Wikipedia defines “Occupational health and safety (OHS), also commonly referred to as occupational safety and health (OSH), occupational health, or occupational safety, as a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work (i.e. in an occupation).”
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes that “occupational health deals with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has its main focus on primary prevention of hazards”.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is concerned with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of occurrence of hazards in the workplace. The goal is to prevent accidents and harm to people from work-related activities.
The goal of an occupational safety and health program is to foster a safe and healthy occupational environment. OHS also focuses on protecting the general public who may be affected by the occupational environment.
Examples of Occupational Health and safety activity include the use of appropriate procedures to prevent falling objects; Keep the workplace clutter free; Store all materials and equipment properly.; Regularly inspect tools and personal protective equipment to make sure that they are in good working condition.
Occupational Health and Safety is a discipline with a broad scope involving three major fields – Occupational Safety, Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene.
The OHS objectives aim to prevent illness, injury, and disease due to working conditions.
The main objective of occupational health is to improve and protect employee health in the workplace. This includes the physical, mental, and social health of employees in the workplace. The promotion and maintenance of employee health is the primary focus of occupational health and is accomplished through the improvement and maintenance of working conditions, as well as the development of a work culture centered on health and safety.
The main principles of OHS are crafted around the following:
A. Facility Design.
B. Hazard Identification and Correction.
C. Shutdown of Dangerous Activities.
D. Providing Medical Surveillance.
E. Emergency Response and Preparedness.
Occupational Hazard can be classified into various categories. The five categories of Occupational hazard are physical safety hazards, chemical hazards, biological hazards, physical hazards, and ergonomic risk factors.
Occupational health is a specialised branch of medicine which focuses on the health of staff in the workplace. The Operational Health professionals aim to find out the impact of work on staff health and make sure that staffs are fit to undertake the role they are employed to fill both physically and emotionally.
The following are the steps that could make a working environment safer.
- Working at Height Safety employing all safety Procedures
- Handling of Hazardous Materials and Chemicals as cautiously as required.
- Proper use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
- Regular assessment of Mental Health and general health status.
- Avoiding Distractions at workplace.
- Educating new or Temporary Workers about OHS.
The benefit of Occupational Health and Safety is that it leads to a reduced risk or accidents or injuries by identifying and mitigating hazards. It also leads to an improved efficiency and productivity due to fewer employees missing work as a result of illness or injury. There is also an improved employee relations and morale since a safer work environment is a less stressful work environment.
The MBA intensive week was truly intense