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 asthma
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, eg 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 control
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 (eg 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:

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

Suggested Reading & Other Resources