The Effect of Exposure to the Health Hazards in the Workplace - Term Paper Example

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH HAZARDS Name: Course: Course instructor: Institution: Date: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH HAZARDS Introduction Occupational health hazards are the risk factors that may affect the health of workers in an organization (Tillman C. 2007). Health hazards are classified into physical, biological and chemical health hazards. In addition, health hazards can affect the work performance of the workers because it interferes with their health. Moreover, health hazards can also affect the organization’s income because the organization can spend most of its income in catering for hospital bills for the workers. In this connection, it is essential for the organization to identify the possible health hazards in the work place and take precautionary measures to avoid their effect on the health of the workers. This paper will thus analyze the possible occupational health hazards and the how occupational hygiene organization measure the effect of exposure to the health hazards in the work place. Table of occupational health hazards Occupational hygiene hazard State of matter Route by which they enter the body Duration/nature of exposure Solids solid ingestion Workers can be exposed to the solid health hazards intermittently as they come into contact with the solid object Gas gas inhalation The duration of exposure to harmful gases can be continuous as long the gas is being produced within the organization Dust dust Skin absorption/ingestion/inhalation Continuous exposure to dust while in the workplace is an hazard to the health of the workers Vapors Gas/liquid inhalation Workers can continuously or intermittently be exposed to vapors produced in the workplace Liquids liquids Ingestion/skin absorption Workers can intermittently be exposed to harmful liquids such as chemicals and medicines while in the work place Noise solid Absorption Continuous noise in an organization is an health hazard to the workers heat Liquid/solid absorption Intermittent expose to hot objects becomes an health hazard to the workers of a particular organization Discussion of hazards in terms of their properties, toxicology and health hazards There are various health hazards that are evident in different work places. Occupational health hazards can be divided into three main groups, physical, Biological and chemical health hazards. Physical hazards are as a result of transmission of energy between an object and a worker in the work area. This may include danger from falling objects, noise effects and burns from hot objects. On the other hand, chemical hazards as a result of coming into contact with harmful chemicals such as pesticides and detergents. Biological health hazards are the occupational health hazards that result from coming into contact with living organisms such as bacteria and molds. Hazards are harmful in the work place because they can cause permanent or temporary injuries in the work places (Tranter, M. 2004). Some health hazards cause injuries immediately while others may take time before they affect people in the work place. In this connection, workers should be aware of the effects of each of the health hazards in order to ensure that they do not get injuries from the health hazards. Organizations need to promote proper physical and mental health for its workers. This can be achieved by preventing and controlling risks that may lead to occupational health hazards. Occupational health can help to anticipate and deal with heath hazards that may affect the life of the people in the organization. Health hazards have various properties and toxicology health effects to the workers. Both physical and chemical heath hazards are produced in work places and they can include fuels, food additives, harmful liquids, noise and heat. Health hazards can cause injury, poor health and impairment to the workers. This means that organizations should identify and evaluate the extent of a risk in order to take precautionary measures which will help to promote good health and safety of the workers. Health hazards are harmful to the body because they affect the state of balance of the different substances that help in proper functioning of the body. Human body systems will react in different ways once it is exposed toxic substances and therefore organizations should ensure that its workers are not exposed to toxic substances because they will affect the proper functioning of the body (Tranter, M. 2004). There are various routes through which health hazards may get into the body of the workers. One of these ways is through inhalation. Workers can inhale health hazards such as harmful gases, chemicals, dust and vapor and such health hazards will then start affecting the bodies of the workers thus affecting their health. In addition, workers can come into contact with health hazards through ingestion. This occurs when organizational workers swallow harmful chemicals such as liquids and dust which will also affect their health. Workers can also het health hazards through absorption. When the skin of the workers comes into contact with harmful substances, the substances can be absorbed through the skin and this affects the health of the workers (Tranter, M. 2004). Organizations should understand the effects of the various health hazards, their absorption, and circulation in the body, how the hazard is metabolized and human response to the hazard (Oosthuizen, J. 2006). One of the organizational health hazards that commonly affect workers is dust. Dust refers to solid particles which are produced and dispersed into the air through processes such as handling, grinding and crushing of materials such as grains, wood and metals. Workers can be exposed to dust while in the workplace by handling materials that are in the workplace and which contain dust such as cement or handling other materials that can generate toxic dust. Harmful dust can get into the body of the workers through inhalation and this affects the lungs of the workers. In addition, fine dust can also be absorbed through the skin via handling of the materials that contain such dust. Dust is a health hazard that has various