OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
AND HEALTH
For Technologists, Engineers, and Managers
SEVENTH EDITION
DAVID L. GOETSCH
President and CEO, The Institute for Organizational Excellence
Prentice Hall
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goetsch, David L.
Occupational safety and health for technologists, engineers, and managers /
David L. Goetsch.—7th ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-700916-9
ISBN-10: 0-13-700916-X
1. Industrial safety—United States. 2. Industrial hygiene—United States. I. Title.
T55.G586 2011
658.4'08—dc22
2009041557
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 10:
0-13-700916-X
ISBN 13: 978-0-13-700916-9
PREFACE
BACKGROUND
The field of occupational safety and health has undergone significant change over the
past three decades. There are many reasons for this. Some of the more prominent reasons
include the following: technological changes that have introduced new hazards in the
workplace; proliferation of health and safety legislation and corresponding regulations;
increased pressure from regulatory agencies; realization by executives that workers in a
safe and healthy workplace are typically more productive; health care and workers’ compensation cost increases; increased pressure from environmental groups and the public; a
growing interest in ethics and corporate responsibility; professionalization of health and
safety occupations; increased pressure from labor organizations and employees in general; rapidly mounting costs associated with product safety and other types of litigation;
and increasing incidents of workplace violence.
All of these factors, when taken together, have made the job of the modern safety and
health professional more challenging and more important than it has ever been. These
factors have also created a need for an up-to-date book on workplace safety and health
that contains the latest information needed by people who will practice this profession in
an age of global competition and rapid technological change.
WHY WAS THIS BOOK WRITTEN AND FOR WHOM?
This book was written to fulfill the need for an up-to-date, practical teaching resource that
focuses on the needs of modern safety and health professionals practicing in the workplace. It is intended for use in universities, colleges, community colleges, and corporate
training settings that offer programs, courses, workshops, and seminars in occupational
safety and health. Educators in such disciplines as industrial technology, manufacturing
technology, industrial engineering, engineering technology, occupational safety, management, and supervision will find this book both valuable and easy to use. The direct,
straightforward presentation of material focuses on making the theories and principles of
occupational safety and health practical and useful in a real-world setting. Up-to-date research has been integrated throughout in a down-to-earth manner.
ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
The text contains 31 chapters organized into five parts, each focusing on a major area
of concern for modern safety and health professionals. The chapters are presented in
an order that is compatible with the typical organization of a college-level safety and
iii
iv
PREFACE
health course. A standard chapter format is used throughout the book. Each chapter begins with a list of major topics and ends with a comprehensive summary. Following
the summary, most chapters include review questions, key terms and concepts, and
endnotes. Within each chapter are case studies to promote classroom discussion, as
well as at least one safety fact or myth. These materials are provided to encourage review, stimulate additional thought, and provide opportunities for applying what has
been learned.
SUPPLEMENTS
This text is accompanied by a Companion Web site at www.prenhall.com/goetsch. An online Instructor’s Manual is also available to instructors through this title’s catalog page at
www.prenhall.com. Instructors can search for a text by author, title, ISBN, or by selecting
the appropriate discipline from the pull-down menu at the top of the catalog home page.
To access supplementary materials online, instructors need to request an instructor access code. Go to www.prenhall.com, click the Instructor Resource Center link, and then
click Register Today for an instructor access code. Within 48 hours of registering you will
receive a confirming e-mail, including an instructor access code. Once you have received
your code, go to the site and log on for full instructions on downloading the materials that
you wish to use.
HOW THIS BOOK DIFFERS FROM OTHERS
This book was written because in the age of global competition, safety and health in the
workplace have changed drastically. Many issues, concerns, and factors relating specifically to modern workplace environments have been given more attention, greater depth
of coverage, and more illumination here than other textbooks. Some of the areas receiving
more attention and specific occupational examples include
• The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) and Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA)
• Standards and codes
• Laws and liability
• Stress-related problems
• Life safety and fire hazards
• The evolving roles of health and safety professionals
• Health and safety training
• Human factors in safety
• Environmental issues and ISO 14000 standards
• Computers, robots, and automation
• Ethics and safety
• Bloodborne pathogens in the workplace
• MRSA in the workplace
• Product safety and liability
• Ergonomics and safety
• The relationship between safety and quality
• Workplace violence
• Workers’ compensation
PREFACE
•
•
•
•
v
Repetitive strain injuries (RSIs)
Terrorism threats in the workplace
Safety-first corporate culture
Off-the-job safety
NEW TO THIS EDITION
This seventh edition of Occupational Safety and Health contains much new and updated
material, including the following:
•
•
•
•
General Revisions
All OSHA standards, as well as those of other regulatory agencies, were updated.
Research material, related content, and corresponding endnotes were updated
throughout.
Older content has been retained only to the extent that it is still valid.
New photographs were added where appropriate.
New or Updated Material in This Edition
Chapter 4: Added a new section on the emerging role of safety professionals
Chapter 9: Added a new section on the safety professional’s role in product recalls
Chapter 15: Added a new section on practical prevention measures for reducing slip
and fall hazards and a new checklist for enhancing vision protection
Chapter 18: Added a new section on maintenance requirements of NFPA 70E-2009
and OSHA’s training requirements for personnel who face the risk of
electric shock
Chapter 19: Added a new section on hot work and the necessary components of a
hot work program
Chapter 20: Added a new section on nanoscale materials and industrial hygiene
and global harmonization of OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard
Chapter 24: Expanded the chapter to include hazards relating to Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the workplace
Chapter 26: Updated the chapter to include new information on the definition of
ethics and ethics tests
Chapter 28: Expanded the chapter to include a section on off-the-job safety
Chapter 31: Revised the chapter to advocate a safety-first corporate culture as
opposed to a safety-friendly culture
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David L. Goetsch is Vice President of Northwest Florida Sate College and professor of
safety, quality, and environmental management. He also administers the state of Florida’s
Center for Manufacturing Competitiveness that is located on this campus. In addition, Dr.
Goetsch is president and CEO of the Institute for Organizational Excellence (IOE), a private consulting firm dedicated to the continual improvement of organizational competitiveness, safety, and quality. Dr. Goetsch is cofounder of The Quality Institute, a
partnership of the University of West Florida, Northwest Florida State College, and the
Okaloosa Economic Development Council.
vi
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author acknowledges the invaluable assistance of the following people in developing
this book: Dr. Lissa Galbraith, Florida A&M/Florida State University, for the material she
contributed on electrical and fire hazards in the first edition; Harvey Martin, health and
safety manager of Metric Systems Corporation in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, for providing up-to-date research material; and the following reviewers for their invaluable input:
Steven A. Freeman—Iowa State University; JoDell K. Steuver—Purdue University; and
Ottis E. Walizer—Minot State University. Special acknowledgment goes to Larry D.
Leiman for his contributions in updating all OSHA standards.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
SAFETY VERSUS HEALTH
The title of this book intentionally includes the words safety and health. Throughout the
text, the titles “safety and health professional” and “safety and health manager” are used.
This, too, is done by design. This approach underscores the point that the field of occupational safety has been broadened to encompass both safety and health. Consequently,
managers, technical personnel, and engineers in this field must be knowledgeable about
safety and health and be prepared to oversee a corporate program that encompasses both
areas of responsibility.
Safety and health, although closely related, are not the same. One view is that safety
is concerned with injury-causing situations, whereas health is concerned with diseasecausing conditions. Another view is that safety is concerned with hazards to humans that
result from sudden severe conditions; health deals with adverse reactions to prolonged
exposure to dangerous, but less intense, hazards. Both of these views are generally accurate in portraying the difference between safety and health. However, the line between
these two concepts is not always clearly marked.
For example, on the one hand, stress is a hazard that can cause both psychological
and physiological problems over a prolonged period. In this case, it is a health concern.
On the other hand, an overly stressed worker may be more prone to unintentionally forget
safety precautions and thus may cause an accident. In this case, stress is a safety concern.
Because managers in this evolving profession are likely to be responsible for safety
and health, it is important that they have a broad academic background covering both.
This book attempts to provide that background.
This broadening of the scope of the profession does not mean that specialists in safety
and health are not still needed. They are. Chapter 4 shows how today’s safety and health
manager is a generalist who often heads a team of specialists such as safety engineers,
health physicists, industrial hygienists, occupational nurses, occupational physicians,
and risk managers. In order to manage a team of specialists in these various areas, safety
and health managers must have the broad and comprehensive background that this book
provides.
