HSE ARTICLES: January 2017

Wednesday, 25 January 2017

Classes of Fire

Depending on the country you are in, there are slightly different categorizations of fire, .e.g. its slightly different for USA from UK & Europe. Here will examine the USA's OSHA classifications. In OSHA, fires can be divided into five classes: Class A: These are fires involving flammable solids, e.g. wood, cloth, rubber, paper, and some types of plastics. An example of this type of...

What is Fire and how it works?-Fire Hazard

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion (exothermic), releasing heat, light and various other substances. Basic Principle: Fire triangle For a fire to start or an explosion to occur, there are three elements that have to be present to a complete a Fire triangle: 1) Oxygen - This exists in surrounding air (21%) 2) Fuel - This may be in...

Risk Controls - Measures and Methods at workplace

How do we decide on which risk control measures to use? During risk assessment (step-3), to help decide on a risk control, there's an order or hierarchy of risk control which we utilize and are as follows: 1. Eliminating the hazard. 2. Reducing the hazard (Substitute) 3. Preventing the people from coming into contact with hazard (Engineering Controls). 4. Administrative controls (Safe system of...

What is Risk Matrix? and what is its role in controlling Workplace risk?

Risk Matrix is a commonly used risk assessment tool for evaluating and estimating Risk Level. Based upon which, necessary actions are taken such as, if the activity is rating above acceptable levels then the necessary improvement should be done or immediately stop the work activity until it can be made safe to work. (A 5x5 risk matrix is shown above.) So for example; A...

Types of Risk Assessment in Safety-HSE

According to OSHA four basic types of risk assessment should be carried out in workplace 1- Baseline risk assessment 2- Generic risk assessment 3- Continuous risk assessment 4- Specialized risk assessment 1- Baseline risk assessment This is the initial assessment of risk in a workplace. It is a broad assessment and includes all activities taking place on site. A baseline HIRA (Hazard...

Risk Assessment procedure in Health and Safety

What is risk assessment? Risk assessment is a careful examination of anything in your workplace that could cause people to suffer injury or ill-health while they're at work. It doesn't have to be complicated, whats important is that you concentrate on significant hazards which could result in serious harm or affect a number of people. How to conduct risk assessments? According to HSE(Health &...

Common Safety and Health Hazards in Workplace

What are the common hazards in workplace? Well there are many different types of hazards, depending upon nature of work activities and type of industry. But Hazards generally fall into six broad groups. 1. Mechanical/Electrical- e.g, slip, trip and falls, moving machinery, electrical equipment. 2. Physical- e.g, noise, radiation, light, vibration. 3. Chemical- e.g, corrosive, poisons, harmful...

Hazard and Risk Definition and Meaning

When referring to Hazard in Occupational Safety and Health, the most commonly used definition is; "Anything or any action that has potential to cause harm and or illness." For example; Electricity and Working at Height are hazards. Similarly, when referring to a Risk in Occupational Safety and Health, commonly used definition is; "Risk is the likelihood that a person may be harmed...

Health and Safety Definition and Meaning

Health can be defined as "Protection of bodies and minds of people from illness resulting from materials, processes or procedures used in the workplace." It means we enjoy freedom from disease or infirmity. Safety is the feeling of security which means we can work without fear of danger or injury. It can be defined as "The condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger or injury". Welfare...

If we look at ILO statistics, there are more than 270 million accidents and 160 million occupational diseases each year. About two million people die every year from occupational accidents and occupational diseases .Nearly 4% of worlds gross domestic product is lost each year through the cost of injury, death, absence etc. Now just think about serious accident happening at your organisation. Think...