Occupational Final
What is safety culture?
"A set of beliefs, norms, attitudes, roles and social and technical practices concerned with minimising exposure of employees, managers, customers and members of the general public to conditions considered dangerous or hazardous"
What are some administrative controls that can be done in relation to workplace stress?
- Get feedback from employees regarding job demands and how they affect job stress, morale, and job satisfaction. • Use this feedback in determining ways to improve work conditions. - Investigate why some employees reported poor communication and interpersonal conflict in the workplace. - Encourage employees to use wellness and stress reduction services available through their employee assistance program.
What is the fight or flight response?
- your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, which rouse the body for emergency action. - Your heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become sharper. - These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction time, and enhance your focus—preparing you to either fight or flee from the danger at hand.
What are the 4 objectives of a health hazard evaluation?
1. Identify procedures and exposures that presented the greatest potential health risk to employees. 2. Assess employee exposures from these higher risk procedures. 3. Provide recommendations to reduce employees' chemical exposures. 4. Determine job stress and work-related health concerns.
What are the 4 steps in the methods of a Health hazard evaluation?
1. Survey key individuals in each of the units to identify the procedures they believe involve the greatest risk in terms of toxicity and frequency of chemical exposure. 2. Use the survey data to prioritize the 25 procedures of greatest health risk. 3. Use observations of the top 25 procedures along with professional judgment to select 10 procedures for personal exposure monitoring. 4. Assess employees' perceptions of job stress and other work-related health concerns (NIOSH used 2 methods).
What are the 7 key steps to creating a safety culture?
1. The entire workforce relentlessly pursues the identification and remediation of hazards. 2. Employees at all levels are equally comfortable stopping each other when at-risk behavior is observed and recognizing each other when safe behavior is observed. 3. No one is blamed for near misses or incidents. Instead, systemic causes are pursued. 4. The fear of discipline which drives under-reporting and stifles involvement has been driven out of the culture. 5. The workforce is characterized by good relationships at all levels. 6. Safety is integrated into day-to-day work. 7. Successes are celebrated along the way.
Which income level reports the highest job satisfaction?
51-75K
What is ideological violence in the workplace?
Directed at a group or individual for their beliefs (religion, political, etc.) Usually perpetrated by extremists. Many shooter and terrorists incidents fall under this definition
Who has a website where you can check if there is immediate risk of a chemical?
Dupont safespec
Who must pay for PPE if it is necessary?
Employer
Where does violence rank in death at your occupation?
For some its the 3rd leading cause
What sector most commonly has work related violence that leads to death?
Government and hospitality
How do you remove gloves to avoid contamination
Grasp the exterior of one glove with your other gloved hand near heel of palm. Carefully pull the glove off your hand, turning it inside-out. Ball the glove up and hold in your other gloved hand. Slide your ungloved finger into the cuff of the other glove. Carefully pull the glove off your hand, turning it inside out again. Discard appropriately.
How does an employer decide to PPE is necessary?
Hazard assessment and it is employer must certify that one has been done
HAZWOPER
Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response
What does HHE stand for?
Health Hazard Evaluation
What are the types of things asked in a questionnaire?
How many days you work overtime, are you allowed to alter your schedule, how easy is it to ask time off, do the demands of work alter your family life, does your family life interfere with your work, are you respected, do you use your skills, do you trust your management, is safety important, is there enough people; stuff about a promotion and how your valueds
If voluntary use of a respirator is allowed what must be done by the employer?
If the employer determines that any voluntary respirator use is permissible, the employer shall provide the respirator users with the information contained in Appendix D to this section ("Information for Employees Using Respirators When Not Required Under the Standard"); and -In addition, the employer must establish and implement those elements of a written respiratory protection program necessary to ensure that any employee using a respirator voluntarily is medically able to use that respirator, and that the respirator is cleaned, stored, and maintained so that its use does not present a health hazard to the user. -Exception: Employers are not required to include in a written respiratory protection program those employees whose only use of respirators involves the voluntary use of filtering facepieces (dust masks).
How are tests on gloves ran?
In lab settings and they are ranked on breakthrough times
How do you select a glove?
In most cases regular disposable gloves can be used for biological, chemical or low level radioactivity Others may need specific glove protection for a chemical
What can happen when your stress response is long term and stops being helpful?
It can cause health problems,changes in mood, your productivity, your relationships, and your quality of life
What are dangers of PPE?
It can cause heat stress, physical and psychological stress, impaired vision, mobility and communication
Why does having your entire team identifiy and remediate hazards help a safety culture?