vii
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BRIEF CONTENTS
PART 1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE AND OVERVIEW 1
1
2
3
4
5
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now 3
Accidents and Their Effects 18
Theories of Accident Causation 32
Roles and Professional Certifications for Safety and Health Professionals 51
Safety, Health, and Competition in the Global Marketplace 77
PART 2 LAWS AND REGULATIONS 87
6
7
8
9
The OSH Act, Standards, and Liability 89
Workers’ Compensation 137
Accident Investigation and Reporting 165
Product Safety and Liability 181
PART 3 THE HUMAN ELEMENT 199
10 Ergonomic Hazards: Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) and Cumulative
Trauma Disorders (CTDs) 201
11 Stress and Safety 233
12 Safety and Health Training 244
13 Violence in the Workplace 276
PART 4 HAZARD ASSESSMENT, PREVENTION, AND CONTROL 299
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Mechanical Hazards and Machine Safeguarding 301
Falling, Impact, Acceleration, Lifting, and Vision Hazards 322
Hazards of Temperature Extremes 356
Pressure Hazards 370
Electrical Hazards 383
Fire Hazards and Life Safety 402
Industrial Hygiene and Confined Spaces 429
Radiation Hazards 480
Noise and Vibration Hazards 497
Computers, Automation, and Robots 522
Bloodborne Pathogens and Bacterial Hazards in the Workplace 539
ix
x
BRIEF CONTENTS
PART 5 MANAGEMENT OF SAFETY AND HEALTH 563
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Preparing for Emergencies and Terrorism 565
Ethics and Safety 593
Hazard Analysis/Prevention and Safety Management 606
Promoting Safety 629
Environmental Safety and ISO 14000 (Environmental Management) 648
TSM: Total Safety Management in a Quality Management Setting 681
Establishing a Safety-First Corporate Culture 694
CONTENTS
PART 1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE AND OVERVIEW 1
1 Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now 3
Developments before the Industrial Revolution 3
Milestones in the Safety Movement 4
Tragedies That Have Changed the Safety Movement 6
Role of Organized Labor 9
Role of Specific Health Problems 9
Development of Accident Prevention Programs 11
Development of Safety Organizations 12
Safety and Health Movement Today 14
Integrated Approach to Safety and Health 14
New Materials, New Processes, and New Problems 15
Rapid Growth in the Profession 15
2 Accidents and Their Effects 18
Costs of Accidents 19
Accidental Deaths in the United States 19
Accidents versus Other Causes of Death 20
Work Accident Costs and Rates 21
Time Lost Because of Work Injuries 21
Deaths in Work Accidents 22
Work Injuries by Type of Accident 22
Death Rates by Industry 22
Parts of the Body Injured on the Job 23
Chemical Burn Injuries 24
Heat Burn Injuries 24
Repetitive Strain/Soft-Tissue Injuries 25
Estimating the Cost of Accidents 26
Global Impact of Accidents and Injuries 29
3 Theories of Accident Causation 32
Domino Theory of Accident Causation 32
Human Factors Theory of Accident Causation 34
Accident/Incident Theory of Accident Causation 36
Epidemiological Theory of Accident Causation 38
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CONTENTS
Systems Theory of Accident Causation 40
Combination Theory of Accident Causation 42
Behavioral Theory of Accident Causation 44
Drugs and Accident Causation 45
Depression and Accident Causation 45
Management Failures and Accident Causation 47
Obesity and Accident Causation 48
4 Roles and Professional Certifications for Safety and Health Professionals 51
Modern Safety and Health Teams 51
Safety and Health Manager 52
Engineers and Safety 60
Industrial Hygienist 65
Health Physicist 65
Occupational Physician 66
Occupational Health Nurse 67
Risk Manager 68
Certification of Safety and Health Professionals 69
Emerging Role of Safety Professionals 73
5 Safety, Health, and Competition in the Global Marketplace 77
Competitiveness Defined 77
Productivity and Competitiveness 79
Quality and Competitiveness 81
How Safety and Health Can Improve Competitiveness 81
PART 2 LAWS AND REGULATIONS 87
6 The OSH Act, Standards, and Liability 89
Rationale for the OSH Act 89
OSHA’s Mission and Purpose 90
OSH Act Coverage 90
OSHA Standards 91
OSHA’s Record Keeping and Reporting 96
Keeping Employees Informed 102
Workplace Inspections and Enforcement 102
OSHA’s Enhanced Enforcement Policy 103
Citations and Penalties 104
Appeals Process 106
State-Level OSHA Programs 107
Services Available from OSHA 107
Employer Rights and Responsibilities 111
Employee Rights and Responsibilities 112
Keeping Up-to-Date on OSHA 113
Problems with OSHA 113
Other Agencies and Organizations 114
OSHA’s General Industry Standards 119
OSHA’s Maritime Standards 126
OSHA’s Construction Standards 127
CONTENTS
Standards and Codes 128
Laws and Liability 130
7 Workers’ Compensation 137
Overview of Workers’ Compensation 137
Historical Perspective 140
Workers’ Compensation Legislation 141
Modern Workers’ Compensation 142
Workers’ Compensation Insurance 144
Resolution of Workers’ Compensation Disputes 145
Injuries and Workers’ Compensation 146
Disabilities and Workers’ Compensation 147
Monetary Benefits of Workers’ Compensation 151
Medical Treatment and Rehabilitation 153
Medical Management of Workplace Injuries 153
Administration and Case Management 154
Cost Allocation 155
Problems with Workers’ Compensation 156
Spotting Workers’ Compensation Fraud and Abuse 156
Future of Workers’ Compensation 157
Cost-Reduction Strategies 159
8 Accident Investigation and Reporting 165
Types of Accident Investigations 165
When to Investigate 166
What to Investigate 166
Who Should Investigate 168
Conducting the Investigation 169
Interviewing Witnesses 171
Reporting Accidents 173
Ten Accident Investigation Mistakes to Avoid 177
9 Product Safety and Liability 181
Product Liability and the Law 181
Developing a Product Safety Program 186
Evaluating the Product Safety Program 187
Role of the Safety and Health Professional 188
Quality Management and Product Safety 189
Product Safety Program Record Keeping 190
User Feedback Collection and Analysis 191
Product Literature and Safety 192
Product Recalls and Safety Professionals 193
PART 3 THE HUMAN ELEMENT 199
10 Ergonomic Hazards: Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs)
and Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs) 201
Ergonomics Defined 201
Human Factors and Ergonomic Hazards 202
xiii
xiv
CONTENTS
Factors Associated with Physical Stress 203
Ergonomics: A Political Football 205
OSHA’s Voluntary Ergonomics Guidelines 206
Worksite Analysis Program for Ergonomics 208
Hazard Prevention and Control 213
Medical Management Program 214
Training and Education 217
Common Indicators of Problems 217
Identifying Specific Ergonomic Problems 218
Ergonomic Problem-Solving Strategies 220
Economics of Ergonomics 225
Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs) 226
Participatory Ergonomics 230
11 Stress and Safety 233
Workplace Stress Defined 233
Sources of Workplace Stress 234
Human Reactions to Workplace Stress 236
Measurement of Workplace Stress 237
Shift Work, Stress, and Safety 237
Improving Safety by Reducing Workplace Stress 238
Stress in Safety Managers 240
Stress and Workers’ Compensation 241
12 Safety and Health Training 244
Rationale for Safety and Health Training 244
Education and Training Requirements 248
Safety and Health Professionals as Trainers 251
Preparing Safety and Health Instruction 253
Presenting Safety and Health Instruction 254
Applying Safety and Health Instruction 260
Evaluating Safety and Health Instruction 260
Training Supervisors 261
Training New and Transferred Employees 263
Job Safety Analysis as a Training Technique 264
Training Opportunities Available 266
Illiteracy and Safety 268
English as a Second Language Training Issues 270
OSHA Standards and Training 271
13 Violence in the Workplace 276
Occupational Safety and Workplace Violence: The Relationship 276
Workplace Violence: Definitions 277
Workplace Violence: Cases 277
Size of the Problem 279
Legal Considerations 280
Risk-Reduction Strategies 282
Contributing Social and Cultural Factors 284
OSHA’s Voluntary Guidelines 285
CONTENTS
Conflict Resolution and Workplace Violence 292
Do’s and Don’ts for Supervisors 295
Emergency Preparedness Plan 296
PART 4 HAZARD ASSESSMENT, PREVENTION, AND CONTROL 299
14 Mechanical Hazards and Machine Safeguarding 301
Common Mechanical Injuries 301
Safeguarding Defined 304
OSHA’s Requirements for Machine Guarding 305
Risk Assessment in Machine Operation 305
Requirements for All Safeguards 307
Point-of-Operation Guards 307
Point-of-Operation Devices 311
Machine Guarding Self-Assessment 311
Feeding and Ejection Systems 312
Robot Safeguards 313
Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout Systems) 313
General Precautions 318
Basic Program Content 318
Taking Corrective Action 319
15 Falling, Impact, Acceleration, Lifting, and Vision Hazards 322
Causes of Falls 322
Kinds of Falls 323
Walking and Slipping 324
Slip and Fall Prevention Programs 326
OSHA Fall Protection Standards 327
Ladder Safety 330
What to Do after a Fall 332
Monitor Fall Protection Equipment and Know Why It Fails 333
Impact and Acceleration Hazards 333
Lifting Hazards 342
Standing Hazards 344
Hand Protection 346
Personal Protective Equipment 349
Forklift Safety (Powered Industrial Trucks) 350
16 Hazards of Temperature Extremes 356
Thermal Comfort 356
Heat Stress and Strain 357
Cold Stress 361
Burns and Their Effects 364
Chemical Burns 366
17 Pressure Hazards 370
Pressure Hazards Defined 370
Sources of Pressure Hazards 371
xv
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CONTENTS
Boilers and Pressure Hazards 372
High-Temperature Water Hazards 372
Hazards of Unfired Pressure Vessels 373
Hazards of High-Pressure Systems 373
Cracking Hazards in Pressure Vessels 373
Nondestructive Testing of Pressure Vessels 375
Pressure Dangers to Humans 376
Decompression Procedures 377
Measurement of Pressure Hazards 378
Reduction of Pressure Hazards 378
18 Electrical Hazards 383
Electrical Hazards Defined 383
Sources of Electrical Hazards 386
Electrical Hazards to Humans 389
Detection of Electrical Hazards 390
Reduction of Electrical Hazards 391
OSHA’s Electrical Standards 394
Electrical Safety Program 395
Electrical Hazards Self-Assessment 395
Prevention of Arc Flash Injuries 396
Training Requirements for Workers 397
19 Fire Hazards and Life Safety 402
Fire Hazards Defined 403
Sources of Fire Hazards 405
Fire Dangers to Humans 408
Detection of Fire Hazards 409
Reduction of Fire Hazards 410
Development of Fire Safety Standards 414
OSHA Fire Standards 415
Life Safety 415
Flame-Resistant Clothing 418
Fire Safety Programs 419
Explosive Hazards 420
OSHA’s Firefighting Options 422
Self-Assessment in Fire Protection 423
Hot Work Program 423
20 Industrial Hygiene and Confined Spaces 429
Overview of Industrial Hygiene 429
Industrial Hygiene Standards 430
OSH Act and Industrial Hygiene 431
Hazards in the Workplace 434
Toxic Substances Defined 436
Entry Points for Toxic Agents 436
Effects of Toxic Substances 438
Relationship of Doses and Responses 439
CONTENTS
Airborne Contaminants 440
Effects of Airborne Toxics 441
Effects of Carcinogens 442
Asbestos Hazards 443
Indoor Air Quality and “Sick-Building” Syndrome 445
Toxic Mold and Indoor Air Quality 447
Threshold Limit Values 448
Hazard Recognition and Evaluation 450
Prevention and Control 451
NIOSH and Industrial Hygiene 454
NIOSH Guidelines for Respirators 455
Standards and Regulations 459
General Safety Precautions 461
Nanoscale Materials and Industrial Hygiene 463
