Health & Safety Management Lecturing Resource for Quarrying Related Degree Courses
LECTURE NOTES: INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH & SAFETY IN INDUSTRY
Objectives of this Section
•
To define the basic terminology of the subject area.
•
To outline the reasons for a safe and healthy workplace.
To show the accident trends in the UK industry as a whole and the quarrying industry in particular.
•
1.0
Basic Terminology of the Subject Area
As terminology used in relation to health and safety has different meanings in different contexts within industry, it is useful to distinguish some commonly used terms that will be used throughout this course.. The following definitions are those put forward by the HSE 1. Accident – undesired circumstances which give rise to ill-health or injury, damage to property, plant, products or the environment; production losses or increased liabilities. Incident – undesired circumstances and ‘near misses’ which could cause accidents. Ill health – Acute and chronic ill health caused by physical, chemical or biological agents as well as adverse effects on mental health. Hazard – The potential to cause harm. Harm including ill health and injury, damage to property, plant, products or the environment, production losses or increased liabilities. Risk means the likelihood that a specified undesired event will occur due to the realisation of a hazard by, or during work activities or by the products and services created by work activities.
1
HSE (1997), Successful Health and Safety Management, HS(G)65, 2nd Edition, HSE Books.
The concept of hazards and risk will be discussed in greater detail later in this course. The relationship between these concepts is shown in the following diagram (from Glendon & McKenna, 19952)
Hazards/Danger Observable or predicted from knowledge
Risk Not directly observable - probability of harm to system elements being realised from exposure to hazards and danger.
Harm Damage to system elements - long or short term
Accidents
Injuries
Ill-Health
Damage
Safety Safety may be considered at the control of all the above elements but a more functional definition is given by Bird & Germain 3(1985) which is the ‘control of accidental loss’ .
2
3
Glendon AI & McKenna EF (1995), Human Safety and Risk Management, Chapman & Hall. Bird FE & Germain GL (1985), Practical Loss Control Leadership, International Loss Control
Institute, Institute Publishing, Loganville, Georgia.
2.0
The Size of the Problem:
The increasing size and complexity of industrial processes creates increased scope for major disasters, leading to greatly increased public concern about industrial safety. The last two decades have seen a series of such disasters both world-wide (e.g. Bhopal, Seveso, and Cheroybl) and the UK (e.g. Clapham Junction, King’s Cross, Piper Alpha, Herald of Free Enterprise, Ladbrock Grove, Paddington). It is estimated that each year there are 3 million fatalities resulting from accidents or poisoning, the majority of which occur in under developing countries. Occupational accidents, defined as those accidents that occur at the place of work, are also of major concern. Each year 180 000 people are killed as a result of accidents at work, whilst 110 million are injured (Harms Ringdahl, 1992) 4. According to data collected in 1988 (Hoyos & Zimolong, 1988 5), in the USA a fatal accident occurs every 6 minutes, a fatal occupational injury occurs every 46 minutes and a work accident that results in an injury occurs every 17 seconds. In 1992, more then 86,000 people died in the US. In the UK, the 1990 Labour Force Survey stated that there were an estimated 1.6 million accidents at work where 750,000 people suffered ill health caused or made worse by working conditions. In all 30 million working days were lost in which 20 000 people were forced to give up work.
4
Harms-Ringdahl, L. (1993), Safety Analysis – Principals & Practices in Occupational Safety, Elsevier
5
Hoyos, C.G & Zimolong, B (1988), Occupational Safety & Accident Prevention, Elsevier
3.0
Reasons for Preventing Accidents
There are three main reasons for preventing accidents and ill-health, these are moral/humane, cost and legislation.
Moral No-body comes to work to get injured or to become ill. No-one likes getting injured or seeing their colleagues or friends injured in accidents. Nothing is more important than the humane aspects of accidental loss: injury, pain, sorrow, anguish, loss of body particles or functions, occupational illness, disability and death. Employers and employees have a moral responsibility to prevent accidents and ill-health at work.
Costs Whether or not people are hurt, accidents do cost organisations money and the actual injury or illness costs represent only a small part of the total. A recent study by the HSE 6 has shown that for every £1 of insured costs (i.e. the actual cost of the injury or illness in terms of medical costs or compensation costs) the uninsured (or ‘hidden’ costs) varied between £8 and £36. This has been traditionally depicted as an ‘iceberg’ as the largest part of an iceberg is hidden under the sea.
6
HSE (1997), The Cost of Accidents at Work, HS(G)96, 2nd Edition, HSE Books.
Insurance Costs
£1
Covering Injury, health, damage
£8-36
ill
Uninsured Costs
Product and material damage. Plant & building damage Tool & equipment damage. Legal costs Expenditure on emergency supplies. Clearing site Production delays Overtime working and temporary labour Investigation time. Supervisor’s time diverted Clerical effort. Fines Loss of expertise/experience
In October 1999 the HSE published new data 7 on the costs to the UK of workplace accidents and work related ill-health in 1995/96 which estimated that: •
The costs to employers is estimated at between £35 billion and £73 billion a year (between 4% and 8% of all gross company trading profits).
•
Work related accidents & Illnesses cost between 2.1% and 2.6% of the Gross Domestic Product each year – equivalent to between £14.5 and 18.1 billion.
7
HSE (1999) The Costs to Britain of Workplace Accidents and Work Related Ill Health in 1995/96,
HSE Books.
