Occupational health and safety

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is the multidisciplinary field concerned with protecting workers' safety, health, and welfare by preventing workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths through hazard identification, risk assessment, and implementation of control measures (Heinrich H.W. 1931, p.14)^[1]. The construction worker falls from scaffolding. The factory employee develops hearing loss from years of noise exposure. The office worker suffers repetitive strain injury from poor ergonomics. Each represents an occupational health and safety failure—harm that proper systems could have prevented.

The field emerged from industrial revolution horrors. Child laborers in coal mines. Sixty-hour weeks in unventilated factories. Preventable deaths treated as acceptable costs. Social reformers, labor unions, and eventually governments demanded change. Today, OHS encompasses complex regulatory frameworks, management systems, and professional practices. Yet the statistics remain sobering: the International Labour Organization estimates nearly 3 million workers die annually from work-related causes—one death every 11 seconds.

Components

OHS addresses multiple dimensions:

Safety

Immediate hazards. Protection from acute physical harm—falls, machinery accidents, electrical shocks, fires. Safety focuses on preventing sudden traumatic injuries^[2].

Physical environment. Guarding machinery, maintaining equipment, ensuring structural integrity.

Health

Chronic exposures. Protection from hazards causing illness over time—chemical exposures, noise, radiation, ergonomic stressors.

Disease prevention. Occupational medicine addresses work-related illnesses from respiratory diseases to cancers^[3].

Welfare

Working conditions. Broader concerns including working hours, rest breaks, access to facilities, and work organization.

Psychosocial factors. Mental health, stress, harassment, and workplace violence increasingly receive attention.

Hazard types

Workplaces present various hazard categories:

Physical. Noise, vibration, temperature extremes, radiation, poor lighting.

Chemical. Toxic substances, carcinogens, flammable materials, dust^[4].

Biological. Infectious agents, bacteria, viruses, molds.

Ergonomic. Repetitive motions, awkward postures, manual handling.

Psychosocial. Stress, harassment, violence, excessive workload.

Risk management

OHS applies systematic risk management:

Hazard identification

Finding dangers. Workplace inspections, incident investigations, job safety analyses, and worker feedback identify hazards before they cause harm^[5].

Risk assessment

Evaluating severity. Assessing likelihood and consequences of harm enables prioritization of control efforts.

Control hierarchy

Most to least effective.

1. Elimination: Remove the hazard entirely
2. Substitution: Replace with something less hazardous
3. Engineering controls: Isolate people from hazards
4. Administrative controls: Change how people work
5. Personal protective equipment: Protect the individual worker

Higher-level controls are preferred because they don't depend on human behavior^[6].

Management systems

Systematic approaches ensure sustained performance:

ISO 45001. The international standard for OHS management systems specifies requirements for planning, implementation, checking, and improvement.

Plan-Do-Check-Act. Continuous improvement cycle applied to safety performance.

Leadership commitment. Effective OHS requires visible management commitment, not just compliance procedures.

Worker participation. Those doing the work understand hazards best. Effective systems involve workers in identifying and controlling risks^[7].

Legal framework

Regulation drives OHS practice:

Statutory requirements. Laws establish employer duties to provide safe workplaces. Penalties for violations can include fines and criminal prosecution.

Standards. Regulatory agencies like OSHA publish detailed requirements for specific hazards—permissible exposure limits, required safeguards.

Liability. Beyond regulatory penalties, employers may face civil liability for worker injuries^[8].

Business case

Beyond ethics and compliance, OHS makes business sense:

Cost avoidance. Workplace injuries and illnesses generate direct costs (medical expenses, compensation) and indirect costs (lost productivity, replacement hiring, quality problems).

Productivity. Safe, healthy workers perform better than those worried about hazards or impaired by poor conditions.

Reputation. Safety performance affects employer brand, customer relationships, and ability to attract talent.

Occupational health and safety — recommended articles

Risk management — Quality management — Human resources management — ISO 45001

References

• Heinrich H.W. (1931), Industrial Accident Prevention, McGraw-Hill.
• ILO (2001), Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems.
• OSHA (2023), Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs.
• ISO (2018), ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Heinrich H.W. (1931), Industrial Accident Prevention, p.14
2. ↑ ILO (2001), OHS Guidelines, pp.23-38
3. ↑ OSHA (2023), Recommended Practices
4. ↑ ISO (2018), ISO 45001, Annex A
5. ↑ Heinrich H.W. (1931), Industrial Accident Prevention, pp.78-92
6. ↑ ILO (2001), OHS Guidelines, pp.56-72
7. ↑ OSHA (2023), Worker Participation
8. ↑ ISO (2018), ISO 45001, pp.12-18

Author: Sławomir Wawak