Confined Space Hazards 463
OSHA Confined Space Standard 465
Confined Space Management Policy 469
OSHA Standards for Toxic and Hazardous Materials 471
OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard 472
21 Radiation Hazards 480
Ionizing Radiation: Terms and Concepts 480
Exposure of Employees to Radiation 482
Precautions and Personal Monitoring 482
Caution Signs and Labels 483
Evacuation Warning Signal 484
Instructing and Informing Personnel 484
Storage and Disposal of Radioactive Material 484
Notification of Incidents 485
Reports and Records of Overexposure 485
Notice to Employees 486
Nonionizing Radiation 488
Electromagnetic Fields in the Workplace 490
OSHA Standards for Health and Environmental
Controls 493
22 Noise and Vibration Hazards 497
Hearing Loss Prevention Terms 497
Characteristics of Sound 499
Hazard Levels and Risks 500
Standards and Regulations 501
Workers’ Compensation and Noise Hazards 506
Identifying and Assessing Hazardous Noise Conditions 506
Noise Control Strategies 508
Vibration Hazards 512
Other Effects of Noise Hazards 514
Corporate Policy 514
Evaluating Hearing Loss Prevention Programs 516
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CONTENTS
23 Computers, Automation, and Robots 522
Impact of Automation on the Workplace 522
VDTs in Offices and Factories 523
Human–Robot Interaction 525
Safety and Health Problems Associated with Robots 526
Safety and Health in Office Automation 528
Industrial Medicine and Robots 529
Technological Alienation in the Automated Workplace 531
Minimizing the Problems of Automation 532
Challenge for the Future 533
24 Bloodborne Pathogens and Bacterial Hazards in the Workplace 539
Facts about AIDS 539
Symptoms of AIDS 540
AIDS in the Workplace 541
Legal Concerns 543
AIDS Education 546
Counseling Infected Employees 547
Easing Employees’ Fears about AIDS 548
Protecting Employees from AIDS 548
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in the Workplace 550
OSHA’s Standard on Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens 553
Preventing and Responding to Needlestick Injuries 557
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) in the Workplace 557
PART 5 MANAGEMENT OF SAFETY AND HEALTH 563
25 Preparing for Emergencies and Terrorism 565
Rationale for Emergency Preparation 565
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act 566
Organization and Coordination 567
OSHA Standards 568
First Aid in Emergencies 569
How to Plan for Emergencies 572
Planning for Workers with Disabilities 574
Evacuation Planning 578
Customizing Plans to Meet Local Needs 579
Emergency Response 580
Computers and Emergency Response 581
Dealing with the Psychological Trauma of Emergencies 582
Recovering from Disasters 583
Terrorism in the Workplace 585
Resuming Business after a Disaster 588
26 Ethics and Safety 593
An Ethical Dilemma 593
Ethics Defined 594
Ethical Behavior in Organizations 596
CONTENTS
Safety and Health Professionals’ Role in Ethics 596
Company’s Role in Ethics 598
Handling of Ethical Dilemmas 600
Questions to Ask When Making Decisions 601
Ethics and Whistle-Blowing 601
27 Hazard Analysis/Prevention and Safety Management 606
Overview of Hazard Analysis 606
Preliminary Hazard Analysis 607
Detailed Hazard Analysis 609
Hazard Prevention and Deterrence 616
OSHA Process Safety Standard 618
Risk Assessment 620
Safety Management Concerns 622
Best Practices in Safety Management 624
Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems 626
28 Promoting Safety 629
Company Safety Policy 629
Safety Rules and Regulations 630
Employee Participation in Promoting Safety 631
Safety Training 631
Suggestion Programs 632
Visual Awareness 633
Safety Committees 634
Personal Commitment to Workplace Safety 636
Employee-Management Participation 636
Incentives 637
Competition 639
Company-Sponsored Wellness Programs 639
Teamwork Approach to Promoting Safety 640
Persuasion as a Promotional Tool 643
Promoting Off-the-Job Safety 644
29 Environmental Safety and ISO 14000
(Environmental Management) 648
Safety, Health, and the Environment 648
Legislation and Regulation 649
Types of Environments 651
Role of Safety and Health Professionals 652
Hazards of the Environment 653
Hazardous Waste Reduction 657
Environmental Management System (EMS) 661
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 665
ISO 14000 666
ISO 14000 Series of Standards 666
ISO 14001 Standard 668
ISO 14000 Success Story 676
xix
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CONTENTS
30 TSM: Total Safety Management in a Quality Management Setting 681
What Is QM? 681
How Does QM Relate to Safety? 682
Safety Management in a QM Setting 684
What Is TSM? 684
Translating TSM into Action 685
Fundamental Elements of TSM 686
Rationale for TSM 690
Implementing TSM: The Model 691
31 Establishing a Safety-First Corporate Culture 694
Safety-First Corporate Culture Defined 694
Importance of Having a Safety-First Corporate Culture 695
Globalization of Competition and Safety 696
How Corporate Cultures Are Created 697
What a Safety-First Corporate Culture Looks Like 698
Ten Steps for Establishing a Safety-First Corporate Culture 698
Glossary 707
Index 724
P
A
R
T
1
HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE AND
OVERVIEW
1
2
3
4
5
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now 3
Accidents and Their Effects 18
Theories of Accident Causation 32
Roles and Professional Certifications for Safety and Health Professionals
Safety, Health, and Competition in the Global Marketplace 77
51
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C H A P T E R
SAFETY AND HEALTH
MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
1
Major Topics
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Developments before the Industrial Revolution
Milestones in the Safety Movement
Tragedies That Have Changed the Safety Movement
Role of Organized Labor
Role of Specific Health Problems
Development of Accident Prevention Programs
Development of Safety Organizations
Safety and Health Movement Today
Integrated Approach to Safety and Health
New Materials, New Processes, and New Problems
Rapid Growth in the Profession
The safety movement in the United States has developed steadily since the early
1900s. In that time period, industrial accidents were commonplace in this country; for
example, in 1907, more than 3,200 people were killed in mining accidents. Legislation,
precedent, and public opinion all favored management. There were few protections for
workers’ safety.
Working conditions for industrial employees today have improved significantly. The
chance of a worker being killed in an industrial accident is less than half of what it was 60
years ago.1 According to the National Safety Council (NSC), the current death rate from
work-related injuries is approximately 4 per 100,000, or less than a third of the rate 50
years ago.2
Improvements in safety until now have been the result of pressure for legislation to
promote safety and health, the steadily increasing costs associated with accidents and injuries, and the professionalization of safety as an occupation. Improvements in the future
are likely to come as a result of greater awareness of the cost-effectiveness and resultant
competitiveness gained from a safe and healthy workforce.
This chapter examines the history of the safety movement in the United States and
how it has developed over the years. Such a perspective will help practicing and prospective safety professionals form a better understanding of both their roots and their future.
DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
It is important for students of occupational health and safety to first study the past. Understanding the past can help safety and health professionals examine the present and future with a sense of perspective and continuity. Modern developments in health and
3
4
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safety are neither isolated nor independent. Rather, they are part of the long continuum of
developments in the safety and health movement.
The continuum begins with the days of the ancient Babylonians. During that time,
circa 2000 BC, their ruler, Hammurabi, developed his Code of Hammurabi. The code encompassed all the laws of the land at that time, showed Hammurabi to be a just ruler, and
set a precedent followed by other Mesopotamian kings. The significance of the code from
the perspective of safety and health is that it contained clauses dealing with injuries, allowable fees for physicians, and monetary damages assessed against those who injured
others.3 This clause from the code illustrates Hammurabi’s concern for the proper handling of injuries: “If a man has caused the loss of a gentleman’s eye, his own eye shall be
caused to be lost.”4
This movement continued and emerged in later Egyptian civilization. As evidenced
from the temples and pyramids that still remain, the Egyptians were an industrious people. Much of the labor was provided by slaves, and there is ample evidence that slaves
were not treated well—that is, unless it suited the needs of the Egyptian taskmasters.
One such case occurred during the reign of Rameses II (circa 1500 BC), who undertook
a major construction project, the Ramesseum. To ensure the maintenance of a workforce
sufficient to build this huge temple bearing his name, Rameses created an industrial medical service to care for the workers. They were required to bathe daily in the Nile and were
given regular medical examinations. Sick workers were isolated.5
The Romans were vitally concerned with safety and health, as can be seen from the
remains of their construction projects. The Romans built aqueducts, sewerage systems,
public baths, latrines, and well-ventilated houses.6
As civilization progressed, so did safety and health developments. In 1567, Philippus
Aureolus produced a treatise on the pulmonary diseases of miners. Titled On the Miners’
Sickness and Other Miners’ Diseases, the treatise covered diseases of smelter workers and
metallurgists and diseases associated with the handling of and exposure to mercury.
Around the same time, Georgius Agricola published his treatise De Re Metallica, emphasizing the need for ventilation in mines and illustrating various devices that could be
used to introduce fresh air into mines.7
The eighteenth century saw the contributions of Bernardino Ramazzini, who wrote
Discourse on the Diseases of Workers. Ramazzini drew conclusive parallels between diseases suffered by workers and their occupations. He related occupational diseases to the
handling of harmful materials and to irregular or unnatural movements of the body. Much
of what Ramazzini wrote is still relevant today.8
The Industrial Revolution changed forever the methods of producing goods. According to J. LaDou, the changes in production brought about by the Industrial Revolution can
be summarized as follows:
• Introduction of inanimate power (i.e., steam power) to replace people and animal
power
• Substitution of machines for people
• Introduction of new methods for converting raw materials
• Organization and specialization of work, resulting in a division of labor9
These changes necessitated a greater focusing of attention on the safety and health of
workers. Steam power increased markedly the potential for life-threatening injuries, as
did machines. The new methods used for converting raw materials also introduced new
risks of injuries and diseases. Specialization, by increasing the likelihood of boredom and
inattentiveness, also made the workplace a more dangerous environment.
MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT
Just as the United States traces its roots to Great Britain, the safety movement in this
country traces its roots to England. During the Industrial Revolution, child labor in
factories was common. The hours were long, the work hard, and the conditions often
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now
5
unhealthy and unsafe. Following an outbreak of fever among the children working in
their cotton mills, the people of Manchester, England, began demanding better working conditions in the factories. Public pressure eventually forced a government response, and in 1802 the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act was passed. This was a
milestone piece of legislation: It marked the beginning of governmental involvement
in workplace safety.
When the industrial sector began to grow in the United States, hazardous working
conditions were commonplace. Following the Civil War, the seeds of the safety movement were sown in this country. Factory inspection was introduced in Massachusetts in
1867. In 1868, the first barrier safeguard was patented. In 1869, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a mine safety law requiring two exits from all mines. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was established in 1869 to study industrial accidents and report pertinent
information about those accidents.
The following decade saw little new progress in the safety movement until 1877,
when the Massachusetts legislature passed a law requiring safeguards for hazardous machinery. This year also saw passage of the Employer’s Liability Law, establishing the potential for employer liability in workplace accidents. In 1892, the first recorded safety
program was established in a Joliet, Illinois, steel plant in response to a scare caused
when a flywheel exploded. Following the explosion, a committee of managers was
formed to investigate and make recommendations. The committee’s recommendations
were used as the basis for the development of a safety program that is considered to be the
first safety program in American industry.
Around 1900, Frederick Taylor began studying efficiency in manufacturing. His purpose was to identify the impact of various factors on efficiency, productivity, and profitability. Although safety was not a major focus of his work, Taylor did draw a
connection between lost personnel time and management policies and procedures. This
connection between safety and management represented a major step toward broadbased safety consciousness.
In 1907, the U.S. Department of the Interior created the Bureau of Mines to investigate
accidents, examine health hazards, and make recommendations for improvements. Mining workers definitely welcomed this development, since more than 3,200 of their fellow
workers were killed in mining accidents in 1907 alone.10
One of the most important developments in the history of the safety movement occurred in 1908 when an early form of workers’ compensation was introduced in the
United States. Workers’ compensation actually had its beginnings in Germany. The practice soon spread throughout the rest of Europe. Workers’ compensation as a concept made
great strides in the United States when Wisconsin passed the first effective workers’ compensation law in 1911. In the same year, New Jersey passed a workers’ compensation law
that withstood a court challenge.
The common thread among the various early approaches to workers’ compensation
was that they all provided some amount of compensation for on-the-job injuries regardless of who was at fault. When the workers’ compensation concept was first introduced in
the United States, it covered a very limited portion of the workforce and provided only
minimal benefits. Today, all 50 states have some form of workers’ compensation that requires the payment of a wide range of benefits to a broad base of workers. Workers’ compensation is examined in more depth in Chapter 7.
The Association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers (AISEE), formed in the early
1900s, pressed for a national conference on safety. As a result of the AISEE’s efforts, the
first meeting of the Cooperative Safety Congress (CSC) took place in Milwaukee in 1912.
What is particularly significant about this meeting is that it planted the seeds for the eventual establishment of the NSC. A year after the initial meeting of the CSC, the National
Council of Industrial Safety (NCIS) was established in Chicago. In 1915, this organization
changed its name to the National Safety Council. It is now the premier safety organization
in the United States.
From the end of World War I (1918) through the 1950s, safety awareness grew steadily.
During this period, the federal government encouraged contractors to implement and
6
CHAPTER 1
maintain a safe work environment. Also during this period, industry in the United States
arrived at two critical conclusions: (1) there is a definite connection between quality and
safety, and (2) off-the-job accidents have a negative impact on productivity. The second
conclusion became painfully clear to manufacturers during World War II when the call-up
and deployment of troops had employers struggling to meet their labor needs. For these
employers, the loss of a skilled worker due to an injury or for any other reason created an
excessive hardship.11
The 1960s saw the passage of a flurry of legislation promoting workplace safety. The
Service Contract Act of 1965, the Federal Metal and Nonmetallic Mine Safety Act, the
Federal Coal Mine and Safety Act, and the Contract Workers and Safety Standards Act all
were passed during the 1960s. As their names indicate, these laws applied to a limited
audience of workers. According to the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), more
significant legislation than that enacted in the 1960s was needed:
Generally, the state legislated safety requirements only in specific industries, had inadequate
safety and health standards, and had inadequate budgets for enforcement. . . . The injury and
death toll due to industrial mishaps was still . . . too high. In the late 1960s, more than
14,000 employees were killed annually in connection with their jobs. . . . Work injury rates
were taking an upward swing.12
These were the primary reasons behind passage of the Occupational Safety and
Health Act (OSH Act) of 1970 and the Federal Mine Safety Act of 1977. These federal
laws, particularly the OSH Act, represent the most significant legislation to date in the
history of the safety movement.
The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act was passed by Congress in
1986, followed by the Amended Clean Air Act in 1990; both were major pieces of environmental legislation. The concept of Total Safety Management (TSM) was introduced in
1996 to help safety professionals working in organizations that subscribe to the Total
Quality Management (TQM) philosophy and/or that pursue ISO 9000 registration.
In 2000, U.S. firms began to pursue ISO 14000 registration, and workplace terrorism
became an important issue in 2003. In 2007, as more and more older people reentered the
workforce, their special safety needs became an issue for safety professionals. In 2010, organizations began to concern themselves with off-the-job safety as a critical part of their
overall safety and health plan.
Figure 1–1 summarizes some significant milestones in the development of the safety
movement in the United States.
TRAGEDIES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE SAFETY MOVEMENT
Safety and health tragedies in the workplace have greatly accelerated the pace of the
safety movement in the United States. Three of the most significant events in the history
of the safety and health movement were the Hawk’s Nest tragedy, asbestos menace, and
the Bhopal tragedy. This section explains these three milestone events and their lasting
effects on the safety and health movement in the United States.
Hawk’s Nest Tragedy
In the 1930s, the public began to take notice of the health problems suffered by employees who worked in dusty environments. The Great Depression was indirectly responsible for the attention given to an occupational disease that came to be known as
silicosis. As the economic crash spread, business after business shut down and laid off
its workers. Unemployed miners and foundry workers began to experience problems
finding new jobs when physical examinations revealed that they had lung damage
from breathing silica. Cautious insurance companies recommended preemployment
physicals as a way to prevent future claims based on preexisting conditions. Applicants
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now
1867
Massachusetts introduces factory inspection.
1868
Patent is awarded for first barrier safeguard.
1869
Pennsylvania passes law requiring two exits from all mines, and the Bureau
of Labor Statistics is formed.
1877
Massachusetts passes law requiring safeguards on hazardous machines,
and the Employer’s Liability Law is passed.
1892
First recorded safety program is established.
1900
Frederick Taylor conducts first systematic studies of efficiency in
manufacturing.
1907
Bureau of Mines is created by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
1908
Concept of workers’ compensation is introduced in the United States.
1911
Wisconsin passes the first effective workers’ compensation law in the
United States, and New Jersey becomes the first state to uphold a workers’
compensation law.
1912
First Cooperative Safety Congress meets in Milwaukee.
1913
National Council of Industrial Safety is formed.
1915
National Council of Industrial Safety changes its name to National Safety
Council.
1916
Concept of negligent manufacture is established (product liability).
1936
National Silicosis Conference convened by the U.S. Secretary of Labor.
1970
Occupational Safety and Health Act passes.
1977
Federal Mine Safety Act passes.
1986
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act pass.
1990
Amended Clean Air Act of 1970 passes.
1996
Total safety management (TSM) concept is introduced.
2000
U.S. firms begin to pursue ISO 14000 registration for environmental safety
management.
2003
Workplace terrorism is an ongoing concern of safety and health
professionals.
2007
Safety of older people reentering the workplace becomes an issue.
2010
Off-the-job safety becomes an issue.
7
Figure 1–1
Milestones in the safety movement.
with silica-damaged lungs were refused employment. Many of them sued. This marked
the beginning of industry-wide interest in what would eventually be called the “king”
of occupational diseases.
Lawsuits and insurance claims generated public interest in silicosis, but it was the
Hawk’s Nest tragedy that solidified public opinion in favor of protecting workers from
this debilitating disease.13 A company was given a contract to drill a passageway through
a mountain located in the Hawk’s Nest region of West Virginia (near the city of Gauley
Bridge). Workers spent as many as 10 hours per day breathing the dust created by drilling
and blasting. It turned out that this particular mountain had an unusually high silica content. Silicosis is a disease that normally takes 10 to 30 years to show up in exposed workers. At Hawk’s Nest, workers began dying in as little time as a year. By the time the project
was completed, hundreds had died. To make matters even worse, the company often
buried an employee who died from exposure to silica in a nearby field without notifying
the family. Those who inquired were told that their loved one left without saying where
he was going.
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CHAPTER 1
A fictitious account of the Gauley Bridge disaster titled Hawk’s Nest, by Hubert Skidmore, whipped the public outcry into a frenzy, forcing Congress to respond.
This tragedy and the public outcry that resulted from it led a group of companies to
form the Air Hygiene Foundation to conduct research and develop standards for working
in dusty environments. Soon thereafter, the U.S. Department of Labor provided the leadership necessary to make silicosis a compensable disease under workers’ compensation
in most states. Today, dust-producing industries use a wide variety of administrative controls, engineering controls, and personal protective equipment to protect workers in
dusty environments. However, silicosis is still a problem. Approximately 1 million workers in the United States are still exposed to silica every year, and 250 people die annually
from silicosis.
