipment, tools or machines defective
 Improper dress or apparel for the job
 Improper illumination or ventilation

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1.3 ACCIDENT CAUSATION THEORIES
Accident causation theories have been developed in an
attempt to predict accidents and thus prevent their
occurrence.

1. Domino Theory
2. Human Factors
3. Accident/Incident
4. Epidemiology
5. Multiple causation Theory
6. Combination
7. Behavioral

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 1. DOMINO THEORY

 This theory was developed by one Herbert W. Heinrich

in the late 1920s.
 He conducted a research on industrial accidents and
concluded that :
 88% of accidents are caused by unsafe acts committed by
people,
 10% by unsafe conditions and
 2% he claimed were unavoidable and termed them as acts
of God.

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 1. DOMINO THEORY
 He came up with ten axioms of industrial safety that
health and safety decision makers needed to
understand in coming up with decisions to predict
and prevent accidents.

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 Axioms of Industrial Safety
1. Injuries result from a completed series of factors, one
of which is the accident itself.
2. An accident can occur only as the result of an unsafe
act by a person and/or a physical or mechanical
hazard.
3. Most accidents are the result of unsafe behavior of
people.
4. An unsafe act by a person or an unsafe condition does
not always immediately result in an accident/injury.

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 Axioms of Industrial Safety

5. The reasons why people commit unsafe acts can

serve as helpful guides in selecting corrective
actions.
6. The severity of an accident is largely fortuitous and
the accident that caused it is largely preventable.
7. The best accident prevention techniques are
analogous with the best quality and productivity
techniques.

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 Axioms of Industrial Safety

8. Management should assume responsibility for

safety since it is the best position to get results.
9. The supervisor is the key person in the prevention
of industrial accidents.
10. In addition to the direct cost of an accident (i.e.,
compensation, liability claims, medical costs, and
hospital expenses), there are also hidden or indirect
cost.

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 1. DOMINO THEORY
Heinrich presented ‘domino theory’ as this accident
sequence was likened to a row of dominoes knocking each
other down in a row. The sequence is:
1. Injury, caused by an;
2. Accident, due to an;
3. Unsafe act and/or mechanical or physical hazard, due to
the;
4. Fault of the Person, caused by their;
5. Ancestry and Social Environment.

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 1. DOMINO THEORY
Ancestry/social Ancestry/social
environment environment

Fault of a person Fault of a person

Unsafe act/condition Unsafe act/condition

Accident Accident

Injury Injury

This theory provided the foundation for accident prevention measures aimed at preventing unsafe acts 36

or unsafe conditions.
DOMINO THEORY

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 2. HUMAN FACTOR THEORY
Attributes accidents to a chain of events ultimately
caused by human error.
Consist of three main human error or factors:
1. overload
2. inappropriate response
3. inappropriate activities
Overload

Inappropriate Inappropriate
activities Human Error Factor response

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 2. HUMAN FACTOR THEORY
• Inappropriate • Inappropriate
 Overload:
Response Activities

 Environmental  Detecting a  Performing

factors: eg. noise, hazard but not tasks without
correcting it the requisite
distraction  Removing training
 Internal factors: eg. safeguards from  Misjudging
personal problems. machines and the degree of
stress equipments risk involved
 Ignoring safety with a given
 Situational factors: warnings task
eg. level of risk,
 Unclear instruction

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 3. ACCIDENT / INCIDENT
 This theory was developed by Dan Peterson and is an extension of the
human factor theory. 
 It claims that unsafe behavior is a result of overload, ergonomic traps
or a decision to err. 
 Peterson’s theory also establishes management’s role in accident
prevention.
 Another role of management is ensuring employees receive safety
training and comply with safety procedures such as inspection,
correction and in more practical cases protective gear. The company
is responsible for ensuring a clean and healthy environment to avoid
environmental factors that can lead to impaired health. 
 This theory unlike the Domino theory explains the reasons that cause
workers to engage in unsafe acts, or what causes the events that
eventually lead to accidents.

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 4. EPIDEMIOLOGY
 The epidemiological theory of accident causation was
developed as a direct result of the relationship
between disease and environmental factors.
 This relationship is known as epidemiology and can be
used to study the relationship between
environmental factors and accidents.

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5. MULTIPLE CAUSATION THEORIES

 This view implies that an accident may be caused by a

combination of multiple contributory factors.
 These factors may be behavioral or environmental.
 Behavioral factors are factors pertaining to the
worker’s individuality such as their attitude, skill,
intellect and physical/mental condition.
 Environmental factors on the other hand involve
factors affecting the working environment such as
machinery, precautionary and safety measures taken in
the work place and existence of hazardous conditions
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 6. COMBINATION

 Accident causes cannot be adequately explained by one model.

 Most of these models give important insights but none of them
wholly applies to every accident occurrence.
 Thus, the combination theory suggests that the real cause of
an accident may be a combination of different parts of these
models.
 An accident may be caused by a combination of a worker’s
decision to overlook a potential hazard, performance of an
unsafe act and inappropriate response to an overload.