It creates good communication and employee engagement. Which makes employees feel responsible for safety and not just management
Why does not placing blame on someone and getting at the root of the problem help safety?
It doesn't blame individual employees and instead looks for systemic problems that could be causing safety incidents
What is level C PPE
It is the same level of skin protection as B but lower respiratory requirements, full facepiece and air purifying respirator is used
What is the role of discipline in safety?
It should be minimized so safety or risk issues are reported and employees feel they can report without harsh outcomes. If this is happening it can decrease morale, lower productivity, decrease teamwork and make employees feel less engaged
What does appendix B of hazard assessment tell us?
It's the responsibility of the safety officer to exercise common sense and appropriate expertise
Con of engineering controls
Its really expensive to start up
What are some common work stressor questionnaire?
Job content questionnaire (JCQ), effort reward imbalance (ERI), quality of work life questionnaire (NIOSH), Generic job stress (NIOSH), copenhagen psychosocial (COPSOQ), occupational stress index (OSI)
What does JSA or JHA stand for
Job safety analysis or hazard
Who handles job stress or hazard complaints?
NIOSH
What does NIOSH stand for?
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Who makes standards for PPE?
OSHA
What does OTM stand for?
OSHA Technical Manual
What is the questionnaire used by NIOSH?
Quality of worklife questionnaire and generic job stress
What is safety climate survey commonly used in construction?
Safety climate questionnaire for road construction
Examples of administrative controls
Safety training, signage, job modification- shorten shift or increase distance from hazard
What is Risk?
Severity of consequences and likelihood of occurance
If a person has glasses what does the employer need to ensure?
That the eye protection either can go over the glasses or be incorporated
If an employee owns their equipment whos responsible for its adherence?
The employer
What is the process for selecting a respirator?
The employer must pick one that is appropriate based on the respiratory hazards, it must be NIOSH certified, they must evaluate the respiratory hazard, must ensure it fits
What agency first introduced safety culture & why?
The international Atomic Energy Agency due to the accident at Chernobyl
PPE is considered what?
The last line of defense against hazards in the workplace
For mixtures what type of glove should be choosen?
The one with the shortest chemical breakthrough time
What is criminal intent workplace violence?
The perpetrator has no relationship with the person or establishment. Often robbery, shoplifting, or trespassing that turns violent. Most common victims are employees that handle cash, work late hours, or are alone
What is customer/client violence?
The perpetrator is a customer or client of the employee and violence occurs when with the workers normal duties.. Healthcare workers and social service workers are at the highest risk with 4 times more likely of being a victim
What is required for employees when removing a glove?
The removal must prevent skin contamination
Employer obligations regarding PPE
They must maintain PPE, train employees, and update PPE for effectiveness
What is required by the employer if they need to use PPE?
They must train them in how to use it properly and understand when it's necessary, what PPE is necessary, what are the limitations, and proper care, maintenance, and disposal
If an employer needs a respirator program what is required?
They need to develop a written program and it must be administered by a suitably trained program administrator, the must create a procedure for selecting respirators, they must ensure a fit test, develop proper use of respirators, create procedures and schedules for cleaning, storing, repairing etc., They must ensure adequate air quality and quantity and flow of breathing air for atmosphere-supplying respirators. Train employees of respirator hazards, train employees on proper use, and have procedures to evaluate the program
What is a way to measure the safety culture?
Through surveys and interviews you can measure what are the employees and management's perceptions of the safety climate
Having employees stop each other when they notice a risk is important for what?
To ensure that they are building safety habits and positive reinforcement with increase the safety culture
What is the goal of an engineering control?
To remove or isolate a hazard or place a barrier between the worker and the hazard
Why does having good relationships within the workforce promote safety?
Trust is essential for safety culture, employees that have a good relationship with management are more likely to speak up and are more engaged in safety
What is Level D PPE?
Universal precautions Typical work uniform no known hazards in atmosphere; gloves
What is workplace violence?
Verbal or Physical Assault or any violence in workplace even if source unrelated to work environment, it can occur in and out of the workplace
When do totally encapsulating protective suits need to be used?
When skin absoprtion of a hazardous substance may result in substantial possibility of immediate death, injury, or ability to escape
What is workplace domestic violence?
When the victim is attacked at their workplace by their spouse or partner. Common because partner knows where they will be and women are much more frequently the target
Respirator Protection should be implemented when?
When there are dusts, fogs, fumes, mists, gases, smokes, sprays, vapors present
When is PPE required for application?
Whenever there is a hazard that may cause injury or impairment of the body through absorption, inhalation or physical contact
Why are elimination and substitution difficult?