Asbestos Menace
Asbestos was once considered a “miracle” fiber, but in 1964, Dr. Irving J. Selikoff told 400
scientists at a conference on the biological effects of asbestos that this widely used material was killing workers. This conference changed how Americans viewed not just asbestos, but workplace hazards in general. Selikoff was the first to link asbestos to lung
cancer and respiratory diseases.14
At the time of Selikoff’s findings, asbestos was one of the most widely used materials in the United States. It was found in homes, schools, offices, factories, ships, and
even in the filters of cigarettes. Selikoff continued to study the effects of asbestos exposure from 1967 to 1986. During this time, he studied the mortality rate of 17,800
workers who had been exposed to asbestos. He found asbestos-related cancer in the
lungs, gastrointestinal tract, larynx, pharynx, kidneys, pancreas, gall bladder, and bile
ducts of workers.
Finally, in the 1970s and 1980s, asbestos became a controlled material. Regulations
governing the use of asbestos were developed, and standards for exposure were established. Asbestos-related lawsuits eventually changed how industry dealt with this tragic
material. In the 1960s, industry covered up or denied the truth about asbestos. Now, there
is an industry-wide effort to protect workers who must remove asbestos from old buildings and ships during remodeling, renovation, or demolition projects.
Bhopal Tragedy
On the morning of December 3, 1984, over 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) and other
lethal gases, including hydrogen cyanide, leaked into the northern end of Bhopal, killing
more than 3,000 people in its aftermath.15 After the accident, it was discovered that the
protective equipment that could have halted the impending disaster was not in full working order. The refrigeration system that should have cooled the storage tank was shut
down, the scrubbing system that should have absorbed the vapor was not immediately
available, and the flare system that would have burned any vapor that got past the scrubbing system was out of order.16
The International Medical Commission visited Bhopal to assess the situation and
found that as many as 50,000 other people had been exposed to the poisonous gas and
may still suffer disability as a result. This disaster shocked the world. Union Carbide Corporation, the owner of the chemical plant in Bhopal, India, where the incident occurred,
was accused of many things, including the following:
• Criminal negligence.
• Corporate prejudice. Choosing poverty-stricken Bhopal, India, as the location for a
hazardous chemical plant on the assumption that few would care if something went
wrong.
• Avoidance. Putting its chemical plant in Bhopal, India, to avoid the stricter safety
and health standards of the United States and the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) in particular.
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now
9
In February 1989, India’s Supreme Court ordered Union Carbide India Ltd. to pay
$470 million in compensatory damages. The funds were paid to the Indian government
to be used to compensate the victims. This disaster provided the impetus for the passage of stricter safety legislation worldwide. In the United States, it led to the passage
of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986.
ROLE OF ORGANIZED LABOR
Organized labor has played a crucial role in the development of the safety movement in
the United States. From the outset of the Industrial Revolution in this country, organized
labor has fought for safer working conditions and appropriate compensation for workers
injured on the job. Many of the earliest developments in the safety movement were the result of long and hard-fought battles by organized labor.
Although the role of unions in promoting safety is generally acknowledged, one
school of thought takes the opposite view. Proponents of this dissenting view hold that
union involvement actually slowed the development of the safety movement. Their theory is that unions allowed their demands for safer working conditions to become entangled with their demands for better wages; as a result, they met with resistance from
management. Regardless of the point of view, there is no question that working conditions in the earliest years of the safety movement were often reflective of an insensitivity
to safety concerns on the part of management.
Among the most important contributions of organized labor to the safety movement
was their work to overturn antilabor laws relating to safety in the workplace. These laws
were the fellow servant rule, the statutes defining contributory negligence, and the concept of assumption of risk.17 The fellow servant rule held that employers were not liable
for workplace injuries that resulted from the negligence of other employees. For example,
if Worker X slipped and fell, breaking his back in the process, because Worker Y spilled
oil on the floor and left it there, the employer’s liability was removed. In addition, if the
actions of employees contributed to their own injuries, the employer was absolved of any
liability. This was the doctrine of contributory negligence. The concept of assumption of
risk was based on the theory that people who accept a job assume the risks that go with it.
It says employees who work voluntarily should accept the consequences of their actions
on the job rather than blame the employer.
Because the overwhelming majority of industrial accidents involve negligence on
the part of one or more workers, employers had little to worry about. Therefore, they had
little incentive to promote a safe work environment. Organized labor played a crucial
role in bringing deplorable working conditions to the attention of the general public.
Public awareness and, in some cases, outrage eventually led to these employer-biased
laws being overturned in all states except one. In New Hampshire, the fellow servant
rule still applies.
ROLE OF SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS
Specific health problems that have been tied to workplace hazards have played significant roles in the development of the modern safety and health movement. These health
problems contributed to public awareness of dangerous and unhealthy working conditions that, in turn, led to legislation, regulations, better work procedures, and better working conditions.
Lung disease in coal miners was a major problem in the 1800s, particularly in Great
Britain, where much of the Western world’s coal was mined at the time. Frequent contact
10
CHAPTER 1
Discussion Case
What Is Your Opinion?
Two safety and health students are debating the issue of corporate responsibility. Tom thinks that industry has clearly demonstrated its unwillingness over the years to provide a safe and healthy work
environment for employees. He offers such examples as the Gauley Bridge disaster and the Bhopal
gas tragedy as evidence. Janet agrees that industry indeed has a checkered past on safety and
health, but she thinks employers have learned that their workforce is a valuable asset that should be
protected. Tom’s response is, “Take away federal and state mandates, and industry would return to
its old ways in less than a year.” Join this debate. What is your opinion?
with coal dust led to a widespread outbreak of anthrocosis among Great Britain’s coal
miners. Also known as the black spit, this disease persisted from the early 1800s, when it
was first identified, until around 1875, when it was finally eliminated by such safety and
health measures as ventilation and decreased work hours.
In the 1930s, Great Britain saw a resurgence of lung problems among coal miners. By
the early 1940s, British scientists were using the term coal-miner’s pneumoconiosis, or
CWP, to describe a disease from which many miners suffered. Great Britain designated
CWP a separate and compensable disease in 1943. However, the United States did not immediately follow suit, even though numerous outbreaks of the disease had occurred
among miners in this country.
The issue was debated in the United States until Congress finally passed the Coal
Mine Health and Safety Act in 1969. The events that led up to the passage of this act were
tragic. An explosion in a coal mine in West Virginia in 1968 killed 78 miners. This
tragedy focused attention on mining health and safety, and Congress responded by passing the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. The act was amended in 1977 and again in 1978
to broaden the scope of its coverage.
Over the years, the diseases suffered by miners were typically lung diseases caused
by the inhalation of coal dust particulates. However, health problems were not limited to
coal miners. Other types of miners developed a variety of diseases, the most common of
which was silicosis. Once again, it took a tragic event—the Gauley Bridge disaster, discussed earlier—to focus attention on a serious workplace problem.
Congress held a series of hearings on the matter in 1936. That same year, representatives from business, industry, and government attended the National Silicosis Conference, convened by the U.S. secretary of labor. Among other outcomes of this conference
was a finding that silica dust particulates did, in fact, cause silicosis.
Mercury poisoning is another health problem that has contributed to the evolution
of the safety and health movement by focusing public attention on unsafe conditions
in the workplace. The disease was first noticed among the citizens of a Japanese fishing village in the early 1930s. A disease with severe symptoms was common in Minamata, but extremely rare throughout the rest of Japan. After much investigation into
the situation, it was determined that a nearby chemical plant periodically dumped
methyl mercury into the bay that was the village’s primary source of food. Consequently, the citizens of this small village ingested hazardous dosages of mercury every
time they ate fish from the bay.
Mercury poisoning became an issue in the United States after a study was conducted in the early 1940s that focused on New York City’s hat-making industry. During
that time, many workers in this industry displayed the same types of symptoms as the
citizens of Minamata, Japan. Because mercury nitrate was used in the production of
hats, enough suspicion was aroused to warrant a study. The study linked the symptoms of workers with the use of mercury nitrate. As a result, the use of this hazardous
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now
11
chemical in the hat-making industry was stopped, and a suitable substitute—hydrogen
peroxide—was found.
As discussed earlier, asbestos was another important substance in the evolution of the
modern safety and health movement. By the time it was determined that asbestos is a hazardous material, the fibers of which can cause asbestosis or lung cancer (mesothelioma),
thousands of buildings contained the substance. As these buildings began to age, the asbestos—particularly that used to insulate pipes—began to break down. As asbestos breaks
down, it releases dangerous microscopic fibers into the air. These fibers are so hazardous
that removing asbestos from old buildings has become a highly specialized task requiring
special equipment and training.
DEVELOPMENT OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROGRAMS
In the modern workplace, there are many different types of accident prevention programs
ranging from the simple to the complex. Widely used accident prevention techniques include failure minimization, fail-safe designs, isolation, lockouts, screening, personal protective equipment, redundancy, timed replacements, and many others. These techniques
are individual components of broader safety programs. Such programs have evolved
since the late 1800s.
In the early 1800s, employers had little concern for the safety of workers and little incentive to be concerned. Consequently, organized safety programs were nonexistent, a situation that continued for many years. However, between World War I and World War II,
industry discovered the connection between quality and safety. Then, during World War
II, troop call-ups and deployments created severe labor shortages. Faced with these shortages, employers could not afford to lose workers to accidents or for any other reason. This
realization created a greater openness toward giving safety the serious consideration that
it deserved. For example, according to the SME, around this time industry began to realize
the following:
•
•
•
•
Improved engineering could prevent accidents.
Employees were willing to learn and accept safety rules.
Safety rules could be established and enforced.
Financial savings from safety improvement could be reaped by savings in compensation and medical bills.18
With these realizations came the long-needed incentive for employers to begin playing
an active role in creating and maintaining a safe workplace. This, in turn, led to the development of organized safety programs sponsored by management. Early safety programs were
based on the three E’s of safety: engineering, education, and enforcement (see Figure 1–2).
