Physical Hazard: Types, Causes, And Control Measures At Workplace

Types of Physical Hazards

Physical Hazard is one of the types of organizational hazard that takes into consideration environmental hazards that can cause harm with or without contact.

Physical Hazard includes heating devices, noise, fire as well as cold and projectiles.

Pictorial Presentation of the Hazard

Figure: Heat Stress faced by workers at workplace

Figure: Example of Physical Hazard At Workplace

Physical hazard are a common source of injuries found in most of the industries. They are mostly unavoidable in given industries like construction and mining but with the passage of time, it can be seen that people have developed safety methods as well as procedures for managing the risks of physical danger in the workplace.

Falls- It is one of the common causes of occupational injuries as well as fatalities in areas like construction, extraction, healthcare and maintenance.

Machines- From cases, it is found that more drivers die in accidents because of security defects in vehicles. Addition to that, long waiting times at borders is the real cause that drivers are away from home as well as family.

Noise- It is one of the fairly common workplace hazards. Occupational hearing loss is one of the common work-related injuries where workers are exposed to hazardous noise levels at work as well as estimate $242 million that is spent annually on workers compensation for hearing loss disability.

Temperature- Extreme temperature directly poses danger to workers at workplace. Heat stress can cause heat stroke, cramps, rashes as well as exhaustion.

Electricity-This majorly pose danger to the workers and injuries include electric shock, burns as well as falls caused by contact with electric energy.

Types	Possible Sources	Health Effects	Prevention
Noise	Noisy Machines	Annoyance, Stress as well as hearing loss	Purchase of quieter machines and equipment Building enclosures as well as barriers for stopping noise from reaching people Wearing ear protection Reducing the exposure time
Hand or Arm Vibration	Operation of vibrating hand held equipment	HAVS (Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome)	Selecting tools from ant vibration mounting Covering handles with vibration absorbing material Minimizing time of use Avoiding cold exposure to hands
Whole-body vibration	Driving farm tractors or other heavy vehicles Working on a vibrating platform	Wide range of health conditions and back disorders	Vibration absorbing that covers floors where people stand and work for a long period of time
Hot Environments	Working near furnaces Summer Outdoor work	Heat Syncope and heat stroke	Dressing in light loose clothing that allows sweat evaporation
Cold Environments	Working outdoors in cold weather	Trench Foot and Hypothermia	Seeking medical help
Fires	Friction, static electricity, ignition, chemical reactions	Burns and inhalation of toxic flames	Following the fire prevention rules
Slips, Trips and Falls	Slippery and cluttered floors as well as working surfaces	Permanent disability, broken bones as well as bodily injury	Use of proper Equipment Cleaning the spills on immediate basis

There is various control methods used for minimizing a physical hazard at workplace and these are as follows:

Elimination that includes substitution- Elimination means removing the hazard from the workplace or substituting or replacing hazardous materials or machines with less hazardous ones.

Engineering Controls- Engineering controls takes into consideration the designs or modifications to plants, ventilation systems as well as equipment that reduces the sources of exposure.

Administrative Controls- Administrative controls means altering the way the work is done that include timing of work, polices and work practices such as standards and operating procedures by training, housekeeping, personal hygiene practices as well as equipment maintenance.

Personal Protective Equipment- This equipment is worn by individuals for reducing the exposure like contact with chemicals on exposure to noise.

Common Causes of Physical Hazard

The above methods are termed as hierarchy of control as it is presented in an order such as it is always advisable to eliminate the hazard at first place.

Fire is one of the potential hazards that are present in all workplace. Addition to that, there are plenty of reasons why workers has to evacuate at that point of time.

Problem- Fires in the work environment have various potential to cause loss. This loss include loss of life, environmental damage, product damage, injury to employees, loss of information, equipment damage as well as community damage and property damage.

Fire Causation factors- Many fires are attributed to malfunctions in electrical equipment through any component failure. There are various causes to the component failure such as ageing, mistreatment or damage, lack of maintenance or neglect, inappropriate use, overworking as well as defective components and inadequate overheating.

WHS Legislation in New South Wales requires that workplace authorities should consult with the workers after identifying the potential hazardous things or situations that causes harm. Hazards can be found in physical work environment, equipment, materials or used substances, work design and management. Hazard can be identified from past incidents or accidents. Employees should be consulted so that they can find out the safety issues.

A noticeable incident is a serious incident that actually relates to work organization and involves serious injury or illness of a person, death of a person and dangerous incident. In order to determine the type of incident, serious injury or illness is defined in the Work Health and Safety Act.

Consultation is defined in the WHS as the sharing of relevant information on health and safety measures where employees are given the opportunity for expressing their views and contribute in a timely fashion. In other words, consultation means that the views of employees are valued as well as taken into account by the business. It needs to be two-way communication that helps employees contribute to decision-making process as it affects health, safety and welfare.

Consultation will help in managing the risks and should be consulted with the WHS consultants on matters relating to physical hazard at workplace. The WHS Act allows health and safety representatives for a work for accessing the information in relation to physical hazards. It is necessary to consult with the workers when planning any changes that affect their health and safety such as purchasing new equipment, developing a new product, changing the work systems as well as restricting of business.

Control Measures for Physical Hazard

In Australia, Safe Work Australia as well as WHS authorities in each State are responsible for enforcing WHS legislation that includes acts and legislation. Any business owner need to abide by the WHS requirements that are set out in the acts and regulations in the State or Territory. In case of Acts, it mainly provides overview of how to make safe workplaces as well as healthy at the same time. This Acts mainly outlines the legal responsibilities as well as duties by acting as an employer and business owner. On the other hand, regulation majorly sets out the standards that will meet for specific hazards as well as risks such as noise, machinery and manual handling. In other words, these regulation sets out the licenses that are required for particular activities for recording and reporting the changes as and when required. Regulating agencies are also termed as regulators majorly administer health as well as safety laws. They are the person who is responsible for inspecting the workplace.

Australian Capital Territory

Act- Work Health and Safety Act 2011

Regulation- Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011

Codes- ACT Codes of Practice

New South Wales

Act- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)

Regulation- Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 (NSW)

Codes- NSW Codes of Practice

Planning to follow up to consult again on hazard and treatment

It is required for following up with the WHS consultants if the identified hazard is not taken care of at the workplace.

A description of where workgroup members can access information about the hazard

Workgroups members can get the access from the meetings and training sessions where each of the aspects of hazard and treatment are explained in detailed manner.

Standard Operating Procedure or SOP is a step-wise instructions compiled by any organization that help workers in carrying out daily operations. The main aim of SOP is to achieve high level of efficiency, quality output as well as uniformity of performance when there is reduced miscommunication as well as failure to comply with the industry regulations. In case of health and safety, procedures are adopted by the organization on an extensive way for assisting the workers for working in a safe environment. The statement used is Safe Work Methods Statements. The guideline supports WHS procedure that explains Managing Workplace Health and Safety risks. It majorly outlines the process that will assist with the development of workplace specific Standard Operating Procedures. This was for plant, equipment, work tasks as well as hazardous chemicals that cause harm to persons.