You may need to completely change the design of the process which is costly
Why are engineering controls better than administrative or PPE?
b/c they control it at the source before it contacts the worker, they are independent of the workers interaction
What are emotional symptoms of chronic stress?
depression, anxiety and agitation, moodiness, irritability or anger, feeling overwhelmed, loneliness and isolation, other mental emotional problems
what are behavioral symptoms of chronic stress?
eating more or less, sleeping too much or too little, withdrawing from others, procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities, using alcohol cigarettes or drugs to relax, and nervous habits
Hierarchy of controls from most to least effective
elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, PPE
What are examples of PPE that an employer provides?
eye protection, googles, gloves, fire fighting suit, respirator, RX eyewear inserts as necessary
When does work-place stress exceed the normal amount?
fear of being laid off, more overtime, lack of control over how you do your work, when there are long hours, tight deadlines, ever increasing demands that leave you drained, and overwhelmed and when stress exceeds your ability to cope
What are warning signs for stress at work?
feeling anxious, depressed, loss of interest in work, fatigue, trouble concentrating, muscle tension or headaches, social withdrawal, loss of sex drive, using alcohol to cope
If there is flying objects what eye protection needs to be used?
googles
What is Level B PPE?
high level of respiratory protection (SCBA) but lesser skin and eye protection; chemical resistant suit
What is Level A PPPE?
highest level of protection for skin, eyes, and respiratory system based on high concentration, high potential for splash or immersion
What is a safety climate survey commonly used in health care?
hospital survey on patient safety
When does an employer need to provide eye protection?
if employees are exposed to any flying particles or chemicals that can cause harm
Safety Climate
is more influenced by recent events and is not as deep-rooted and stable as safety culture. Can reflect things that need to be done immediately to prevent accidents
Why do people look immediately to PPE?
it's accessible, low cost upfront, can be implemented quickly and provide immediate protection, and no operational downtime
what is a safety climate survey used in the oil and gas industry?
loughborough university safety climate assessment survey
What are typical areas that safety surveys look at?
management safety commitment, effectiveness of safety systems, and quality of tools, equipment and machinery to work safety
For general industry what are two surveys commonly used?
organisational performance metric and organisational safety and climate inventory
What three things need to be considered with protective clothing?
permutation, degradation, and penetration
PPE
personal protective equipment
degradation
physical changes in material as a result of chemical exposure or ambient conditions
Pros and cons of administrative control
pros- easy and inexpensive to implement and can be used with existing process cons- can be costly to sustain overtime and it is less effective than other measures b/c employees have to try
What are the two main objectives of a PPE program
protect the wearer and prevent injury
What can chronic stress do to your cognitive function?
results in memory problems, inability to concentrate, poor judgement, seeing only the negative, anxious with racing thoughts, and constant worrying
What is a safety climate survey commonly used in transportation
safety climate scale for lone workers
How is PPE selected?
selection shall be based on an evaluation of the performance characteristics of the PPE relative to the requirements and limitations of the site, the task-specific conditions and duration, and the hazards and potential hazards identified at the site.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
specific sets of written instructions about how to safely perform a certain aspect of a task. They give specific engineering or administrative controls or PPE
What substances require Level A protection
substances with a high degree of hazard to body or skin and are known to make contact or if operations must be conducted in confined poorly ventilated areas
What is the NIOSH definition of work-related stress?
the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of a job are a poor match to the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker
Penetration
the movement of a chemical through the suits closures, cracks or tears
permeation
the movement of a substance through a material or, on a molecular level, through intact materials; penetration, or spreading.
What is worker-to-worker violence?
the perpetrator is another employee or former employee where the motivating factor is usually something in the workplace. Managers and supervisors are commonly the target
What is stress?
the reaction of the body and mind to everyday challenges and demands. Its the the fight or flight response. It can help you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations it can save your life
What are the factors that should be considered when choosing a glove?
what dexterity, duration, frequency, and degree of exposure
When do positive pressure self contained breathing devices need to be used?
when there is risk of immediate death, serious illness or injury, or impair the ability to escape
What are some examples of engineering controls?
Chemical fume hood, glovebox, biological safety cabinet
What are some types of workplace violence?
Criminal intent, customer/ client, worker to worker, domestic violence, ideological violence
What must protective eyeware & facewear comply with
ANSI/ISEA 787 it must provide protection at impact
What are physical symptoms of chronic stress?
Aches and pains, diarrhea or constipation, nausea or dizziness, chest pain or rapid heart rate, loss of sex drive, frequent colds
What can PPE protect from?
Biological, chemical, electrical, ergonomic, physical, psychological, radiation, and thermal haards