The engineering aspects of a safety program involve making design improvements to both
Figure 1–2
Three E’s of safety.
Enforcement
Education
Engineering
12
CHAPTER 1
product and process. By altering the design of a product, the processes used to manufacture
it can be simplified and, as a result, made less dangerous. In addition, the manufacturing
processes for products can be engineered in ways that decrease potential hazards associated
with the processes.
The education aspect of a safety program ensures that employees know how to work
safely, why it is important to do so, and that safety is expected by management. Safety education typically covers the what, when, where, why, and how of safety.
The enforcement aspect of a safety program involves making sure that employees
abide by safety policies, rules, regulations, practices, and procedures. Supervisors
and fellow employees play a key role in the enforcement aspects of modern safety
programs.
DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS
Today, numerous organizations are devoted in full, or at least in part, to the promotion
of safety and health in the workplace. Figure 1–3 lists organizations with workplace
safety as part of their missions. Figure 1–4 lists several governmental agencies and two
related organizations concerned with safety and health. These lists are extensive now,
but this has not always been the case. Safety organizations in this country had humble
beginnings.
The grandfather of them all is the NSC. The SME traces the genesis of this organization as follows:
The Association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers was organized in the first decade of the
20th century and devoted much attention to safety problems in its industry. In 1911, a request came from this association to call a national industrial safety conference. The first Cooperative Safety Congress met in Milwaukee in 1912. A year later, at a meeting in New York
City, the National Council of Industrial Safety was formed. It began operation in a small office in Chicago. At its meeting in 1915, the organization’s name was changed to the National
Safety Council (NSC).19
Figure 1–3
Organizations concerned with workplace
safety.
Alliance for American Insurers
American Board of Industrial Hygiene
American Conference of Government Industrial
Hygienists
American Industrial Hygiene Association
American Insurance Association
American National Standards Institute
American Occupational Medical Association
American Society for Testing and Materials
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
American Society of Safety Engineers
Chemical Transportation Emergency Center
Human Factors Society
National Fire Protection Association
National Safety Council
National Safety Management Society
Society of Automotive Engineers
System Safety Society
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now
13
American Public Health Association*
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bureau of National Affairs
Commerce Clearing House*
Environmental Protection Agency
National Institute for Standards and Technology (formerly National Bureau of
Standards)
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
*
Not a government agency.
Figure 1–4
Government agencies and other organizations concerned with workplace safety.
Today, the NSC is the largest organization in the United States devoted solely to safety
and health practices and procedures. Its purpose is to prevent the losses, both direct and
indirect, arising out of accidents or from exposure to unhealthy environments. Although
it is chartered by an act of Congress, the NSC is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit, public
service organization.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government’s administrative arm for the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). Formed in 1970,
OSHA sets and revokes safety and health standards, conducts inspections, investigates
problems, issues citations, assesses penalties, petitions the courts to take appropriate action against unsafe employers, provides safety training, provides injury prevention consultation, and maintains a database of health and safety statistics.
Another governmental organization is the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH). This organization is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the Department of Health and Human Services. NIOSH is required to
publish annually a comprehensive list of all known toxic substances. NIOSH will also
provide on-site tests of potentially toxic substances so that companies know what they
are handling and what precautions to take.
Safety Fact
Safety Movement and War
World War II actually had a positive effect on the modern safety and health movement. During
the war, there was a shortage of able-bodied, skilled workers in factories supporting the war effort because most of these workers were in the armed services. Consequently, preserving the
safety and health of the relatively few skilled workers still available was paramount. The law of
supply and demand suddenly made workplace safety a significant issue, which it still is today.
The military war is over, but the economic war still rages. To be competitive in this international
conflict, employers today must follow the lead of their predecessors during World War II and
protect their employees.
14
CHAPTER 1
SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT TODAY
The safety and health movement has come a long way since the Industrial Revolution. Today, there is widespread understanding of the importance of providing a safe and healthy
workplace. The tone was set during and after World War II when all the various practitioners of occupational health and safety began to see the need for cooperative efforts.
These practitioners included safety engineers, safety managers, industrial hygienists, occupational health nurses, and physicians.
One of the earliest and most vocal proponents of the cooperative or integrated approach was H. G. Dyktor. He proposed the following objectives of integration:
• Learn more through sharing knowledge about health problems in the workplace, particularly those caused by toxic substances.
• Provide a greater level of expertise in evaluating health and safety problems.
• Provide a broad database that can be used to compare health and safety problems experienced by different companies in the same industry.
• Encourage accident prevention.
• Make employee health and safety a high priority.20
INTEGRATED APPROACH TO SAFETY AND HEALTH
The integrated approach has become the norm that typifies the safety and health movement of today. By working together and drawing on their own respective areas of expertise, safety and health professionals are better able to identify, predict, control, and
correct safety and health problems.
OSHA reinforces the integrated approach by requiring companies to have a plan for
doing at least the following: (1) providing appropriate medical treatment for injured or
ill workers, (2) regularly examining workers who are exposed to toxic substances, and
(3) having a qualified first-aid person available during all working hours.
Smaller companies may contract out the fulfillment of these requirements. Larger
companies often maintain a staff of safety and health professionals. According to A.
Hamilton and H. Hardy, the health and safety staff in a modern industrial company may
include the following positions:
• Industrial hygiene chemist and/or engineer. Companies that use toxic substances may
employ industrial hygiene chemists periodically to test the work environment and the
people who work in it. In this way, unsafe conditions or hazardous levels of exposure
can be identified early, and corrective or preventive measures can be taken. Dust levels,
ventilation, and noise levels are also monitored by individuals serving in this capacity.
• Radiation control specialist. Companies that use or produce radioactive materials
employ radiation control specialists who are typically electrical engineers or physicists. These specialists monitor the radiation levels to which workers may be exposed, test workers for levels of exposure, respond to radiation accidents, develop
company-wide plans for handling radiation accidents, and implement decontamination procedures when necessary.
• Industrial safety engineer or manager. Individuals serving as industrial safety engineers or managers are safety and health generalists with specialized education and
training. In larger companies, they may be devoted to safety and health matters. In
smaller companies, they may have other duties in addition to safety and health. In either case, they are responsible for developing and carrying out the company’s overall
safety and health program, including accident prevention, accident investigation, and
education and training.21
Other professionals who may be part of a company’s safety and health team include
occupational nurses, physicians, psychologists, counselors, educators, and dietitians.
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now
15
NEW MATERIALS, NEW PROCESSES, AND NEW PROBLEMS
The job of the safety and health professional is more complex than it has ever been. The
materials out of which products are made have become increasingly complex and exotic.
Engineering metals now include carbon steels, alloy steels, high-strength low-alloy steels,
stainless steels, managing steels, cast steels, cast irons, tungsten, molybdenum, titanium,
aluminum, copper, magnesium, lead, tin, zinc, and powdered metals. Each of these metals requires its own specialized processes.
Nonmetals are more numerous and have also become more complex. Plastics, plastic
alloys and blends, advanced composites, fibrous materials, elastomers, and ceramics also
bring their own potential hazards to the workplace.
In addition to the more complex materials being used in modern industry and the
new safety and health concerns associated with them, modern industrial processes are
also becoming more complex. As these processes become automated, the potential hazards associated with them often increase. Computers; lasers; industrial robots; nontraditional processes such as explosive welding, photochemical machining, laser beam
machining, ultrasonic machining, and chemical milling; automated material handling;
water-jet cutting expert systems; flexible manufacturing cells; and computer-integrated
manufacturing have all introduced new safety and health problems in the workplace and
new challenges for the safety and health professional.
Chapter 23 is devoted to coverage of the special safety and health problems associated
with computers, robots, and automation. In addition, coverage of specific aspects of these
problems is provided in different chapters throughout this book.
RAPID GROWTH IN THE PROFESSION
The complexities of the modern workplace have made safety and health a growing profession. Associate and baccalaureate degree programs in industrial technology typically
include industrial safety courses. Some engineering degree programs have safety and
health tracks. Several colleges and universities offer full degrees in occupational safety
and health.
The inevitable result of the increased attention given to safety and health is that more
large companies are employing safety and health professionals and more small companies are assigning these duties to existing employees. This is a trend that is likely to continue as employers see their responsibilities for safety and health spread beyond the
workplace to the environment, the community, the users of their products, and the recipients of their by-products and waste.
SUMMARY
1. Safety and health awareness has a long history. There is evidence of occupational
safety and health efforts as far back as the time of the Egyptian pharaohs. The Code of
Hammurabi, circa 2000 BC, contained clauses that could be interpreted as early attempts at workers’ compensation. There is also evidence of concern for safety and
health during the time of the Romans.
2. Milestones in the development of the safety movement in the United States include
the following: first recorded safety program in 1892, creation of the Bureau of Mines
in 1907, passage of the first effective workers’ compensation law in the United States
in 1911, and passage of Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970.
16
CHAPTER 1
3. Organized labor has played a crucial role in the development of the safety movement
in the United States. Particularly important was the work of unions to overturn antilabor laws inhibiting safety in the workplace.
4. Specific health problems associated with the workplace have contributed to the development of the modern safety and health movement. These problems include lung
diseases in miners, mercury poisoning, and lung cancer tied to asbestos.
5. Tragedies have changed the face of the safety movement at different times in the
United States. The Hawk’s Nest tragedy, asbestos menace, and Bhopal disaster are examples of such tragedies.
6. Widely used accident prevention techniques include failure minimization, fail-safe
designs, isolation, lockouts, screening, personal protective equipment, redundancy,
and timed replacements.
7. The development of the safety movement in the United States has been helped by the
parallel development of safety organizations. Prominent among these are the National
Safety Council, the National Safety Management Society, the American Society of
Safety Engineers, and the American Industrial Hygiene Association.
8. The safety and health movement today is characterized by professionalization and integration. The safety and health team of a large company may include an industrial
chemist or engineer, radiation control specialist, safety engineer or manager, occupational nurse, counselor, psychologist, and dietitian. New materials and processes are
introducing new safety and health problems, making the integrated approach a practical necessity and promoting growth in the profession.
