Topic area 6: Health assessment and surveillance

Estimated Duration: 2 Hours

Objectives:

• To outline the principal differences between safety and health hazards;
• To demonstrate a practical methodology for undertaking risk assessments on health hazards;
• To outline the reasons for undertaking health surveillance;
• To identify some common health hazards in the quarrying industry.

Lecture Plan

Typical Health Risks

Risks to health from work activities include:

• Skin contact with irritant substances, leading to dermatitis etc;
• Inhalation of respiratory sensitisers, triggering immune responses such as asthm
• Badly designed workstations requiring awkward body postures or repetitive movements result in upper limb disorders, repetitive strain injury and other musculoskeletal conditions
• Noise levels which are too high, causing deafness and conditions such as tinnitus
• Too much vibration, e.g. from hand-held tools leading to hand arm vibration syndrome and circulatory problems;
• Exposure to ionising and non-ionising radiation including ultraviolet in the sun’s rays causing burns, sickness and skin cancer

Regulations covering health hazards include:

• Chemicals & hazardous substances: The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations , 1999
• Noise: Noise at Work Regulations, 1989
• Manual Handling: Manual Handling Operations Regulations, 1992
• Ionising radiation: Ionising Radiation (Protection) Regulations, 1985

Health Risk Management:

• Identifying hazards
• Assessing risk by looking at:
  • The potential severity of exposure to the hazard is related to the properties of the hazard.
  • Potential for exposure means the opportunity to do harm.
• Controlling risk using the hierarchy of risk contro
• Example of hierarchy for noise hazards
  • Sound absorbent material around noisy machinery
  • Use of sound absorbing wall and floor materials
  • Cover the source of the noise (e.g. using hoods);
  • Arranging plant and equipment to create screens and reduce the level of reflected sound;
  • Isolating workers from the noise source
  • As a last resort provide comfortable PPE

Health surveillance

Health surveillance means having a system to look for early signs of ill-health caused by work in order to:

• Detect adverse effects early
• Prevent further harm being caused.

Elements of a health surveillance programme (from QPA Health Surveillance Guide)

Suggested Reading & Other Resources

• QPA Health Surveillance Guide. Published by the Quarry Products Association

Course documents

• Lecture notes
• overheads
• powerpoint overheads
• Example manual handling

List of lecture courses

Select a course

• Quarrying Related Degree Courses - Introduction
• General introduction to health and safety in industry
• Accident Prevention
• Accident Aetiology
• Health and Safety Management
• Risk Assessment and Risk Management
• Health Assessment & Surveillance
• Accident and Incident Investigation
• Managing the health and safety contractors
• The quarry health and safety document