toxic effects. This is because, when workers inhale dust, the dust particles can be trapped by the hair and mucus that is found in the lungs and it is then absorbed into the body. Moreover, fine dust particles have more harmful effects because they can be absorbed into the blood stream causing more damaging effects to various parts of the body. Moreover, dust particles are also harmful to the health of the workers because it can affect other parts of the body such as eyes and ears and this can greatly affect the health of the workers and consequently their performance. It is hard for workers to protect themselves from dust because tiny particles cannot be seen as they get into contact with the body. In addition, dust can explode in certain conditions such as explosion in flour mills or silos and this means that organizations should use effective control measure to ensure that workers do not come into contact with harmful dust (Oosthuizen, J. 2006). The other health hazard that affects the health of workers in an organization is solid health hazards. Although solids are the least likely forms of health hazards in an organization, they can still affect the heath of the workers in the organization. Chemical solids can cause harmful effects to the health of the workers because they can cause poisoning once they come into contact with the skin or if they are swallowed. In this connection, proper personal hygiene is crucial in the prevention swallowing of harmful chemical solids. Solids are poisonous because they certain work processes can transform them into extremely dangerous forms. For example, work processes can change wood into dust which can then be inhaled thus causing great health effects to the workers. In addition, welding can also decompose metals into gases and heat that can be harmful to the workers. Other solid such as polythene papers are safe while in their solid form but burning them results to the production of toxic gases and smoke that affect the health of the workers. Chemicals that are in solid form emit toxic vapors which are absorbed into the body through inhalation. In addition, harmful solids can burn, explode and be corrosive to the skin and this affects the health of the workers. This calls for efficient control measures that will help to prevent transformation of solid chemicals into toxic materials during work processes (Oosthuizen, J. 2006). Gases are the other health hazards that affect works in an organization. Some of the chemicals that are used in organizations are usually in gaseous forms. Other chemicals usually in solid or chemical form turn into gases when their temperatures are increased. Some gases can be detected by their colors or odor while other gases are colorless and cannot be smelled. This means that such gases require special equipment in order to be detected. Workers can inhale gases that are produced during work processes and such gases can be harmful to the health of the workers. For example, excess carbon dioxide can result to the death of workers in the work place. In addition, other gases such as ammonia, nitrogen and carbon monoxide are irritating because of the bad odor. The problem with gas hazards is that their effects can only be noticed when the health of the worker has greatly been affected. Gases can also burn or explode and this makes them quite dangerous to the health of the workers. Organizations should therefore ensure that their workers are protected from the effects of harmful gases that may affect their health (Standards Australia 2004). Liquids are other health hazards that are found in the workplace. Liquid substances such as acids and chemicals can be dangerous to the health of the workers in an organization. Liquids produce vapors which are inhaled and these vapors can be very harmful depending on the substance that has emitted the vapor (Walker G. 2004). Toxic liquids can also be absorbed in the skin or ingested into the body through swallowing. Some liquid chemicals can cause immediate health effects while others may affect the health of the worker at a later date. In addition, harmful liquids may also get into the eyes and ears and cause health effects to the affected people. In this connection, companies should ensure that they protect their workers from liquid chemical that will cause different health effects to the workers. The other health hazards that are toxic to the health of the workers are vapors. Vapors are liquids at normal temperatures but they become moist gases when heated. Vapors may be in the form of mists which are liquid substances suspended in the air. Vapors can be dangerous to the health of the workers but this depends on the chemical from which the vapor has come from. Some vapors irritate the skin and eyes of workers when they come into contact with them. Such irritation can result to blindness and other health effects to the workers. In addition, toxic substances can be inhaled thus causing serious health effects to the workers. Other vapors can also be explosive or flammable and this may endanger the lives of the workers in the organization if the vapor results to fire. In this connection organizations should employ effective control measures that will help them to prevent workers from being exposed to toxic vapors. Heat and noise are some of the physical hazards that may affect the health of workers in an organization. These hazards are dangerous to the heath of the workers because they can affect the well-being of the workers. Noise hazard may be as a result of unnecessary sounds produced by machines or fellow workers and this may affect the hearing ability of some of the workers. On the other hand, heat hazard may result from the warming of machines during work processes or other hot objects that may be available in the work place. These hot objects are dangerous to the heath of the workers because they can be burn them and impair their work ability. In this connection, organizations ought to ensure that they have sought better protective measures which will help to protect their workers from physical health hazards (Walker G. 2004). Health hazards can greatly affect workers in an organization if measures are not taken to protect the workers.  