A Study on the Perception Level of Health and Safety among the Participants for Optimization of Risk Assessment in Construction Industry

Successful implementation of Health and Safety (H&S) systems requires an effective mechanism to assess risk. Existing methods focus primarily on measuring the safety aspect; the risk of an accident is determined based on the product of severity of consequence and likelihood of the incident arising. The health component, i.e., chronic harm, is more difficult to assess. Partially, this is due to both consequences and the likelihood of health issues, which may be indeterminate. There is a need to develop a quantitative risk measurement for H&S risk management and with better representation for chronic health issues. The present paper has approached this from a different direction, by adopting a public health perspective of quality of life. We have then changed the risk assessment process to accommodate this. This was then applied to a case study. The case study showed that merely including the chronic harm scales appeared to be sufficient to elicit a more detailed consideration of hazards for chronic harm. This suggests that people are not insensitive to chronic harm hazards, but benefit from having a framework in which to communicate them. A method has been devised to harmonize safety and harm risk assessments. The result was a comprehensive risk assessment method with consideration of safety accidents and chronic health issues. This has the potential to benefit industry by making chronic harm more visible and hence more preventable.

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Characteristics of forklift accidents in korean industrial sites

Work ◽

10.3233/wor-203402 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Kwan Woo Kim

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Older Workers ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Industrial Accidents ◽

Work Process ◽

Industrial Sites ◽

Safety And Health ◽

Intensive Education ◽

And Training ◽

Insurance Compensation

BACKGROUND: Although using forklifts in industrial sites contributes to productivity, many workers have been injured or killed owing to industrial accidents caused by forklifts. OBJECTIVE: This study analyzed the characteristics of forklift accidents by employment type and work process, thereby identifying the factors contributing to industrial accidents and providing recommendations to prevent accidents. METHODS: Data on 1,061 industrial forklift accidents occurring in 2018 collected from the national injury insurance compensation database were analyzed. In addition to analyzing the accident characteristics, this study performed a risk assessment per forklift work process. RESULTS: Many accidents were associated with older workers, those employed for < 6 months, and workplaces with ≤49 workers. The risk was the highest for accidents involving caught-in objects in the loading/unloading step and collision accidents in the forward- and backward-driving steps. CONCLUSIONS: Measures are needed to prevent industrial forklift accidents. First, forklift and worker movement routes must be strictly separated or controlled by a work supervisor. It is necessary to secure a time margin for workers to avoid collapsing cargo by using an appropriate tool/jig during loading/unloading. Second, guidance, inspection, and support are needed to promote employers’ safety and health awareness in workplaces with < 50 workers. Lastly, intensive education and training concerning health and safety is required for workers with less than six months of experience.

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Risk Assessment of Dental Unit Waterline Contamination

Primary Dental Care ◽

10.1308/135576103322504030 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol os10 (1) ◽

pp. 5-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Caroline L Pankhurst

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Respiratory Health ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Control Measures ◽

Respiratory Pathogens ◽

Infection Control Measures ◽

Colony Forming Units ◽

Assessment Approach ◽

Dental Unit Waterlines ◽

Mycobacterium Spp

Biofilms form rapidly on dental unit waterlines. The majority of the organisms in the biofilm are harmless environmental species, but some dental units may harbour opportunistic respiratory pathogens. This paper describes a risk assessment approach to analysing the hazard from biofilm organisms contaminating dental unit waterlines on the respiratory health of both the dental team and patients. The health risk from the respiratory pathogens Legionella spp, Mycobacterium spp and Pseudomonads was found to be low. Nevertheless, in order to satisfy water regulations and comply with health and safety legislation dentists should institute infection-control measures to maintain the dental unit water at the standard of less than 200 colony-forming units per ml of aerobic bacteria.

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