Identification of hazards
Wherever you work, whatever you do for a job, there will be hazards, including hidden hazards, which could pose a risk to your health, safety, and well-being if left uncontrolled. Hence, the identification of hazards is crucial. Some hazards are obvious; for instance, we understand that a knife is sharp, walking near a big drop is dangerous, and being hit by a fork truck can cause harm. However, some hazards are not so apparent. Occupational exposure refers to the level of contact or interaction that workers have with potentially harmful substances or hazards while performing their job duties, including those hidden hazards in the workplace that may not be immediately apparent.
As humans we are pretty good at the identification of hazards and avoiding them, however there are many things that we simply can’t detect with our naked caveman eyeballs. Things like radiation, diseases and asbestos simply can’t be seen, heard, smelt or felt and generally we only realise we have been exposed when the negative effects kick in.
However, these hazards, including hidden hazards in the workplace, can cause injuries that are just as debilitating or fatal as those resulting from a knife, a fall, or being struck by an item of plant. So, in order to keep everyone safe at work, we can’t solely focus on identifying the obvious hazards; we must also identify hazards encountered at work and how they can cause harm. This comprehensive approach ensures that appropriate measures can be put in place. To identification of hazards, including hidden hazards in the workplace, we need to take a structured and thorough approach.
Hazard v Risk – What’s the Difference?
Before we start to identification of hazards, we need a clear definition of what a hazard is. A hazard is anything that has the potential to cause damage to people, plant or property basically anything that has the potential to cause an accident or ill health. This is in contrast to risk which is the combination likelihood of that hazard causing that negative event and the severity of the accident if the hazard was to cause a negative event. The words hazard and risk are used a bit interchangeably in everyday life but when we are doing a risk assessment it is important to make the distinction between the two words.
Monitoring and assessing occupational exposure, including the identification of hidden hazards in the workplace, is crucial to ensuring the health and safety of employees who may encounter hazardous materials during their work.
Always Talk to the People doing the Work!
The second and much more important piece of housekeeping is the fact that you’re not doing identification of hazards from your office, you need to go to the area where the work will be done and you also need to speak to the people who will be involved in the task. The individuals performing the task will be able to do accurate identification of hazards associated with the task and will also have a detailed understanding of how they envision completing the task, making their input essential.
Occupational exposure, encompassing the management and identification of hazards that are hidden in the workplace, can vary significantly across different industries. Workers in specific job roles, like those in chemical manufacturing or healthcare, may encounter greater risks as part of their tasks.
Breaking Down the Task (PEME)
OK so you’re at the point of work, with the people who are going to be carrying out the job. Now we need to take a systematic approach to identify hazards and to do this we firstly have to identify all of the factors involved in the task that have hazards associated with them.
To address and mitigate the risks linked to occupational exposure, employers frequently enact safety protocols, supply personal protective equipment, and deliver regular training for their employees, including how to do identification of hazards hidden in the workplace.
These factors can be broken down into 4 categories
People and Process
These are the people who will be involved in or may be affected the task you are planning to undertake. Within your list of people you will have the person carrying out the work however you will also have other people who may be effected. These could be:
- Other workers in the area
- Contractors
- Visitors to site members of the public
- Or even trespassers who shouldn’t really be there
Also think about how the process the people will be working to and how the task will be carried out.
Equipment
Next think and what equipment will be required to complete the task. Most tasks require quiet a bit of equipment in order to complete the task. Even a task as mundane as boiling an egg requires a pan, a hob, some sort of egg retrieval tool and a timer. Each piece of equipment will have its own set of risks, so it’s important to do identification of hazards all of the equipment required for your task.
Materials
Next up what materials are you using to complete the task. Most tasks require materials which will transformed into a finished product or required to provide your service. Whether you’re a builder with bricks and mortar or a cleaner with an army of cleaning fluids, materials will be required to do your job. Just like the equipment, each type of material you use will have a selection of hazards associated with them, so listing the materials involved will assist you later in identify hazards associated with them.
Environment
Finally look at the environment where the task is going to be carried out. Will it be carried out indoors or outdoors, on a busy high street or in a quiet office, high up or underground. By defining where the work we will be conducted we will do identification of hazards at the next stage associated with the environment of the task as well as environmental factors that may excaudate the risk profile of hazards derived from tools, equipment, materials or people.
By grouping elements of the task into people and processes, equipment, materials and environmental categories, it will help you identify hazards associated with each part of the process. You can remember the categories through the acronym PEME.
The Six Types of Workplace Hazards
Now each of the items you have listed through going through these categories, are not hazards on their own but they will likely have hazards associated with them which may cause you harm and as mentioned earlier some of these will be obvious and some hazards will be harder to spot.
For example if you have identified that one of the pieces of equipment you will need is a circular saw, there will be the obvious hazard of cutting yourself on the blade, however there will also be a range of other hazards, such as noise, vibration and dust associated with the tool too.
