Occupational Health and Safety Risks Assessment - Essay Example

"Occupational Health and Safety Risks Assessment" is a decent example of a paper on poisoning, toxicology, and environmental health.
It is a fact that the ABC gardening boss is ignorant of OHS requirements to the workers. The boss instructs Jade the new worker to finish the work in a day forgetting to give break in the work. In addition, Jade is only provided with gloves as the only protective gear during her job. The boss does not care about the chemical effects that relate to the weed killer chemicals. Further, Jade has only a T-shirt and a Short as the only attire that she is wearing; this exposes her to chemical contact to the skin (Mark 128). Moreover, the condition of the land in which Jade is to work, she did not have time to inspect the land. Thus, she did not have any information if there were odd bits of broken bricks and metal lying amongst the long grass and weeds.

It is the duty of the ABC boss to inform Jade of the condition of the land. She was to work on a new land not forgetting she had no time to acquaint herself with the environment since she was a new worker. Further, the garden management should provide OHS requirements before engaging anyone in the job and provide close supervision (Stranks 78).

Project Task 2

1. A tool or technique that could have been used to identify potential hazards before Jade started working on the site;

The ABC gardening management should appoint someone to do conduct a close inspection on the site to determine the condition of the site.

2. How Jade could have been made aware of the potential hazards she would encounter whilst work

Through a member of ABC gardening, Jade should have been informed on the condition of the land as well as taking her around the garden. In addition, Jade should have been allowed to tour the garden or request to be allowed to tour the garden to learn the condition of the land.

3. Material Safety Data Sheet uses in the case study.

If the ABC gardening boss did provide a material data sheet to Jade before starting her work, she could be aware of the dangers to expect in the garden. In addition, by providing the material datasheet the boss could have given Jade the necessary information that would have helped her to do the Job smoothly without encountering any obstacles.

Project Task 3

Explanation of the Recommend Control Measures

Provision and use of protective clothing: this is the only way that Jade can avoid direct contact with the chemicals to her skin.

Provision and use of gas masks: use of gas masks is essential to prevent direct inhaling of the chemical spray

Allowing Jade to have a break: relaxing would help Jade to avoid confusion due to tiredness

Use a disinfectant and bandage the wound: the open wound is risky and thus must be covered to prevent infections.

Clean the garden off the odds from the garden: This is to ensure that Jade has a safer environment to work on

The hazard to treat first

Chemical hazards should be identified and treated first; this is because the primary infections that occur from this hazard are detrimental to Jade’s health. Jade developed a respiratory system leading to breathing problems due to inhalation of the chemical. This might have caused death or fatal complications to her health, which would have, otherwise lead to long-term or permanent health problems (Health and Safety Executive 120). In addition, chemicals coming into contact with the skin can lead to skin scotching and infection, which can be permanent and lead to danger to Jade’s health.  Lastly, any risk that relates to chemical hazards can lead to instant death.

How Jade might have contributed to the hazard identification and risk assessment process

In her working in the garden, Jade was faced with a high number of challenges starting condition of the land to the protective gear she required to wear. In addition, Jade’s breathing problem is a clear indication that she needed to have a gas mask to use when spraying. Further, the scratching and cuts that she suffered indicated that she did not have protective footwear. Lastly, Jude’s attire was only a T-shirt and a short, which is very dangerous when using the weed killer chemicals.

Project Task 4

Importance of self-evaluating and monitoring overall performance in the hazard identification and risk assessment processes

It is a basic practice to do self-evaluation to understand the condition of the working site. In addition, self-evaluation enables one to have to plan on the proper means by which they can control the risks. Further, when planning to do monitoring there must be self-evaluation of the working site to determine the necessities that the workers engage to get proper working conditions that will suit their working conditions (Ladou 29). Moreover, it is a regulation by the OHS act to always have a self-evaluation and make reports on the condition of the working site. This helps to create a safety data sheet that has all the information required to give directives on the working conditions and the risks that might be encountered in that site. Lastly, the need to have self-evaluation gives the supervisor amble time to plan and have proper time to do risk assessment in the working site providing the workers engaged correct information on proper and safe working conditions.