FABRICATION

Fabrication Workshop & Legislations

Fabrication Workshop & Legislations

Introduction

Different legislation exists as far as the occupational health and safety is concerned. The basic aim of these legislations is to ensure a safe workplace for the workers and employees and reduce the chances of any mishaps. The term health is defined by the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization as the case of complete physical, mental and social, not merely the absence of disease or illness .It can also be defined as the level of efficiency functional or metabolic action of an organism at both the micro and macro. Occupational health is built on a suitable work environment with fair working conditions where workers can develop a business with dignity and participation wherever possible to improve the health and safety conditions (McCunney, 2003).

Occupational accidents and diseases

Accidents do not just happen, they are caused. In order to ascertain the causes of accidents, they must be appropriately investigated. The investigation must be conducted as soon as possible while all the scene of accident has not been tempered. The investigation is to be done at enterprise level and by the health and safety officers or their representatives accompanied by inspectors from the Employment Department and any other interested parties. The main objective is to establish the main causes of the accident so that recurrence can be prevented (LaDou, 1997).

Occupational accidents at the workplace

Employment injuries include both industrial and commuting accidents resulting to death or personal injury. Industrial accidents are those occurring at a place of work and commuting accidents are those occurring on the way to and from work (Kissner, Pratt, 1997, pp 715-721).

Causes of accidents

Very rarely does an accident arise from a single cause - usually there's a combination of factors. Accidents result from the combined effects of physical circumstances, which can often be recognized and hazards due to human factors - which can be influenced by training, instruction or supervision. Both physical and psychological factors must be considered together in recognizing result from unsafe systems of work.

Hazardous situations - even if compounded by human factors - are not the cause of an accident but indicator of some other deficiency and the end product of an underlying malaise. The main causes of accidents in workplaces that we usually encounter involve:

Falling and flying objects

Falling persons

Machines

Hand tools

Electricity, chemicals or fire

Vehicles in road accidents

Falling and flying objects-Commonly due to improperly stacked material or falls from elevated areas with inadequate protection. These types of accidents can be avoided to some extent by proper head protection.

Falling persons-Due to slippery floors, uneven floor surface, incorrect type of shoes worn, inadequate lighting, defective ladders, unsafe working platforms.

Machines-Faults or failure in machines, poor or no guarding of machines as the main cause of machines related injuries.

Hand tools-Improper handling and misuse, defective tools - which have not been properly maintained - are often responsible for occupational accidents.

Electricity, chemicals or fires-These are due to use of unsafe circuits in maintenance work, escape of chemical vapors, chemical spillage or risk of ...