·         Workplace hazard is a condition with the potential of causing injury to personnel, damage to equipment or structures, loss of material, or lessening of the ability to perform a described function in workplace such as factory, hospital, workshop, etc. When a hazard is present, the possibility exists of these adverse effects occurring.

·         Danger is expresses a relative exposure to a hazard. A hazard may be present, but there may be little danger because of the precautions taken. Damage is severity of injury or the physical, functional, or monetary loss that could result if control of hazard is lost. Safety is effort to control hazard. And risk is a combination of the likelihood of a particular outcome and the severity of the harm involved.

2)      What are the modes of hazard? List the modes and given at least one example of the hazard belonging to each mode!

·         A hazard is usually used to describe a potentially harmful situation, although not usually the event itself once the accident has started it is classified as an emergency or accident. There are a number of modes for a hazard, which include:

a)   Dormant: the situation has the potential to be hazardous, but no people, property or environment is currently affected by this. For instance, a hillside way be unstable, with the potential for a landslide, but there is nothing below or on the hillside which could be affected.

b)   Potential (“armed”): the situation where the hazard is in the position to affect persons, property or environment. This type of hazard is likely to require further risk assessment.

c)    Active: the hazard is certain to cause harm, as no intervention is possible before the accident occurs.

d)   Mitigated: a potential hazard has been identified, but actions have been taken in order to ensure it does not become an accident. This may not be an absolute guarantee of no risk, but it is likely to have been undertaken to significantly reduce the danger.

3)      How are the hazard classified according to their cause and by means to the risk matrix?

·         There are many causes of hazards, but they can broadly be termed in to:

a)   Natural: natural hazards include anything which is caused by a natural process, and can include obvious hazards such as volcanoes to smaller scale hazards such as loose rocks on a hillside.

b)   Man-made: hazards created by humans, which includes a huge array of possibilities, probably too many to list, as it includes long term (and sometimes disputed) effects such as global warming to immediate hazards such as building sites.

c)    Activity related: some hazards are created by the undertaking of a certain activity, and the cessation of the activity will negate the risk. This includes hazards such as flying.

·         There are two variables to identify the risk matrix:

Likelihood of occurrence ´ Seriousness of accident occurred

a)   Likelihood of occurence

Example of the risk matrix (H = high level of risk; M = medium level of risk; L = low level of risk)

4)      What are the groups of the main workplace hazards?

·      Workplace hazards are often grouped into physical hazards, physical agents, chemical agents, biological agents, and psychosocial issues.

a)    Physical hazards: mostly mechanical and electrical phenomena arising from the workplace environment and are usually man-made and intrinsic to the work. Physical hazards include:

§ Slips and trips

§ Falls from height

§ Workplace transport

§ Dangerous machinery

§ Pressure vessels

§ Electricity

b)   Physical agents: physical phenomena which can have an adverse effect on the body. Physical agents include:

§ Noise

§ Vibration

§ Ionizing radiation

c)    Chemical agent:  any chemical element or compound which presents a risk to the safety and health of workers. Activity involving chemical agents means any work in which chemical agents are used. They can be used in any process, including production, handling, storage, transport, or disposal. Chemical agents, include:

§ Solvents

§ Heavy metals

§ Asbestos

d)   Biological agents: any micro-organism, cell culture or human endoparasite, including any which have been genetically modified, which may cause any infection, allergy, toxicity or otherwise create a risk to human health [EASHW 2003]. There are more than 1200 different kinds of biological agents. Biological agents include:

§ Prions

§ Microorganisms (viruses, bacteria and fungi)

§ Some unicellular and multicellular eukaryotes (for example parasites) and their associated toxins.

e)   Psychosocial issues are those aspects of work design, and the organisation and management of work, and their social and organisational contexts, which have the potential for causing psychological or physical harm. Psychosocial issues include:

§ Work related stress, whose causal factors include excessive working time and overwork

§ Violence from outside the organisation