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 7. BEHAVIORAL
 This theory as the name suggests implies that some people have
inherent character traits that increase their probability of being
involved in accidents.
 That is if accidents were randomly distributed among persons working
in similar conditions some would be more likely than others to suffer
injury as victims of accidents.
 These people usually are risk takers and on average take more chances
than their colleagues.
 Health and safety decision makers view this issue positively arguing
that behavior can be altered.
 This theory in comparison with the rest is more specific on the cause of
unsafe behavior and therefore prediction and prevention more likely to
be achieved. This theory relates mostly to construction sites.

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 1.4 PRODUCTIVITY ASPECTS OF SAFETY

 When executed properly, operational risk management techniques

can effectively streamline productivity while keeping safety as a
priority.
 In many industries, a reduced-risk environment is also a productive
environment.
 Instead of prioritizing productivity over safety, the two should be
viewed as goals that can be achieved simultaneously. For instance, a
Fortune 100 company increased productivity 13 percent after
implementing an effective safety and health management system
and a small 50-person manufacturing plant reduced faulty product
and saved more than $265,000 as the result of a strong safety
program.
 In many industries, a reduced-risk environment is also a productive
environment.
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PRINCIPLES OF INCIDENT PREVENTION
There is no way to completely eliminate accidents, but there
are certain plans, preparations and actions that can be
taken to reduce them through accident prevention
1. Accident prevention is good management.
2. Management and workers must fully cooperate
3. Top management must lead.
4. There must be an OSH policy
5. Must have organisation and resources to implement
policy
6. Best available information (and technology) must be
applied
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 REASON TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS
Legal: An employee should not have to risk injury at work, nor
should others associated with the work environment.
Human Rights: many governments realize that poor occupational
safety and health performance results in cost to the State (e.g.
through social security payments to the incapacitated, costs for
medical treatment, and the loss of the "employability" of the
worker). Employing organisations also sustain costs in the event of
an incident at work (such as legal fees, fines, compensatory
damages, investigation time, lost production, lost goodwill from
the workforce, from customers and from the wider community).
Business:Occupational safety and health requirements may be
reinforced in civil law and/or criminal law; it is accepted that
without the extra "encouragement" of potential regulatory action
or litigation, many organisations would not act upon their implied
moral obligations

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Accident Prevention in the Workplace

 Know the Hazards

 Create a Safe Work Area
 Use Safe Lifting Techniques
 Personal Protective Equipment
 Regular Communication
 Education and Training

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1.5 SAFETY AND HEALTH POLICY STATEMENT

 Occupational Health and Safety Management defines an OHS policy

as “overall intentions and direction of an organization related to its
OHS performance”.
 A policy statement indicates the degree of an employer's
commitment to health and safety.
 To be effective, a policy must:
 involve senior management and representatives in the preparation of the
policy,
 be seen as consistent with the workplace's objectives of operating in an
efficient and predictable manner,
 be relevant and appropriate to the nature, scale and OHS hazards and risk
associated with that workplaces’ needs (not adopted from another
workplace), and
 be accepted as equal in importance to the workplace's other policy
objectives.
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1.5 SAFETY AND HEALTH POLICY STATEMENT

Guidelines for writing policy

1. Identify your objectives. Before you begin to draft
specific provisions for your safety policy, identify the
types of accidents you hope to prevent, and list the
steps that the company is taking to protect its
employees.

2. Use specific, actionable statements in your policies.

Make each provision of your safety policy actionable,
and use specific examples of the types of safety actions
that you expect workers to take.
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1.5 SAFETY AND HEALTH POLICY STATEMENT

Four things need to be included in the health and safety

policy
1. Statement of intent
 set out what the general aims and objectives
 how your company intends to manage health and safety
 clear, simple language and can be broken down into bullet
points
2. Responsibility for health and safety
 identify who has responsibility for health and safety
  identify the different roles for health and safety
 do an organisational chart - show every person in the company
with responsibility, what their positions are and what their
roles are.

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1.5 SAFETY AND HEALTH POLICY STATEMENT
3. The risks and how they are managed
 the most detailed one
 Each risk will require its own heading, details of what the risk is, how you
manage the risk to either reduce or eliminate it and who is responsible
for ensuring those requirements are met.
 The types of risk will depend on the business, but may include: Electrical
testing, Operating machinery, First aid, Alcohol and drugs policy, Control
of substances hazardous to health (COSHH) policy, Risk assessment
procedures, Fire evacuation procedures, Welfare procedures.

4. Additional requirements 
 undertake to support your health and safety policy
 things like staff health and safety training, high visibility or protective
clothing, ongoing work to reduce use of harmful chemicals or the
installation of permanent health and safety measures such as better
lighting, signs highlighting risks and procedures.
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1.6 STEPS IN IMPLEMENTATION SAFETY AND
HEALTH POLICY

1. The employer must consult all the employees on health and safety.
2. They might consult the employees directly or alternatively; the
employer might consult the employees through a health and safety
representative.
3. Some of the ways that employer can bring the policy statement to
the employees' attention are by:
 including it in any employee handbooks
 providing it at induction
 including a copy with the contract of employment
 posting it on your intranet sites
 posting it on notice boards
 making the duties in the policy part of your employees' workplace
objectives
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THANK YOU

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