Introduction
CHAPTER 1
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)
OSH
is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety,
health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment.
Cross-disciplinary involve interactions among many subject areas,
including:
•
occupational medicine
•
occupational hygiene
•
public health
•
safety engineering
•
industrial engineering
•
C
hemistry
•
health physics
•
E
rgonomics
•
occupational
health psychology
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)
The goals of OSH programs:
•
to
provide
a safe and healthy work environment.
•
to
protect
co-workers, family members, employers,
customers, and many
others who might be affected by
the workplace environment.
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)
OSH can be important for:
•
Moral
– employee’s lives and health
•
Legal
–
preventive, punitive, compensatory effect of
laws
•
Financial
- employee injury and illness related costs,
including medical care, sick leave and disability benefit
costs.
Everyone has the
right
to work in a safe environment.
Through cooperative efforts, employers and employees can
learn to
identify
and
eliminate
or
control
hazards.
“When one cannot absolutely eliminate a dangerous
situation, One must make the occurrence of that
situation a very unlikely event”
WHY SAFETY IS A CONCERN?
ACT,REGULATIONS,ICOP/Guidelines
•
ACT
•
Covers scope and basic provisions
•
Approved by Parliament
•
Acts which cover Occupational Safety and Health are:
OSHA 1994, FMA 1967, ABE 1990 and EQA 1974
•
REGULATIONS
•
Contains detailed explanations for each provision under
the Act
•
Approved by the Minister
•
INDUSTRY CODE / GUIDELINE
•
Guidelines in fulfilling requirements of the relevant Act
•
Drafting of Code of Practice can be initiated by Industry
and approved by DOSH
•
Not a part of the laws of the nation