So for each item we have listed through going through PEME, we need a systematic approach to identification of hazards and so we need to look at the 6 categorise of hazards. The measurement of occupational exposure levels can help determine if workers are at risk of adverse health effects and guide the implementation of preventive measures.
These are:
- Chemical
- Environmental
- Mechanical
- Biological
- Organisational
- Physical
Chemical
Many processes at work use chemicals and harmful substances. Machines and plant, have oils, lubricants and fuels required to run them. If your building a structure, you’ll be using cements, adhesives, sealants, paints. Even general office works require chemicals for cleaning, printer inks etc as part of the normal duties.
Many chemicals in the workplace are harmful to health and can cause nasty burns, irritation and even conditions such as asthma. In addition there are also safety hazards such as increased risk of fire and explosions.
So step one, take a look at the process and see what hazardous substances are going to be required and make a list. Regulatory agencies set permissible exposure limits (PELs) for various hazardous substances to ensure that occupational exposure remains below levels that could harm workers’ health.
Environmental
These are hazards associated with where the work is taking place. If you are working outside the weather presents a range of hazards. In cold weather you have hazards such as frost bite and an increased risk of slips and trips, whereas in hot weather you will have hazards such as heat stroke and sunburn. Similarly, high winds can present hazards when working at hight and with vehicle movements, heavy rain can reduce visibility and lead to sludgy ground which can cause slip and trip hazards. Dependant on where you are working and whatever time of year you are doing the task weather hazards will be different so bare this in mind when doing your assessment.
Not all work takes place outside, so weather is not always an issue. However environmental hazards can also come into play in an indoor working environment, Environmental hazards such as noise, lighting levels and the temperature of the environment can also present hazards which need to be controlled too. Occupational exposure assessments often involve air and noise monitoring, chemical sampling, and ergonomic evaluations to identify potential risks and take corrective actions.
Mechanical
These are hazards that are caused by the operation of a machine or tool, such as contact with moving parts. Generally machines don’t stop for people, if you get hit by a tractor it is going to do far mor dames to you that you are to it. The same applies to tools if you try and stop a drill spinning at 2000RPM with your bare hand it isn’t going to end too well is it? Similarly, it won’t be stopped by your hair or cloths either and will likely start to draw you into the machine instead, which sound like a horrendous way to get injured.
Mechanical hazards also include things being ejected from the machine, swarf ejected from a drill or sparks from a grinding disk can result in a rage of stabbing or puncture wounds. When we get to the risk evaluation video, you will see that mechanical hazards are generally at the higher end of the risk scale, so definitely don’t miss these particularly when you are looking at hazards associated with the equipment you are using.
Biological
This includes any nasty bacteria, viruses or other pathogens that you may be exposed to during the task. You will likely find these when you are looking at tasks that involve cleaning, handling of waste, working with poorly people or working with animals.
Within this category, I would also think about things like animal bites so if you’re in a profession that works with animals such as a vet, a postman or an employee of iSAFE, with 4 dogs running around a small office then look at this hazard category carefully.
Organisational
Next up are the organisational hazards. These are the hazards which arise from the way we run our business and particularly the way people behave as a result of our management decisions. Employees have the right to be informed about their potential occupational exposure risks and should be educated on how to protect themselves and report any concerns to their employers.
Time pressures, shift durations and overtime are a big issues here as they can lead to people cutting corners and making mistakes. Similarly ineffective supervision can lead to the same corner cutting and mistake making.
The relationships with other people is also an organisational hazard. Internally we can have hazards such as bullying, inequality in our workloads. Externally we may see hazards such as violence and abuse particularly when dealing with members of the public.
Ultimately, it is the organisational hazards are the primary cause mental health issues such as stress and depression, which are become significantly more prevalent in health and safety statistics, particularly when it comes to absence rates. So look at these carefully and be critical of your own organisation when trying to identify hazards in this category.
Physical
Finally we have the physical hazards and Its time to pull out our GCSE physics text book now, because many of the things we studied in physics can cause us harm in the workplace.
Gravity leads to Trips, falls from hight and falling objects which can land on people.
Add in a lack of friction to gravity and you get a slip hazard.
Many of the ergonomic risk factors such as force and lighting come under the category of physical hazards. So consider hazards such as Manual handling and use of display screen equipment in this hazard category.
Also consider things like vibration and noise produced by your actions, that people may be exposed to during a task.
Radiation isn’t present in every workplace, however some machines particularly ones used for imaging use radiation. But radiation is one of the three methods in which fire spreads along with conduction and convection, so consider your fire hazards in with this category too. And speaking of conduction, consider your electrical hazards here.