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Accident prevention
Asbestos menace
Assumption of risk
Bhopal tragedy
Code of Hammurabi
Contributory negligence
Cooperative Safety Congress (CSC)
Employer-biased laws
Employer liability
Fellow servant rule
Hawk’s Nest tragedy
Inanimate power
Industrial hygiene chemists
Industrial safety engineer
Industrial safety manager
National Council of Industrial Safety
(NCIS)
National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH)
Occupational Safety and Health Act
(OSH Act)
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA)
Organized labor
Radiation control specialist
Safety movement
Three E’s of safety
Workers’ compensation
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. To what cause(s) can the improvements in workplace safety made to date be attributed?
2. Explain the significance of the Code of Hammurabi in terms of the safety movement.
3. Describe the circumstances that led to the development of the first organized safety
program.
Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now
17
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What is Frederick Taylor’s connection to the safety movement?
Explain the development of the National Safety Council.
What impact did labor shortages in World War II have on the safety movement?
Explain how workplace tragedies have affected the safety movement. Give examples.
Explain the primary reasons behind the passage of the OSH Act.
Summarize briefly the role that organized labor has played in the advancement of the
safety movement.
10. Define the following terms: fellow servant rule, contributory negligence, and assumption of risk.
11. Explain the three E’s of safety.
12. Explain the term integration as it relates to modern safety and health.
ENDNOTES
1. S. Minter, “The Birth of OSHA,” Occupational Hazards, July 1998, 59.
2. National Safety Council, Accident Facts (Chicago: National Safety Council, 2008).
3. J. LaDou, ed., Introduction to Occupational Health and Safety (Chicago: National
Safety Council, 1997), 28.
4. Ibid., 28.
5. A. Soubiran, “Medical Services under the Pharaohs,” Abbottempo 1: 19–23.
6. LaDou, Occupational Health and Safety, 31.
7. Ibid., 34.
8. Ibid., 35.
9. Ibid., 37.
10. S. Minter and V. Sutcliff, “Fighting Two Wars,” Occupational Hazards, July 1998,
41–42.
11. Ibid., 41.
12. Ibid., 42.
13. Ibid., 41–42.
14. OSHA Fact Sheet: Asbestos. Retrieved from www.osha.gov on January 8, 2009.
15. L. Ted Case Studies: Bhopal Disaster. Retrieved from www.american.edu/ted/bhopal.
htm.
16. Ibid., 67.
17. Minter and Sutcliff, “Fighting Two Wars,” 41.
18. Ibid., 41.
19. Ibid., 42.
20. H. G. Dyktor, “Integration of Industrial Hygiene with Industrial Medicine,” Industrial
Medicine 9, no. 4 (1940): 193.
C H A P T E R
ACCIDENTS AND THEIR EFFECTS
2
Major Topics
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Costs of Accidents
Accidental Deaths in the United States
Accidents versus Other Causes of Death
Work Accident Costs and Rates
Time Lost Because of Work Injuries
Deaths in Work Accidents
Work Injuries by Type of Accident
Death Rates by Industry
Parts of the Body Injured on the Job
Chemical Burn Injuries
Heat Burn Injuries
Repetitive Strain/Soft Tissue Injuries
Estimating the Cost of Accidents
Global Impact of Accidents and Injuries
There is a long history of debate in this country concerning the effect of accidents on industry (the workers and the companies) and the cost of preventing accidents. Historically,
the prevailing view was that accident prevention programs were too costly. The more
contemporary view is that accidents are too costly and that accident prevention makes
sense economically. As a result, accident prevention, which had been advocated on a
moral basis, is now justified in economic terms.
Accidents are the fourth leading cause of death in this country after heart disease,
cancer, and strokes. This ranking is based on all types of accidents, including motor vehicle accidents, drownings, fires, falls, natural disasters, and work-related accidents.
Although deaths from natural disasters tend to be more newsworthy than workplace
deaths, their actual impact is substantially less. For example, natural disasters in the
United States cause fewer than 100 deaths per year on average. Workplace accidents, on
the other hand, cause more than 10,000 deaths every year in the United States.1 The following quote from the National Safety Council (NSC) puts workplace accidents and
deaths in the proper perspective, notwithstanding their apparent lack of newsworthiness.
While you make a 10-minute speech—2 persons will be killed and about 170 will suffer a disabling injury. Costs will amount to $2,800,000. On the average, there are 11 accidental deaths
and about 1,030 disabling injuries every hour during the year.2
This chapter provides prospective and practicing safety and health professionals
with the information they need to have a full understanding of workplace accidents and
their effect on industry in the United States. Such an understanding will help professionals play a more effective role in keeping both management and labor focused appropriately on safety and health in the workplace.
18
Accidents and Their Effects
Figure 2–1
Accident costs by accident type
(in billion, in a typical year).
Motor vehicle accidents
19
$72
Workplace accidents
48
Home accidents
18
Public accidents
12
COSTS OF ACCIDENTS
To gain a proper perspective on the economics of workplace accidents, we must view
them in the overall context of all accidents. The overall cost of accidents in the United
States is approximately $150 billion. These costs include such factors as lost wages,
medical expenses, insurance administration, fire-related losses, motor vehicle property
damage, and indirect costs.
Figure 2–1 breaks down this overall amount by categories of accidents. Figure 2–2
breaks them down by cost categories. Notice in Figure 2–1 that workplace accidents rank
second behind motor vehicle accidents in cost. Figure 2–2 shows that the highest cost category is wages lost by workers who are either injured or killed. The category of indirect
losses from work accidents consists of costs associated with responding to accidents (i.e.,
giving first aid, filling out accident reports, handling production slowdowns).
Clearly, accidents on and off the job cost U.S. industry dearly. Every dollar that is
spent responding to accidents is a dollar that could have been reinvested in modernization, research and development, facility upgrades, and other competitiveness-enhancing
activities.
ACCIDENTAL DEATHS IN THE UNITED STATES
Accidental deaths in the United States result from a variety of causes, including motor vehicle accidents, falls, poisoning, drowning, fire-related injuries, suffocation (ingested object), firearms, medical complications, air transport accidents, interaction with
machinery, mechanical suffocation, and the impact of falling objects. The NSC periodically computes death totals and death rates in each of these categories. The statistics for a
typical year are as follows:
• Motor vehicle accidents. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of accidental
deaths in the United States each year. They include deaths resulting from accidents
involving mechanically or electrically powered vehicles (excluding rail vehicles) that
occur on or off the road. In a typical year, there are approximately 47,000 such deaths
in the United States.
• Falls. This category includes all deaths from falls except those associated with transport vehicles. For example, a person who is killed as the result of falling while boarding
Figure 2–2
Accident costs by categories (in
billions, in a typical year).
Wages lost
Medical expenses
$37
24
Insurance administration
29
Property damage (motor vehicle)
27
Fire losses
10
Indirect losses for work accidents
23
20
CHAPTER 2
•
•
•
•
•
•
a bus or train would not be included in this category. In a typical year, there are approximately 13,000 deaths in the United States from falls.
Poisoning. The poisoning category is divided into two subcategories: (1) poisoning
by solids and liquids and (2) poisoning by gases and vapors. The first category includes deaths that result from the ingestion of drugs, medicine, widely recognized
solid and liquid poisons, mushrooms, and shellfish. It does not include poisoning
from spoiled food or salmonella. The second category includes deaths caused by
incomplete combustion (for example, gas vapors from an oven or unlit pilot light)
or from carbon monoxide (for example, exhaust fumes from an automobile). In a
typical year, there are approximately 6,000 deaths in the first category and 1,000 in
the second.
Drowning. This category includes work-related and non-work-related drownings but
excludes those associated with floods or other natural disasters. In a typical year,
there are approximately 5,000 deaths from drowning in the United States.
Fire-related injuries. This category includes deaths from burns, asphyxiation, falls,
and those that result from falling objects in a fire. In a typical year, there are over
4,000 fire-related deaths in the United States.
Suffocation (ingested object). This category includes deaths from the ingestion of an
object that blocks the air passages. In many such deaths, the ingested object is food. In
a typical year, there are approximately 4,000 suffocation deaths in the United States.
Firearms. This category includes deaths that result when recreational activities involving firearms or household accidents involving firearms result in death. For example, a person killed in the home while cleaning a firearm would be included in this
category. However, a person killed in combat would not be included. In a typical year,
there are approximately 2,000 such deaths in the United States.
Others. This category includes deaths resulting from medical complications arising
out of mistakes made by health care professionals, air transport injuries, interaction
with machinery, mechanical suffocation, and the impact of falling objects. In a typical year, there are over 14,000 deaths in these subcategories.3
ACCIDENTS VERSUS OTHER CAUSES OF DEATH
Although there are more deaths every year from heart disease, cancer, and strokes than
from accidents, these causes tend to be concentrated among people at or near retirement
age. Among people 37 years of age or younger—prime working years—accidents are the
number one cause of death. Figure 2–3 summarizes the causes of death for persons from
25 to 44 years of age. Notice that the leading cause is accidents.
Figure 2–3 shows that accidents represent a serious detriment to productivity, quality, and competitiveness in today’s workplace. Yet accidents are the one cause of death
and injury that companies can most easily control. Although it is true that companies
Figure 2–3
Causes of accidents (ages 25 to
44 years in a typical year).
Accidents
27,500
Cancer
20,300
Motor vehicle
16,500
Heart disease
16,000
Poison (solid, liquid)
2,700
Drowning
1,500
Falls
1,100
Fire related
900
Accidents and Their Effects
21
may have some success in decreasing the incidence of heart disease and stroke among
their employees through such activities as corporate wellness programs, their impact in
this regard is limited. However, employers can have a significant impact on preventing
accidents.
