E-Books: Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety HSSE WORLD

This new edition of Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety introduces the new ILO instruments promoting occupational safety and health, as well as new approaches, tools, and areas of action such as national
OSH programs, national OSH profiles, OSH management systems, HIV/AIDS and the world of work, and technical guidelines for the sound management of chemicals. The book aims to serve as a guide or reference work for the development of OSH policies and programs. It covers the fundamental principles of occupational safety and health, based on the ILO’s philosophy of prevention and protection.

Occupational safety and health (OSH) is generally defined as the science of the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of hazards arising in or from the workplace that could impair the health and well-being of workers,
taking into account the possible impact on the surrounding communities and the general environment. This domain is necessarily vast, encompassing a large number of disciplines and numerous workplace and environmental hazards. A wide range of structures, skills, knowledge, and analytical capacities are needed to coordinate and implement all of the “building blocks” that make up national OSH systems so that protection is extended to both workers and the environment.
The scope of occupational safety and health has evolved gradually and continuously in response to social, political, technological, and economic changes. In recent years, globalization of the world’s economies and its repercussions have been perceived as the greatest force for change in the world of work, and consequently in the scope of occupational safety and health, in both positive and negative ways. Liberalization of world trade, rapid technological progress, significant developments in transport and communication, shifting patterns of employment, changes in work organization practices, the different employment patterns of men and women, and the size, structure, and life cycles of enterprises and of new technologies can all generate new types and patterns of hazards, exposures, and risks.

Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety book’s Cover

Demographic changes and population movements, and the consequent pressures on the global environment can also affect safety and health in the world of work. It is no coincidence that the protection of workers against sickness, disease, and injury related to the working environment, as embodied in the Preamble to the Constitution of the ILO, has been a central issue for the

An unacceptable situation
The human, social, and economic costs of occupational accidents, injuries and
diseases and major industrial disasters have long been causing concern at all
levels from the individual workplace to the national and international.
Measures and strategies designed to prevent, control, reduce or eliminate
occupational hazards and risks have been developed and applied continuously
over the years to keep pace with technological and economic changes. Yet,
despite continuous if slow improvements, occupational accidents and diseases
are still too frequent and their cost in terms of human suffering and economic
burden continues to be significant.

The Contents of Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
PART I OVERVIEW
1 Occupational hazards and risks: The problems and the ILOresponse. . . 3
- An unacceptable situation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
- Variations in performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
- Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
- Economic sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
- Sizes of enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
- Groups at particular risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
- Major OSH instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 Key principles in occupational safety and health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
- Core OSH principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
- Rights and duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
- Workers’ rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19E
- mployers’ responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
- Governments’ duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
PART II NATIONAL FRAMEWORK DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
3 General framework for occupational safety and health. . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 National policy on occupational safety and health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
- General aims and principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
- Policy formulation and review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
- Policy instruments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
- National laws, labour codes and regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
- Role and obligations of the competent authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
- Policy coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
- Education and training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5 National system for occupational safety and health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6 National programmes for occupational safety and health . . . . . . . . . . 41
- A national profile on occupational safety and health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7 Occupational safety and health policy within the enterprise. . . . . . . . 45
- General framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
- Employers’ responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
- Workers’ duties and rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
- Safety and health committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
8 Management of occupational safety and health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
- Management commitment and resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
- Workers’ participation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
- Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
- Organizational aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
- Setting priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
- Planning and development activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
- The place of OSH management in the enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
- Performance measures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
- The OSH management cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
PART III OPERATIONAL MEASURES
9 Legislation, enforcement and collective agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
- Labour inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
- Collective bargaining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
10 Occupational health surveillance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
- Surveillance of the working environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
- General framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
- Monitoring of exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
- Occupational exposure limits (OELs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
- Record-keeping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
- Surveillance of workers’ health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
- General framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
- Medical examinations, health assessments and biological tests. . . 73
- Sickness absence monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
- Reporting of occupational accidents, injuries and diseases . . . . . . 76
- Ethical and legal issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
11 Occupational health services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
- General considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
- Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
- Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
- Primary health care approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
- First aid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
- Curative health services and rehabilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
- Special occupational health needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
- Cooperation and coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
- Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
12 HIV/AIDS and the world of work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
- Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
- Health services and HIV/AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
- Capacity building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
- Training for managers, supervisors and personnel officers . . . . . . 95
- Training for peer educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
- Training for workers’ representatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
- Training for safety and health officers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
- Training for factory/labour inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
- Treatment, care and support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
- Voluntary counselling and testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
- Disclosure and confidentiality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
- Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
- Job security and promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
- Terms and conditions of work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
- Reasonable accommodation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
- Worker assistance programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
- Social protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
- ILO/WHO guidelines on health services and HIV/AIDS . . . . . . . . . . 102
13 Preventive and protective measures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
- General considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
- Engineering control and housekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
- Substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
- Work practices and organizational methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
- Personal protective equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
- Technological change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
- Protection of the general environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
14 Health promotion, education and training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
- Promotion of occupational safety and health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
- Training and information at the national level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
- Training and information at the enterprise level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
- Training methods and materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
- International chemical hazard communication tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
- The International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCs). . . . . . . . . . . 117
- The Globally Harmonized System for the Classification
- and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
- The International Chemical Control Toolkit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
ANNEXES
I Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
II Relevant ILO OSH instruments – Ratifications and status . . . . . . . . . 129
III Excerpts from major OSH international labour standards . . . . . . . . . . 134
IV Model outline for the preparation of a national profile on OSH . . . . . 164
V A checklist for employers writing a safety policy statement . . . . . . . . . 171
VI A checklist for planning and implementing a workplace policy on HIV/AIDS..174
VII Hierarchy of controls applied to risk of blood-borne pathogen exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
VIII Hazard categories defined in the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) . . . . . . . . . . . 178
IX The ILO’s Programme on Safety, Health and the Environment (SafeWork) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
X Selected sources of reliable OSH information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193