Legislation Organisations have a legal obligation to prevent accidents and ill-health. Health and Safety Legislation in the UK consists of a number of Acts that are supported by subordinate legislation in the form of Regulations. The principal act is the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974. This Act sets in place a system based on self-regulation with the responsibility for accident control placed on those who create the risks in the first instance. It also allows for the progressive replacement of existing safety law so that the general duties set in the 1974 act could be backed by Regulations, setting goals and standards for specific hazards and industries. Any breach of this statutory duty can result in criminal proceedings.
4.0
Accident Statistics and Trends in the UK
The number of injuries to employees, self employed and members to the public that have occurred and been reported over the last ten years are shown in the table below.
Fatal
1989/9 0
1990/9 1
1991/9 2
1992/9 3
1993/9 4
1994/9 5
1995/9 6
1996/9 7 (a)
1997/9 8
1998/9 9
681 (b)
572
473
452
403
376
344
654
667
625
Major
workers
21706
21222
18698
18053
17979
18354
17734
29320
30002
28821
Nonfatal
Public
11378
9981
11009
10669
11552
12642
13234
35694
28613
23588
+3 day
16710 9
16288 8
15433 8
14328 3
13745 9
14221 8
13297 6
12956 8
13577 3
13119 1
TOTAL
22087 4
19466 3
18451 8
17245 7
16739 3
17359 0
16428 8
19523 6
19505 5
18422 5
Notes: (a) Figures from 1996/97 are higher than previous years because of changes in accident reporting brought about by RIDDOR’95 (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulation). Hence these figures cannot be compared with those of earlier years. (b) This figure includes the 95 persons killed in the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster.
Accident Trends8 •
Fatals – During the year 1998/99 the three most common causes of fatalities to employees were falls from height, being struck by a moving vehicle, and being struck by a falling object. However, the causes varied from sector to sector. In construction, most deaths were caused by falls from height (46%). In manufacturing and the service sector, falls from height accounted for 20% and 16% of deaths respectively. Within the service sector, 40% of all deaths were caused by being struck by moving vehicles, up 33% the previous year.
•
Non Fatal Major Injuries – The four most common causes of major injuries to all employees in 1998/99 were slips, trips and falls, falls from a height, being struck by a moving or falling object, and being injured whilst handling, lifting or carrying. HSE figures mention that an estimated 591 major injuries were caused by violence at work, this is a reduction from the previous year’s number (680) but still represents 2 per cent of all major injuries experience by employees.
8
Taken from an article in the “Safety and Health Practitioner” December 1999
•
+3 day Injuries – Lifting, handling or carrying, slips, trips or falls, and being struck by a moving or falling object were the three most likely ways in which employees were likely to sustain over three day injuries during 1998/99. These figures also pick up the number of injuries caused by violence in the workplace (4335) which is down on the previous year.
•
Ill-health – The most prevalent forms of work related ill-health in the UK are:
Musculoskeletal disorders – an estimated 1.2 million people were affected in
1995 (including back-problems & RSI)
Stress – an estimated 0.5 people were affected in 1995.
Both these conditions accounted for over three-quarters of people suffering from an illness caused by their work. A significant number of people were suffering from a lower respiratory illness, including asthma (an estimated 200,000) and ear conditions, including deafness (an estimated 170,000) which were caused by their work.
5.0
Accident Statistics and Trends in the Quarrying Industry.
Accident Statistics The Quarrying industry is a dangerous industry. It has injury rates that are greater then those in construction and far higher than all industry rates which are shown in the table below 9 (Accident rates are expressed as per 100,000 employees): Quarry Industry
Construction
All Industry
Fatal
20
6
1
Major
400
382
128
+3 Day
1,400
966
589
Over the past five years the actual number of fatalities, major injuries and +3 day injuries is shown in the figure below. There has been little discernible improvement in the industry’s safety performance over this period.
250 200
193
150
144
100
115
108
5
8
124
Fatal Major
50 8
3
5
0 1994/95
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
Accident Trends Over the ten year period (1983-93) there were 81 fatal accidents in the quarrying industry in the UK. At the time an analysis was undertaken into the types of accident and this is presented below10.
9
Baker G (2000) Hard Targets, Paper presented to the Quarries National Joint Advisory Committee,
March. 10
Scott A (1995), Killing Off Errors, Mine & Quarry, May.
TypesofFatal Accident(1983-93) Conveyors
OHL
Falling Objects
Vehicles
SFS Crusher Blockages
Other Maintainence
OHL (3%)
Maintenance (5%)
Contact with Overhead Electricity Lines
While maintaining plant or equipment.
Other (11%)
Crusher Blockages (4%)
Other accidents involving machinery, asphyxiation, burns or explosions.
While clearing crusher or feeder blockages.
Vehicles (41%)
SFS (13%)
Runover by a vehicle, vehicles running over open edge of quarry face, bench or ramp, trapped under vehicle body, vehicle overturned on quarry floor or road, and vehicles colliding with plants or other vehicles
Stumbling Slipping or falling
Engulfed (4%)
Trapped between belt and head/tail drum rollers.
Buried in material
Falling (8%) Struck by falling objects or ground Conveyors (11%)
There are also significant health problems within the quarrying industry, for example respiratory diseases (arising from silica and other dusts), hand-arm vibration syndrome (arising from the use of hand tools), hearing loss (caused by noisy plant and equipment) and muscular-skeletal disorders (from lifting and carrying).
