Occupational safety and health has its origins in the Medieval era, when physicians first described diseases affecting miners and other workers exposed to dust. Throughout history, various occupations like chimney sweeping led to increased cancer risks due to exposures. Today we have more knowledge about protecting workers, though not all hazards can be prevented. Managers must consider facilities, processes, and risks like physical, chemical, and ergonomic hazards. Developing standard procedures and notifying workers of updates is important to minimize risks. A safety manager's role includes understanding risk categories like chemicals, noise, dust and machinery issues common to their industry. Management bears responsibility for employee safety and ensuring compliance with regulations.

1. Occupational safety and health Christina Hansson, MSc (Chem Eng)
The concept of occupational health dates back to at least the Medieval times of the well-known
physician and alchemist Paracelsus, in the 1600th century a.d. He says to have described the
”Bergkrankheit”, i.e. a disease of mining origin, which affected the lungs. Indeed, we can imagine
how many early occupational disease cases were related to dust and fume exposures, as man
learned how to harvest natural products, be it of mineral or animal or plant origin. Much later, the
famous Sir Percival Potts described cases of scrotum cancer among chimney sweepers – here we
have a culprit in the soot from all of the coal and wood incineration. Even today, dusts and various
aromatic hydrocarbon mixtures continue to threaten workers’ health. Only, now, we have more
knowledge to build upon, as how to protect workers and prevent from harmful exposures.
Everything cannot be prevented, and then we have the need for compulsory shieldings and masks,
for instance. Compulsory is the word, however, in our human nature lies the tendency to try to avoid
any hassles. We seem to gladly refuse seatbelts, a very small hassle compared to the great hassle of
trying to recover after a serious crash. A major point to consider is therefore today to integrate into
your occupational safety management some behavioural safety principles, which means ”avoid any
risky behaviours which could potentially lead to injuries”. Stop all actions long before an actual big
injury risk even occurs!
What does the occuptional safety manager have to consider?
Well, as for any other function in the company, he/she has to know:
 The facilities
 The processes, the process maps
 Any risks related to the above: It may be physical, chemical, ergonomic, psychosocial risks.
 The workforce: Proper introductions and tests, safety education, first aid and fire safety
drills, safe and reliable process/procedure steps, teambuilding etc.
I think that proper efforts here will save a lot when it comes to money and health. Having good
instructions means less risks for mistakes as every person, every shift will know what is the ”standard
procedure” – it is not just what your group leader or someone else said and you may have
misinterpreted it – it is indeed a written ”gold standard” which the whole company has agreed on to
minimize any risks. Cooperation to produce standard procedure instructions is one important
principle, and then you designate who is responsible for any updates necessary. Verification needs to
be made for new updates, so make sure you have a plan as to how to notify every member of your
workforce!!
Risk categories
As noted above, you may encounter several types of risks, and each and every type of company has
its characteristic ones. It may be chemical risks and hot and pressurized equipment at a chemical
process plant or surface finishing industry; it may be noise, dusts, and fumes and microbiological risks
at a metalworking industry; it may be confined spaces or falls or noise and dusts and ergonomic risks
in a construction industry. Then, we all know, the universally applicable work atmosphere factors.

2. Management
It is important that the management has good knowledge and lots of awareness when it comes to
occupational safety and health matters. There is a responsibility before the employees which cannot
be taken lightly. And all in all, there is no use for perfectly good products, if the production is unsafe
and gets ruled out by the authorities. Luckily, there are occupational safety experts that can help out.
The management will have to have good knowledge about all of the current operations, and it is
totally possible to start out by
*mapping risk areas and risk procedures and make sure that some action is taken to secure these. I
am thinking about general risks from machine operations, transportation etc.
*Chemicals handling is very important, and there is also the storage and disposal and leak prevention
measures to be considered. Make lists of chemicals to pinpoint risks and protective requirements
and see what substitutions for less harmful chemicals that can be made.
*Are there special noise, radiation, vibration risks? Make sure to communicate with experts in
physical risks to see what measures can be taken to minimize these. Newer handheld equipment,
drills, for instance, may have significantly lower vibrational acceleration levels than the older ones
already in use.
*There may be confined spaces, pressurized equipment, hot and cold environments, and it is likewise
important to know rules and regulations and safety measures regarding these. Inspections of
pressurized equipment, hydraulic equipment, other electrical equipment is always important,
remember to have updates before dangerous failures occur!
When it comes to expertise and help, organizations like OSHA and NIOSH have lots of information
and checklists available for various industries. Make sure to inform yourselves, to keep your
workforce healthy and your company running safely and smoothly!!!