Hazards by: Jhaiyne Reyes

A hazard is a situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or environment. Most hazards are dormant or potential, with only a theoretical risk of harm; however, once a hazard becomes "active", it can create an emergency situation. A hazardous situation that has come to pass is called an incident. Hazard and possibility interact together to create risk.^[1]

Identification of hazard risks is the first step in performing a risk assessment.

A hazard is a situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or environment. Most hazards are dormant or potential, with only a theoretical risk of harm; however, once a hazard becomes "active", it can create an emergency situation.

A physical hazard is a type of occupational hazard that involves environmental hazards that can cause harm with or without contact. Physical hazards include ergonomic hazards, radiation, heat and cold stress, vibration hazards, and noise hazards.^[1] Engineering controls are often used to mitigate physical hazards.^[2]

Physical hazards are a common source of injuries in many industries.^[3] They are perhaps unavoidable in certain industries, such asconstruction and mining, but over time people have developed safety methods and procedures to manage the risks of physical danger in the workplace. Employment of children may pose special problems.^[4]

Health hazards include skin irritants, carcinogens or respiratory sensitisers that have an adverse effect on a worker's health as a result of direct contact with or exposure to the chemical, usually through inhalation, skin contact or ingestion.May 8, 2015

                                      

The WH&S Act requires that manufacturers and designers of plant must “make sure that they aresafe and without risks to health when properly used”. “Plant” is a general term referring to machinery, equipment and appliances. Design faults in machinery may be responsible for operating hazards. Design or installation faults may include:

• allowing access to dangerous areas of equipment
• equipment operating with difficulty
• not allowing easy access for maintenance
• not providing adequate guarding
• the plant item being unstable

An employer must provide information, training and supervision for employees in the use of plant or equipment.

• Machine guarding
• Manual Handling
• Occupational Overuse Syndrome

Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS) is a term used for a range of conditions characterised by discomfort or pain in the muscles, tendons or other soft tissues. OOS onsets over time and is caused by repetitive manual activities. This complaint is usually associated with tasks which involve repetitive or forceful movements and constrained or awkward postures.

Electrical

Electric shock or electrocution occurs when physical contact is made with an electrical current so that current flows through the body. Electrical hazards in the workplace include electrical wiring, electrical machinery, equipment or appliances. Common electrical hazards include:

• carrying poles and ladders under overhead wires
• using electrical appliances near water or wet areas
• operating cranes/other equipment with height extension
• working with live electrical circuits
• overloading circuits and fuses
• equipment “becoming live” due to an electrical fault, poor maintenance or short circuiting.

Only licensed electrical workers may perform electrical installations, repairs or alterations. Unqualified persons must not undertake electrical work and electrical apprentices and trainees must be supervised at all times by a qualified electrical worker.

By its nature, a hazard involves something that could potentially be harmful to a person's life, health, property, or the environment. One key concept in identifying a hazard is the presence of stored energy that, when released, can cause damage. Stored energy can occur in many forms: chemical, mechanical, thermal, radioactive, electrical, etc. Another class of hazard does not involve release of stored energy, rather it involves the presence of hazardous situations. Examples include confined or limited egress spaces, oxygen-depleted atmospheres, awkward positions, repetitive motions, low-hanging or protruding objects, etc.

There are several methods of classifying hazard, but most systems use some variation on the factors of "likelihood" of the hazard turning into an incident and the "seriousness" of the incident if it were to occur. (This discussion moved away from hazard to a discussion of risk.)

A common method is to score both likelihood and seriousness on a numerical scale (with the most likely and most serious scoring highest) and multiplying one by the other to produce a comparative score.