Toxic substances in the work place can result to accidents especially if they affect eyes and the nervous system. Many organizations require and expect their workers to work with possibly toxic chemical and physical hazards. This means that the organizations need to ensure proper protection of the workers in order to prevent the effects of such toxic substances. To avoid the effects of toxic substances in the work places, organizations should ensure that their workers are properly dressed in defensive clothing such as aprons to prevent them from coming into contact with the harmful substances (Walker G. 2004). In addition, workers should also undergo regular medical examinations in order to ensure that they are in safe condition. Organizations can also ensure proper disposal of toxic chemicals in order to ensure that their workers do not come into contact with them. Appropriate government agencies and occupational hygiene organizations Occupational hygiene refers to the process of recognizing, anticipating and evaluating heath hazards in the work places that may affect the health of the workers and ensuring that effective control measures are used to ensure that they do not affect the health of the workers (Torres C. 2011). Various government agencies have been established to ensure that occupational hygiene is maintained to improve the safety of work places. One of the mostly used occupational hygiene organizations is the British occupational hygiene society that helps in the prevention of the effects of health hazards. The other occupational hygiene organization is the International Occupational Hygiene Organization which protects the health of the workers and safeguards the entire community. Occupational hygiene organizations assist in investigating the risks of exposures of the workers to different health hazards. In addition, these organizations also help to provide the information that is used to estimate the health risks of certain health hazards to the health of the workers. Occupational hygiene organizations conduct sampling surveys according to their planed procedures in order to determine the effect of each health hazard to the workers (Standards Australia 2004). Apart from conducting a survey on the effects of the health hazards to the workers, occupational hygiene organizations should walk through the organizations to ensure that they get first hand information from the workers. Formerly, occupational hygiene was completed at the work place but it should now be extended into the community in order to find out the effects that occupational hazards pose to the entire community. This is because, some effects such as air pollution can still affect the entire community thus occupational hygiene organizations have to ensure that the community is safe. Before conducting a work survey, organizations should make sure that they have a thorough knowledge of the work place and the processes that are used in the organization in order to identify health hazards that are associated with such processes. Thorough knowledge of the work place and processes will help an occupational hygiene organization to design proper sampling method that will help to show the exposure of the employees to the heath hazards. In this connection, occupational hygiene organizations must have professional staff who will be able to employ precise methodology to identify the effects of different health hazards to the health of the workers (Standards Australia 2004). Occupational hygiene organizations use different sampling methods in order to know the effects and exposure standards for various health hazards. Occupational hygiene organizations conduct a review of the work place in order to identify the raw materials, process and final products in order to know the health hazards that may come from such work places (Standards Australia 2004). In addition, the organizations also examine the work practices and processes such as heating, crushing and grinding in order to know the kind of effects that such processes can bring to the workers. These organizations may make use of checklists in order to ensure that all the required information is collected. Occupational hygiene organizations measure the exposure of the workers to physical and chemical health hazards in the organization. In addition, the occupational hygiene organizations quantify the levels of exposure of the workers to individual health hazards. Measuring the exposure of workers to health hazards is a difficult task because such exposures vary from one day to the other. This means that the hygiene organization must be conversant with the operational conditions of an organization before settling on a particular measurement. Moreover, the organization should use a pre-planned measurement procedure in order to limit errors and enhance credibility and accuracy. One of the methods that can be used in measuring the exposure standards and effects of health hazards in an organization is the sampling method. A proper sampling procedure will help to accurately determine the exposure of workers to health hazards. Sampling is the best method that can be used to measure exposure efforts for all types of health hazards in an organization. Occupational hygiene organizations can for example conduct a dust sampling that will help to know the exposure of the workers to the dust hazard (Standards Australia 2004). In addition, the organization can also sample other health hazards such as liquids, vapors, gas, solids, noise and heat in order to know the risk of exposure to such hazards. Dust sampling will involve the measurement of inhalable or absorbable dust into the body. Occupational hygiene organizations use various sampling methods in order measure worker exposure to different health hazards. AS 3640 is an Australian Standard that can be used for sampling of inhalable dust in the work place (United States Environment Protection Agency 2005). This sampling standard is appropriate for dust sampling because it sets out requirements that are equivalent to the flow rate of the dust in the work place and this helps to ensure that the right size of the parties are sampled. In addition, this sampling standard can also help in the collection of atmospheric components that may also be present in the work place and