If we look at these 6 categories for each of the aspect of the task identified in the PEME stage then we stand a good chance of identifying all of the hazards involved in a task and how they can harm us. From here we can move onto evaluation of risk.
Examples of Workplace Hazards
Now, to hammer the process home, let’s do an example and try to identify all the hazards associated with a task. Let’s say you are working washing cars at a car wash.
Lets start with looking at PEME
So the process is A car drives in, its blasted with the pressure washer to get the thick of the dirt off. Cleaning fluids are applied to the car using a sponge. These are then blasted off with the pressure washer. Then the cars are waxed and polished. We then take payment and the car drives away.
The people involved are going to be you, your colleges, the people who are having the car washed, members of the public in general. Included in this you may have young, pregnant or vulnerable people.
The equipment is going to be your pressure washer and an assortment of brushes, sponges and cloths
The materials are going to be the cleaning products, waxs etc.
And the environment is going to be outside and there is going to be significant vehicle movement.
By using PEME, you identify a selection of hazards associated with the Task. This will make it easier to identify the hazards associated with each of these elements at the next stage.
So within this we have quite a lot of things we need to identify the hazards for, however to avoid this blog being even longer than it already is, lets just look at one element of the task, the use of a pressure washer. Reducing occupational exposure is not only crucial for the well-being of workers but also contributes to increased workplace productivity and reduced healthcare costs.
So lets look at the 6 hazard categories for using a pressure washer in this scenario:
Chemical
At some point in the process we are going to have to blast off the cleaning products using the pressure washer, so there is a hazard in the form of the chemicals getting on our skin or in our eyes, as well as inhaling or ingesting the substances, through splash back and water mist. Exposure, particularly the long term exposure you would see in this activity could lead to a range of illnesses and skin conditions, so this is definitely a hazard we need to control.
Environmental
We are going to be using the pressure washer outside in all weathers and the fact that pressure washers, spray water is going to be a hazard here as the chances are whoever is using the pressure washer is going to get wet. If the weather is -2 and you are spending the day in wet cloths, this can present hazards such as hypothermia and poor circulation to your extremities. Add in hazards like vibration (which will talk about in a moment) and your increasing the risk of conditions such as vibration white finger.
In addition you are going to be using an item of electrical equipment in wet conditions. Now a pressure wash has to be IP rated so the water will not interact with the electricity within the equipment. However extension cable etc may not be so as such the wet environment can result in an electric shock hazard.
Mechanical
Hopefully the cars have stopped when you are doing this job otherwise you have some major mechanical hazards here. However the pressure washer itself has mechanical hazards too. The equipment itself will have pumps with moving parts which if unguarded may cause a hazard. Now hopefully all the casing is entact and moving parts are properly guarded however, we would need to check this is the case prior to use.
The main mechanical hazard however is the fact that we are ejecting high pressure water. Have you accidentally caught a part of your body when using a pressure washer? Spoiler alert it bloody hurts. Therefor we have the hazard of making contact with the water when the pressure washer is in use, not just for the person using it but also for other people in the area.
Biological
This is similar to our chemical hazards. Again, we are blasting dirty cars with high pressure water and there is likely to be an element of splash bank. The dirt on the cars could harbour a number of nasty pathogens from road dirt, animal poo (particularly pigeon poo), dead insects etc. When we are blasting this off the cars splash back may get on our skin or in our eyes and mouth and this dirt will also be contained within the atomised water mist which we can inhale. Exposure to these can make whoever is in the area, particularly the user of the pressure washer ill and as such we have our hazards here.
Organisational
The pressure washer is a key part of the process and is required for two crucial steps. This means that if the person using the washer is slow, it holds up other workers. This introduces time pressures on the user, particularly if other staff members are standing around waiting or other customers in the que are waiting around piping their horns.
This could lead the operator to rush and cut corners which can lead to operator error, as well as stress.
Physical
Finally we have the physical hazards. We have touched on a couple already such as vibration and electricity, however we also have noise levels, ergonomic issues too.
By looking at the 6 hazard categories we can see a number of hazards associated with the use of a pressure washer.
So we have identified the hazards associated with the use of pressure washer and I’m pretty confident we have identified all of the hazards here. Now we need to repeat this process for all the other elements of the task identified in our PEME. At this point you may be thinking, this seems like a long winded approach and to be blunt it does take time to identify all of the hazards associated with the task. But be honest, would you have identified all of the hazards associated with using a pressure washer without following this process?
I’m looking at you biological hazards! The continuous improvement of workplace safety practices and technologies is essential to minimise occupational exposure and create healthier working environments for employees.
Hopefully you see the benefit of effective hazard identification however we still have a lot more to do to build an effective risk assessment and next up we need to evaluate the risk of each hazard, so make sure you follow us on Linkedin and subscribe to our YouTube channel and to catch that.
Or you could just skip all of this and get in touch with us, to do your risk assessments for you.
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