Occupational health

1. Dr.Praveenkumar Aivalli
Dr.Rajendra Awate
OCCUPATIONAL
ACCIDENTS
& INJURIES

2. Contents
• Introduction
• Causes
• Preventions
• Ergonomics
• Summary

3. Introduction
An accident is an unforeseen and unplanned event or
circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity.
“that occurrence in sequence of events which usually produces
unintended injury, death or property damage’’.
WHO defines accident as “ an unpremeditated event resulting in
recognizable damage”.

4. Accident
Unpremeditated events resulting in recognizable damage
Feeling of misfortune, unavoidable nature
Injury
A bodily lesion due to acute exposure to energy
beyond the physiological tolerance.
In some cases injury is due to insufficiency of a
vital element

5. Industrial accidents
Industrial disasters or accidents, which are disasters caused
by industrial companies, either by accident, negligence or incompetence.
They are a form of industrial accident where great damage, injury or loss of
life are caused.
200,000 deaths per year in SEAR
Risk factors
Physical(Heat)
Chemical(Pesticides)
Biological(Animal bites)
4 “M”s
 Mechanical Injuries
 Manual labour
 Man machine interaction
 Mental condition

6. Causes of Accidents
The causes may be human or mechanical failures. The two
broad sources of the accidents may be classified in to:
Unsafe conditions and
Unsafe actions

7. Factors contributing to accidents
Mechanical
Environment
Human
Human mechanical causes

8. Mechanical causes
In adequately guarded
Unguarded
Unsafe design or construction
Hazardous arrangement

9. Environmental Causes
Illumination
Ventilation
Temperature
Speed of work
Hours of Work
Spread over work period
Workload

10. Human causes
Individual factors
Age
Marriage
Education
Health
Length of Service
Work performance
Psychological Factors
Attitude towards Job
Interest & difficulties
Machine habits
Attention
Fatigue

11. Personality factors
Intellectual level
Emotional maturity
Adjustment
Anxiety level
Sociological factors
Size of family
Number of dependents
Financial position
Social Status
Interpersonal relations
Home Environment

13. Accident Prevention
Three “Es’’ of Safety
- Engineering
- Education
- Enforcement

15. In selection of equipments, the following points are to be borne in
mind :
(a) Type of hazard to be faced
(b) Selection of right type of personal protective equipment
(c) Availability of correct equipment in good condition at the work spot
(d) Training of workers to use the equipment
(e) Convincing the workers that the equipment is used will protect them from
hazard
(f) Making it a habit with the worker to use the equipment,
(g) Degree of protection needed
(h) East and comfort with which it can be used and freedom of movement with
equipment which should not hamper performance of the worker
(i) Maintenance of these equipment
(j) Periodical check up
(k) Good earthing

16. Safety Audit:
1. Objectives:
a. Critically to evaluate safety Programme.
b. Evaluate the systems to identify and control hazards.
c. Check that the above system meets the statutory standards and
codes of practice.
2. Benefits:
a. Strengthening of the organization safety standard and
Programme.
b. Improve the skill and performance of employee and
managers.
c. Helps to create group and self awareness and provides
motivation.
d. Identifies specific deficiencies in the safety Programme
e. Provides timely information before any injury producing
incident occurs .

17. Mechanism
Safety audit shall be carried out at three levels
(i) Level - 1 : Internal Audit inspection by Safety Officers from
within the factory once in every three months.
(ii) Level - II : Audit inspection by a group comprising of 3 officers
of the factories in the concerned group, once in a period of six
months.
(iii) Level - III : Annual Audit inspection by the Regional
Controller of Safety / O.F. Board.

18. Controlling Accidents
Discover the causes
Control environmental causes
Control behaviorist causes
Supplementary activities

19. Reporting Accidents
The first step in effective investigation is the prompt reporting
of accidents. Hiding small accidents does not help prevent
serious accidents that kill people. If the accidents are not
reporting by the employees, they are stealing the authority of
the management to prevent accidents.

20. Reasons to investigate accidents and
investigation
To know and understand what happened.
To gather information and data for present and future use.
To deter cause and effect.
To provide answers for the effectiveness of intervention and
prevention approaches.
To document the circumstances for legal and workers’
compensation issues.
To become a vital component of your Safety and health
program.

21. General Duties of the occupier
• The arrangements in the factory for ensuring safety and
absence of risks to health in connection with the use,
handling, storage and transport of articles and
substances;
• The provision of such information, instruction, training
and supervision as are necessary to ensure the health
and safety of all workers at work;

22. General Duties of the occupier
• The maintenance of all places of work in the factory in a
condition that is safe and without risks to health and
the provision and maintenance of such means of access
to, and egress from, such places as are safe and without
such risks;
• The provision, maintenance or monitoring of such
working environment in the factory for the workers that
is safe, without risks to health and adequate as regards
facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work.

23. Safety Committee
Is a must in every factory –
wherein 250 or more workers are ordinarily employed,
or which carries on any process or operation declared to
be dangerous under Section 87 of the Act; or
which carries on “Hazardous Process” as defined in
Factories Act.

24. Ergonomics:
• Recognized discipline and constitutes an integral part
of any advanced occupational health service.
• It simply means “fitting the job to the worker”.
• The object of ergonomics is “to achieve the best
mutual adjustment of man and his work, for the
improvement of human efficiency and well being”.
• The application of ergonomics has made a significant
contribution in reducing industrial accidents and over
all health efficiency of the worker.

25. Summary
“ An unpremeditated event resulting in recognizable damage.
Causes : Mechanical, Environment, Human, Human mechanical causes
Prevention of accidents : Planning, safety, process, machines, protection,
good work environment, legislations.
Selection of equipments
Reporting of accidents
Ergonomics : “fitting the job to the worker”.

26. That’s all
THANK YOU