which may affect the health of the workers. Organizations can also make use of a dust sampling pump in order to examine the flow rate of respirable dust particles in the work place (Hurrel J. 2010). Dust sampling pump can also be sued in the measurement of absorbable dust and this means that sampling devices are required in order ensure proper measurement of the exposure standards. The method used in measuring the flow rate of respirable dust particles can also be used in measuring solid chemicals. Solids just like dust particles can be sampled with the right sampling methods in order to get the rate of exposure of the workers (United States Environment Protection Agency 2005). Sampling is also the method that is used in measuring rate of exposure of liquids and gases of the workers. Chemically absorbed tubes can be used to sample liquid substances that are harmful to the health of the workers. These absorbed tubes will be used to determine the amount of liquid substances that are absorbed into the body of the workers when they get exposed to such substances. Occupational hygiene organizations also make use of sampling methods in order to measure the amount of heat, vapor and noise that can be harmful to the health of workers in an organization. Sampling method helps to determine effect of exposure of workers to certain physical and chemical hazards that are found in the organization. Sampling method is the mostly preferred method of determining the standard of exposure to health hazards in an organization because it shows the exposure standard and the amount that is absorbed into the body of the worker at a particular time (United States Environment Protection Agency 2005). In order to do sampling of the various health hazards, an occupational hygiene organization should first talk to the organizational supervisors in order to get information on the processes and materials used in the organization. This helps to know the harmful substances that can be produced in the organization and the kind of effects that such products have to the workers. In addition, the organization will talk to the workers to know the exposure of the workers to the various health hazards. It is also good for the hygiene organization to carry out a survey in the organization in order to ensure that they are familiar with what goes on in the organization. In conducting the sampling of a particular health hazard, an occupational hygiene organization can conduct an area sampling or have a sampling instrument be attached to one worker. Attaching a sampling instrument to one worker is the best sampling technique because it will help to take readings as the worker stays in the work place. Sampling method is the most efficient method of measuring workers exposure to health hazards because it leads to scientifically accurate assessments (United States Environment Protection Agency 2005). However, the budget used in sampling may be big to some organizations thus causing budgetary constraints to that organization. Various heath hazards may target one organ within the body of the worker. One of the organs that are mostly affected by various health hazards is the lungs (Donoghue A. 2004). Gases, solids, vapors and liquids are chemical health hazards that may have effect on the lungs. Solids can change in other forms such as gases and liquids and get their way into the lungs where they cause serious health effects. In addition, gases, dust, vapor and liquids can also have their way into the lungs and also cause various health effects. The ability of various chemical health hazards to affect the lungs at once time greatly influences the permissible exposure limit to the health hazards. This is because; the different health hazards affect the lungs at the same time. Health hazards are harmful to the health of organization workers and this means that occupational hygiene organizations should ensure the proper measurement and control measures in order to ensure that such risks do not affect the health of the workers. The standard of exposure of workers to health hazards can be determined using sampling method which will help to show the effect of health hazards to the workers and the rate of exposure of such hazards to the workers (Plog, B. & Quinlan, P. 2002). Conclusion Occupational health hazards are the risk factors that may affect the health of the workers in an organization. Occupational health hazards are divided into chemical, physical and biological hazards. Examples of health hazards include solids, liquids vapors, gases, noise and heat among others. Government agencies and occupational hygiene organizations recommend sampling method as the most appropriate method of determining exposure standards of the health hazards. Certain substances may have effect on one organ such as the lungs and these hazards include dust, liquids, gases and vapor. In this connection, organizations should ensure that they take appropriate control measures to prevent the effect of health hazards to the workers. References: Donoghue A. (2004). Occupational health hazards in mining: an overview. Occupational medicine 2004, 54, 283 Hurrel J. (2010). Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Washington. American Psychological Association Oosthuizen, J. (2006). Introduction to occupational hygiene monitoring for technicians. Oosthuizen and Associates, Perth. Plog, B. & Quinlan, P. (2002). Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene, 5th Ed. (2002), NCS Press. Standards Australia (2004). AS 2985 - 2004, Workplace atmospheres - Method for Sampling and gravimetric determination of respirable dust. Sydney, Standards Australia International Ltd. Tillman C. (2007). Principles of occupational health and hygiene: an introduction. New York. Penguin Tranter, M. (2004). Occupational Hygiene and Risk Management. New York. Penguin publishers Torres C. (2011). International journal of occupational and environmental health. Vol.17, No.3 United States Environment Protection Agency (2005). Health Assessment Document for Diesel Engine Exhaust, National Centre for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environment Protection Agency, Washington DC Walker G. (2004). Occupational health hazards. New York. Exposition press Read More