Occupational health and safety aims to protect workers' physical, mental and social well-being. It focuses on maintaining workers' health and capacity, improving work environments and safety, and developing a safety-focused work culture. Specific industries like construction, agriculture, fishing and mining often face greater risks. Construction faces high risks of falls while agriculture workers can be exposed to machinery, chemicals and lung diseases. Proper safety equipment, procedures and regulations aim to reduce risks in these industries.

1. Occupational Health and SafetyOccupational Health and SafetyOccupational Health and SafetyOccupational Health and Safety

2. • Occupational safety and health is an area concerned with protecting the
safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The
goals of occupational safety and health programs include to foster a safe and
healthy work environment. OHS may also protect co-workers, family members,
employers, customers, and many others who might be affected by the
workplace environment.

3. • Occupational health and safety can be important for moral, legal, and financial
reasons. All organizations have a duty of care to ensure that employees and any
other person who may be affected by the companies undertaking remain safe
at all times. Moral obligations would involve the protection of employee's lives
and health.

4. • Legal reasons for OHS practices relate to the preventative, punitive and
compensatory effects of laws that protect worker's safety and health.
• OSH can also reduce employee injury and illness related costs, including
medical care, sick leave and disability benefit costs. OHS may involve
interactions among many subject areas, including occupational medicine,
occupational hygiene, public health, safety engineering, industrial engineering,
chemistry, industrial and organizational psychology, ergonomics and
occupational health psychology.

5. • Since 1950, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and
the World Health Organization (WHO) have shared a
common definition of occupational health. It was adopted
by the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health
at its first session in 1950 and revised at its twelfth session in
1995.

6. • The definition reads:
• "Occupational health should aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the
highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all
occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused
by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks
resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the
worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and
psychological capabilities; and, to summarize, the adaptation of work to man and
of each man to his job.

7. • "The main focus in occupational health is on three different objectives:
1.the maintenance and promotion of workers’ health and working capacity;
2.the improvement of working environment and work to become conducive to
safety and health and
3.development of work organizations and working cultures in a direction which
supports health and safety at work and in doing so also promotes a positive
social climate and smooth operation and may enhance productivity of the
undertakings.
• The concept of working culture is intended in this context to mean a reflection
of the essential value systems adopted by the undertaking concerned. Such a
culture is reflected in practice in the managerial systems, personnel policy,
principles for participation, training policies and quality management of the
undertaking.

8. Occupational safety and health by industry
• Specific occupational safety and health concerns vary greatly by
sector and industry. Construction workers might be particularly at risk of
falls, for instance, whereas fishermen might be particularly at risk of
drowning. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics identifies the
fishing, aviation, metalworking, agriculture, mining and transportation
industries as among some of the more dangerous for workers.

9. Construction
• Construction is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world,
incurring more occupational fatalities than any other sector in both the
United States and in the European Union. In 2009, the fatal
occupational injury rate among construction workers in the United
States was nearly three times that for all workers.Falls are one of the
most common causes of fatal and non-fatal injuries among
construction workers.

10. • Proper safety equipment such as harnesses and guardrails and
procedures such as securing ladders and inspecting scaffolding can
curtail the risk of occupational injuries in the construction industry.
Health and safety legislation in the construction industry involves many
rules and regulations. For example, the role of the Construction Design
Management (CDM) Coordinator as a requirement has been aimed
at improving health and safety on-site.

11. Agriculture
• Agriculture workers are often at risk of work-related injuries, lung
disease, noise-induced hearing loss, skin disease, as well as certain
cancers related to chemical use or prolonged sun exposure.
• On industrialized farms, injuries frequently involve the use of
agricultural machinery. The most common cause of fatal agricultural
injuries in the United States is tractor rollovers, which can be prevented
by the use of roll over protection structures which limit the risk of injury
in case a tractor rolls over.

12. • Pesticides and other chemicals used in farming can also be hazardous to worker
health, and workers exposed to pesticides may experience illnesses or birth defects.
• As an industry in which families, including children, commonly work alongside their
families, agriculture is a common source of occupational injuries and illnesses
among younger workers.

13. • Common causes of fatal injuries among young farm worker include drowning,
machinery and motor vehicle-related accidents.

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