Occupational health safety and security - Essay Example

Occupational Health Safety and Security Introduction Workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses remain at an incredible high level and entail a huge health burden, suffering, (mental and physical) not only for the victim but also for the family and an incredible economic loss for the firm and also for the entire industry. In fact, according to new estimates by the ILO, the number of job-related accidents and illnesses, which annually claim more than two million lives, appears to be rising because of rapid industrialization in some developing countries. Question 1 : According to a new assessment (http://www.who.int/topics/occupational_health/en) of workplace accidents and illness indicates that the risk of occupational disease has become by far the most prevalent danger faced by people at their jobs - accounting for 1.7 million annual work-related deaths and outpacing fatal accidents by four to one. In the 1900s with the dawn of Industrial Revolution, unskilled workers would work in unsafe workplaces. Occupational hazards would be more then because of unhealthy environment and unsanitary working conditions. Necessary precautions were not taken by the industry. Moreover, that was the age of convicted labour and humane working conditions were completely unheard of. The number of workplace accidents are decreasing in many industrialized and newly-industrialized countries, while some countries now undergoing rapid development in Asia and Latin America are experiencing increases. For example, the ILO analysis (http://www.who.int/topics/occupational_health/en) showed that while the number of fatal and non-fatal workplace accidents held steady or declined in most regions, in China the estimated number of fatal accidents rose from 73,500 in 1998 to 90,500 in 2001, while accidents causing three or more days absence from work increased from 56 million to 69 million. Meanwhile, in Latin America, a rise in the total number of persons employed and growth in the construction sector, particularly in Brazil and Mexico, appear to have lead to an annual increase in fatal accidents from 29,500 to 39,500 over the same time period. "This is happening because in the newly developing countries workers are often coming out of the rural areas, with few skills and very little training in safe work practices," says Jukka Takala, Director of the ILO's Safework Programme. "Most have never worked with heavy machinery, and some have little or no experience with industrial hazards such as electricity, so they don't know how dangerous these things can be. Yet these are elements of the kinds of jobs that are available for low-skilled workers in rapidly industrializing countries." (http://www.who.int/topics/occupational_health/en) Question 2 - The most common workplace illnesses are cancers from exposure to hazardous substances, musculoskeletal diseases, respiratory diseases, hearing loss, circulatory diseases and communicable diseases caused by exposure to pathogens. In many industrialized countries, where the number of deaths from work-related accidents has been falling, deaths from occupational disease, notably asbestosis, is on the rise. Globally, asbestos alone is responsible for 100,000 occupational deaths per year. Meanwhile, in the agricultural sector, which employs half the world's workforce and is predominant in most underdeveloped countries, the use of pesticides causes some 70,000 poisoning deaths each year, and at least seven million cases of acute and long-term non-fatal illnesses, as stated in the assessment. (http://www.who.int/topics/occupational_health/en) The construction industry, the mining industry and the tobacco industry witness the maximum number of accidental deaths. The ILO claims that in the construction industry, at least 60,000 fatal workplace accidents occur each year worldwide - or about one death every 10 minutes. About 17 per cent of all fatal workplace accidents occur in this sector, while construction workers also face a number of health risks, including exposure to asbestos-laden dusts, silica and hazardous chemicals. In line with ILO conventions, recommendations and guidelines, the report pinpoints the need for better planning and coordination with regard to addressing safety and health issues on construction sites, as well as a greater focus on reducing work-related ill health and disease. New HSE statistics report that 226 people were killed at work in 2002/03, 25 fewer than in the previous year and the second year in which the rate of worker fatal injury has fallen. It is the lowest rate recorded - and part of an overall downward trend stretching back some 20 years. Bill Callaghan (Chair of the Health and Safety Commission,) commented "The accident statistics give us some grounds for optimism - but no room for complacency." (HSC press release C038:03 - 29 July 2003). Deaths are caused through unhealthy working conditions. 6000 people die each year from work related incidentts. Workers die after falling from heights, after being hit by or falling off from moving vehicles or objects or being trampled by falling objects. Accidents involving falls from heights remain the biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury, as demonstrated by the tragic accident in Battersea this week in which the crane driver and an innocent bystander were killed when a 165 foot crane collapsed onto a block of flats. Another man suffered injury. The most recent provisional statistics released by the HSE of fatal injuries to workers in construction during the year 2005/2006 showed that 59 deaths occurred as a result of construction work being carried out in unsafe conditions. This can only mean one thing that the construction industry has been stringent enough with safety controls a per the current legislation. Construction companies are failing to assess the risks properly and not providing adequate training The constantly increasing number of accidental deaths and injury indicates that not all construction companies have adapted their working systems according to the regulations currently in place. Had they done so, injuries and death could be more easily avoided. "Despite significant improvements in health and safety in many parts of the world over the past several decades, the global challenge of providing for worker health and safety is ever greater today," said Dr Kerstin Leitner, Assistant Director-General for Healthy Environments and Sustainable Development at WHO. "Significant and more long-lasting health gains could be achieved if greater emphasis were placed on effective policies and programmes for primary prevention. In many locations, particularly in developing countries, these are weak or virtually non-existent. From a public health perspective, prevention through safety measures is better and also less expensive not only to workers individually, but to the society at large." The Centre for Corporate Accountability was set up in 1999 to promote worker and public safetyand provides information and advice on safety, law enforcement and corporate criminal accountability issues. Itmonitors work-related deaths in England and Wales, providinga list of the people whohave died in work-related incidents on its web- site.The organisation also campaigns tointroduce laws thatimposeobligations on directors, or their equivalent in public bodies, to take steps to ensure that their organisation complies with health and safety law. WHO is implementing a global strategy to provide evidence for policy, legislation and support to decision makers, including work carried out to estimate the magnitude of the burden of occupational diseases and injuries. WHO will also provide infrastructure support and development through capacity building, information dissemination and networking. WHO will also support protection and promotion of workers health. In the USA, OSHA the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has been Monitoring and regulating occupational safety and health since the 1971. OSH regulation of a limited number of specifically defined industries was in place for several decades before that, and broad regulations by some of the individual states was in place for many years prior to the establishment of OSHA. In Canada, workers are covered by provincial or federal labour codes depending on the sector in which they work. Workers covered by federal legislation (including those in mining, transportation, and federal employment) are covered by the Canada Labour Code; all other workers are covered by the health and safety legislation of the province they work in. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), an agency of the Government of Canada, was created in 1978 by an Act of Parliament. The act was based on the belief that all Canadians had "...a fundamental right to a healthy and safe working environment." . CCOHS is mandated to promote safe and healthy workplaces to help prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. Attempts are being made all over the world to reduce the number of occupational deaths in Industry. But the truth is that the three essential remedies - training, design, guidance - will actually work if there is a genuine culture of health and safety in the business. Works Cited 1. http://www.who.int/topics/occupational_health/en 2. (HSC press release C038:03 - 29 July 2003) Read More