WORK ACCIDENT COSTS AND RATES
Workplace accidents cost employers millions every year. Consider the following examples from the recent past. Arco Chemical Company was ordered to pay $3.48 million in
fines as a result of failing to protect workers from an explosion at its petrochemical plant
in Channelview, Texas. The steel-making division of USX paid a $3.25 million fine to settle numerous health and safety violation citations. BASF Corporation agreed to pay a fine
of $1.06 million to settle Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citations associated with an explosion at a Cincinnati chemical plant that caused two deaths
and 17 injuries.
These examples show the costs of fines only. In addition to fines, these employers incurred costs for safety corrections, medical treatment, survivor benefits, death and burial
costs, and a variety of indirect costs. Clearly, work accidents are expensive. However, the
news is not all bad. The trend in the rate of accidents is downward.
Work accident rates in this century are evidence of the success of the safety movement in the United States. As the amount of attention given to workplace safety and
health has increased, the accident rate has decreased. According to the NSC,
Between 1912 and 1998, accidental work deaths per 100,000 population were reduced 81 percent, from 21 to 4. In 1912, an estimated 18,000 to 21,000 workers’ lives were lost. In 1998, in a
workforce more than triple in size and producing 11 times the goods and services, there were
approximately 10,000 work deaths.4
As Figure 2–1 shows, the cost of these 10,000 work deaths and work injuries was
$48.5 billion. This translates into a cost of $420 per worker in the United States, computed as the value-add required per worker to offset the cost of work injuries. It translates
further into $6.10,000 per death and $18,000 per disabling injury.5
Although statistics are not available to document the supposition, many safety and
health professionals believe that the major cost of accidents and injuries on the job results
from damage to morale. Employee morale is a less tangible factor than documentable factors such as lost time and medical costs. However, it is widely accepted among management professionals that few factors affect productivity more than employee morale.
Employees with low morale do not produce up to their maximum potential. This is why
so much time and money are spent every year to help supervisors and managers learn different ways to help improve employee morale.
Because few things are as detrimental to employee morale as seeing a fellow worker
injured, accidents can have a devastating effect on morale. Whenever an employee is injured, his or her colleagues silently think, “That could have been me,” in addition to worrying about the employee. Morale is damaged even more if the injured employee is
well-liked and other employees know his or her family.
TIME LOST BECAUSE OF WORK INJURIES
An important consideration when assessing the effect of accidents on industry is the
amount of lost time due to work injuries.6 According to the NSC, approximately 35 million hours are lost in a typical year as a result of accidents. This is actual time lost from
disabling injuries and does not include additional time lost for medical checkups after
the injured employee returns to work. Accidents that occurred in previous years often
continue to cause lost time in the current year.
22
CHAPTER 2
Figure 2–4
Work deaths by cause for a
typical year.
Motor vehicle related
37.2%
Falls
12.5
Electric current
3.7
Drowning
3.2
Fire related
3.1
Air transport related
3.0
Poison (solid, liquid)
2.7
Water transport related
1.6
Poison (gas, vapor)
Other
1.4
31.6
DEATHS IN WORK ACCIDENTS
Deaths on the job have decreased markedly over the years. However, they still occur. For
example, in a typical year, there are 10,400 work deaths in the United States. The causes
of death in the workplace vary. They include those related to motor vehicles, falls, electric current, drowning, fires, air transport, poisoning, water transport, machinery, falling
objects, rail transport, and mechanical suffocation.7 Figure 2–4 gives a complete breakdown of the percentages for the various categories of causes.
WORK INJURIES BY TYPE OF ACCIDENT
Work injuries can be classified by the type of accident from which they resulted. The
most common causes of work injuries are
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Overexertion
Impact accidents
Falls
Bodily reaction (to chemicals)
Compression
Motor vehicle accidents
Exposure to radiation or caustics
Rubbing or abrasions
Exposure to extreme temperatures
Overexertion, the result of employees working beyond their physical limits, is the
leading cause of work injuries. According to the NSC, almost 31 percent of all work injuries are caused by overexertion. Impact accidents involve a worker being struck by or
against an object. The next most prominent cause of work injuries is falls.8 The remaining
accidents are distributed fairly equally among the other causes listed above.
DEATH RATES BY INDUSTRY
A variety of agencies and organizations, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the NSC, collect data on death rates within industrial categories.9 Such information can be used in a variety of ways, not the least of which
is in assigning workers’ compensation rates. The most widely used industrial categories
Accidents and Their Effects
23
Discussion Case
What Is Your Opinion?
Mack Jones has been a safety engineer at Zumwalt Processing Company for almost 25 years. His
son David is a recent college graduate who has been the assistant safety director at another company for just six months. Over supper last night, they had a discussion about work injuries. During
the discussion, Mack said he thought back injuries were still the problem that safety professionals
should worry about the most. David disagreed. He said repetitive strain/soft tissue injuries such as
carpal tunnel syndrome were a bigger problem in the modern computerized workplace. What is
your opinion?
are agriculture, including farming, forestry, and fishing; mining/quarrying, including oil
and gas drilling and extraction; construction; manufacturing; transportation/public utilities; trade, both wholesale and retail; services, including finance, insurance, and real estate; and federal, state, and local government.
When death rates are computed on the basis of the number of deaths per 100,000
workers in a given year, the industry categories rank as follows (from highest death rate to
lowest):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Mining/quarrying
Agriculture
Construction
Transportation/public utilities
Government
Manufacturing
Services
Trade
The rankings sometimes change slightly from year to year. For example, agriculture
and mining/quarrying may exchange the first and second ranking in any given year. This
is also true at the low end of the rankings with services and trade. However, generally, the
typical ranking is as listed.
PARTS OF THE BODY INJURED ON THE JOB
To develop and maintain an effective safety and health program, it is necessary to know
not only the most common causes of death and injury but also the parts of the body most
frequently injured. The NSC stated the following:
Disabling work injuries in the entire nation totaled approximately 1.75 million in 1998. Of
these, about 10,400 were fatal and 60,000 resulted in some permanent impairment. Injuries to
the back occurred most frequently, followed by thumb and finger injuries and leg injuries.10
Typically, the most frequent injuries to specific parts of the body are as follows (from
most frequent to least):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Back
Legs and fingers
Arms and multiple parts of the body
Trunk
Hands
Eyes, head, and feet
Neck, toes, and body systems
24
CHAPTER 2
The back is the most frequently injured part of the body. Legs and fingers are injured
with approximately the same frequency, as are arms and multiple parts of the body; the
hands are next in frequency, followed by the eyes, the head, and feet; and neck, toes, and
body systems. This ranking shows that one of the most fundamental components of a
safety and health program should be instruction on how to lift without hurting the back
(see Chapter 15).
CHEMICAL BURN INJURIES
Chemical burn injuries are a special category with which prospective and practicing
safety professionals should be familiar. The greatest incidence of chemical burns (approximately one-third) occurs in manufacturing.11 Other high-incidence industries are
services, trade, and construction.
The chemicals that most frequently cause chemical burn injuries include acids and
alkalies; soaps, detergents, and cleaning compounds; solvents and degreasers; calcium
hydroxide (a chemical used in cement and plaster); potassium hydroxide (an ingredient
in drain cleaners and other cleaning solutions); and sulfuric acid (battery acid). Almost 46
percent of all chemical burn injuries occur while workers are cleaning equipment, tools,
and vehicles.12
What is particularly disturbing about chemical burn injuries is that a high percentage
of them occur in spite of the use of personal protective equipment, the provision of safety
instruction, and the availability of treatment facilities. In some cases, the personal protective equipment is faulty or inadequate. In others, it is not properly used in spite of instructions.
Preventing chemical burn injuries presents a special challenge to safety and health
professionals. The following strategies are recommended:
• Familiarize yourself, the workers, and their supervisors with the chemicals that will
be used and their inherent dangers.
• Secure the proper personal protection equipment for each type of chemical that will
be used.
• Provide instruction on the proper use of personal protection equipment and then
make sure that supervisors confirm that the equipment is used properly every time.
• Monitor that workers are wearing personal protection equipment and replace it when
it begins to show wear.
HEAT BURN INJURIES
Heat burn injuries present a special challenge to safety and health professionals in the
modern workplace. Almost 40 percent of all such injuries occur in manufacturing
every year. The most frequent causes are flame (this includes smoke inhalation injuries), molten metal, petroleum asphalts, steam, and water. The most common activities associated with heat burn injuries are welding, cutting with a torch, and handling
tar or asphalt.13
Following are several factors that contribute to heat burn injuries in the workplace.
Safety and health professionals who understand these factors will be in a better position
to prevent heat burn injuries.
• Employer has no health and safety policy regarding heat hazards.
• Employer fails to enforce safety procedures and practices.
• Employees are not familiar with the employer’s safety policy and procedures concerning heat hazards.
Accidents and Their Effects
•
•
•
•
•
•
25
Employees fail to use or improperly use personal protection equipment.
Employees have inadequate or worn personal protection equipment.
Employees work in a limited space.
Employees attempt to work too fast.
Employees are careless.
Employees have poorly maintained tools and equipment.14
These factors should be considered carefully by safety and health professionals when
developing accident prevention programs. Employees should be familiar with the hazards, should know the appropriate safety precautions, and should have and use the
proper personal protection equipment. Safety professionals should monitor to ensure that
safety rules are being followed, that personal protection equipment is being used correctly, and that it is in good condition.
REPETITIVE STRAIN/SOFT TISSUE INJURIES
Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is a broad and generic term that encompasses a variety of
injuries resulting from cumulative trauma to the soft tissues of the body, including tendons, tendon sheaths, muscles, ligaments, joints, and nerves. Such injuries are typically
associated with the soft tissues of the hands, arms, neck, and shoulders.
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most widely known RSI. There are also several other RSIs to the body’s soft tissues. The carpal tunnel is the area inside the wrist
through which the median nerve passes. It is formed by the wrist bones and a ligament.
CTS is typically caused by repeated and cumulative stress on the median nerve. Symptoms of CTS include numbness, a tingling sensation, and pain in the fingers, hand, and/
or wrist.
Stress placed on the median nerve typically results from repeated motion while the
hands and fingers are bent in an unnatural position. However, sometimes the stress results from a single traumatic ev...
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