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What is occupational hygiene?
Occupational hygiene aims to prevent illness caused by workplace hazards. It does this through recognizing, evaluating, and controlling hazardous agents via a multidisciplinary approach involving chemistry, toxicology, physics, biology, engineering, and law. Hazards include chemicals, physical agents like noise and vibration, biological agents, and ergonomic risks. Risk is determined by assessing the hazard and level of worker exposure. Controls follow a hierarchy starting with eliminating or substituting the hazard, then using engineering controls, administrative controls like safe work practices, and finally personal protective equipment. Occupational hygienists play a key role in anticipating hazards, conducting exposure assessments, and advising on prevention strategies to protect worker health.
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What is occupational hygiene?
- 1. What is OccupationalHygiene? Mike Slater
- 2.
- 3. Occupational NO! Hygiene?
- 4.
- 5.
- 6. Hygiene “Conditions or practicesconducive to maintaining health and preventing disease” http://oxforddictionaries.com
- 7. Occupational hygiene is aboutthe prevention of ill health caused by work
- 8. According to the WHO, globally,there are:
- 9.
- 10. 386,000 deaths each yearfrom exposure to airborne particulates
- 11. 152,000 deaths per year from carcinogensin the workplace
- 12. 37% of Lower BackPain is attributed to occupation
- 13. Occupational hygiene is aboutthe prevention of ill health caused by work
- 14. We do thatby the
- 15. We do thatby the Recognition
- 16. We do thatby the Recognition Evaluation
- 17. We do thatby the Recognition Evaluation Control
- 18. We do thatby the Recognition Evaluation Control of hazardous agents
- 19. Chemical hazards Thereare many thousands of hazardous chemicals commonly used at work.
- 20. Chemical hazards Chemicalhazards also include:
- 21. Silica released duringstone cutting activities Dusts – in this case stone dust contains crystalline silica which causes silicosis, a serious lung disease Source: HSE
- 22. Now you seeit Mists – in this case paint containing isocyanates, a major cause of occupational asthma
- 23. Vapours are givenoff paints and other solvent based products such as inks and adhesives
- 24. Fume – veryfine particulate matter
- 25. Physical agents Hazardousphysical agents include noise,
- 26. Vibration (this handgrinder will also produce high noise levels)
- 27. Non-ionising radiation liketheultra-violet radiation generated by arc welding
- 28. The thermal environment– hot and cold
- 29. Biological hazards Biological agentslike the micro-organisms that can cause legionnaires’ disease and anthrax
- 30. Ergonomic hazards Backand muscular damage caused by poor manual handling practices
- 31. Tasks involving repetitiveactions
- 32. The use ofdisplay screen equipment
- 33. Chemistry Toxicology Physics Occupational Hygiene Law Biology Engineering
- 34. Chemistry Toxicology Physics Occupational Hygiene Law Biology Occupational hygiene isEngineering a multi-disciplinary science
- 35. Recognition Evaluation Control
- 36. Recognition Evaluation Control Occupational hygienists are trained to anticipate and recognise health hazards at work
- 37. Bakers are exposed toflour dust which can cause occupational asthma
- 38. Bakers are about 80times more likely to develop occupational asthma than the average British worker
- 39. Coal miners and quarryworkers are exposed to dust that can cause silicosis – a serious debilitating lung disease
- 40. Cleaning with solvents canlead to dermatitis and exposure to solvent vapours.
- 41. And some solvents canbe absorbed through the skin
- 42. This worker is exposedto dust, noise and vibration
- 43. Arc welders are exposedto metal fumes which can cause metal fume fever
- 44. and, in somecases, asthma and lung cancer
- 45. They’re also exposed toirritant gases and ultra- violet radiation
- 46. Recognition Evaluation Control
- 47.
- 48.
- 49. RISK = Hazardx Exposure
- 50. RISK = Hazardx Exposure Exposure assessment is an important part of the occupational hygienist’s role
- 51. RISK = Hazardx Exposure This can involve:
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- 55.
- 56. Biological Monitoring Which may involvetaking blood samples
- 57. But taking urinesamples is usually preferable as it’s easier and more acceptable to the worker
- 58. Recognition Evaluation Control
- 59. Prevention Engineering Work practices PPE
- 60. Prevention Engineering Work practices PPE This is the “hierarchy of control”
- 61. Prevention Engineering Work practices PPE
- 62. Prevention Process Elimination Substitution change
- 63. Prevention Engineering Work practices PPE
- 64.
- 65. A fume cupboard– an example of local exhaust ventilayion
- 66.
- 67. Prevention Engineering Work practices PPE
- 68. Work practices /organisation Time Reduce exposure time Job rotation Work – rest regimes Work scheduling Distance Segregation Restrict access Rest areas Organisation Reduce numbers exposed Good working practice Written procedures “Permits to work”
- 69. Prevention Engineering Work practices PPE Personal protective equipment – which should be the last resort
- 70.
- 71. Chemical protective clothing,gloves and eye protection
- 72. Management measures Maintenance of controls Supervision Exposure monitoring Screening & health surveillance Information, instruction, training Review and audit
- 73.
- 74. www.bohs.org The organisation foranyone interested in occupational hygiene in the UK
- 75.
- 76. Picture credits: Stock.XCHNG- www.sxc.hu/ Cirrus Research - www.cirrusresearch.co.uk The Health and Safety Executive – www.hse.gov.uk www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/victorian_britain/children_in_facto ries/ www.beautifulbritain.co.uk
- 77. Mike Slater, DiamondEnvironmental Ltd. (mike@diamondenv.co.uk) This presentation is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike UK:International Licence
Editor's Notes
- #4 No – it isn’t about cleaning the workplace
- #6 It isn’t anything to do with dental hygiene
- #8 Also known as industrial hygiene
- #13 Picture source http://www.hse.gov.uk/guidance/
- #14 Also known as industrial hygiene
- #22 Dusts – in this case stone dust contains crystalline silica which causes silicosis, a serious lung disease
- #23 Mists – in this case paint containing isocyanates, a majpr cause of occupational asthma
- #24 Mists – in this case paint containing isocyanates, a majpr cause of occupational asthma
- #27 Noise and vibration
- #28 Non-ionising radiation like the UV generated by arc welding
- #29 Thermal environment – hot and cold
- #32 Tasks involving repetitive actions
- #33 The use of display screen equipment
- #34 Multidisciplinary
- #35 Multidisciplinary
- #38 Exposure to flour dust is likely to present a significant risk in commercial and industrial bakeries
- #39 Exposure to flour dust is likely to present a significant risk in commercial and industrial bakeries
- #40 Silicosis and coal miner’s pneumoconiosisStill a problem today
- #55 Exposure modellingA relatively new approachStill being developedA lot of work needed
- #56 Carry out a walkthrough surveyWe’ll come back to this laterSee Page 26 of book
- #57 Sometimes air sampling doesn’t provide the answer and biological monitoring may be neededThis may involve taking blood sampleshttp://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/contractors/trials/cepha/cepha3.html
- #58 But it’s more likely to involve analysing urine sampleshttp://www.fightdrugabuse.com/pros-and-cons-of-urine-drug-testing/