occupational hazards in the clinical microbiology labortary

1. Occupational hazards:
• Occupational hazards are risks associated with working in specific occupations.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) describes five
categories of occupational hazards:
• physical safety hazards
• chemical hazards
• biological hazards
• physical hazards
• ergonomic risk factors
• Psychosocial hazards

2. • Occupational hazard as a term signifies both long-term and short-term risks
associated with the workplace environment.
• It is a field of study within occupational safety and health and public health.
• Short term risks may include physical injury (e.g., eye, back, head, etc.,)
• while long-term risks may be an increased risk of developing occupational
disease, such as cancer or heart disease.
• In general, adverse health effects caused by short term risks are reversible while
those caused by long term risks are irreversible.

3. • include anything that could lead to injury in a workplace accident.
• This could be slipping hazards, the operation of machinery, electrical hazards, or
any other potentially dangerous condition that could exist in a workplace.
• The latter four hazards are described as OSHA as health hazards.
• Unlike physical safety hazards, they describe risks of injury after cumulative
exposure to a harmful condition or substance rather than a singular accident.
Physical safety hazards:

4. Heat and cold stress
• Heat and cold stress occur when the temperature is significantly different from
room temperature (68-74 degrees Fahrenheit).
• When the body is exposed to heat stress, excess sweating can lead to a range of
heat-related illnesses.
• Excessive cold can also lead to several cold-related illnesses like hypothermia,
frost bite, etc.

5. Vibration hazards
• Occupational vibration hazards most often occur when a worker is operating
machinery that vibrates as a symptom of its functioning (e.g., chainsaws, power
drills, etc.).
• The most common type of vibration syndrome is Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome
(HAVS).
• Long-term exposure to HAVS can lead to damage occurring in the blood vessels,
nerves, muscles, and joints of the hand, wrist, and arm.

6. Noise
• Each year in the US, twenty-two million workers are exposed to noise levels that
could potentially harm their health.
• Occupational hearing loss is the most common occupational illness in the
manufacturing sector.
• Workers in exceptionally high noise environments, such as musicians,mine
workers,and even those involved with stock car racing,are at a much higher risk of
developing hearing loss, when compared to other workers (e.g., factory workers,
etc.).

7. • While permanent noise-induced hearing is often preventable through proper
hearing protection, limiting the amount of time one is exposed to high levels of
noise is still required.
• As such a widespread issue, NIOSH has been committed to preventing future
hearing loss for workers by establishing recommended exposure limits (RELs) of
85 dB(A) for an 8-house time-weighed average (TWA).
• The Buy Quiet program was developed by NIOSH to encourage employers to
reduce workplace noise levels by purchasing quieter models of tools and
machinery.

8. • Additionally, a partnership with the National Hearing Conservation Association
(NHCA) has resulted in the creation of the Safe-in-Sound Award to recognize
excellence and innovation in the field of hearing loss prevention.
• Furthermore, OSHA's development and implementation of the Hearing
Conservation Program (HCP) has required employers to more effectively protect
their workers against noise levels that are too high.
• The HCP empowers workers to not only receive noise exposure testing, as well as
audiometric testing, but also to have access to noise protection devices adequate
for the noise levels they are being exposed to.

9. • are present anytime workers are exposed to chemical substances.
• Examples include cleaning solutions and solvents, adhesives, paints, toxic dusts,
carbon monoxide and any other gases, vapors and fumes, among other potentially
toxic fumes or acids.
Chemical hazards:
Biological hazards
• Healthcare professionals are at most risk for this type of hazard.
• Biological hazards occurs due to working with people, animals or infectious plant
material.
• Examples include blood or other bodily fluids, animal care, insect bites, bacteria
or viruses, infectious diseases, molds, toxic or poisonous plants, or animal
materials.

10. • This is the most common type of workplace hazards.
• Examples of physical hazards include slips, trips, falls, exposure to loud noises, working
from heights, vibrations, and unguarded machinery. include excessive noise, elevated or
low temperatures, or radiation.
Physical hazards
• include repetitive actions, such as heavy lifting or the use of tools with significant vibration.
• Every occupation places certain strains on a worker’s body.
• Ergonomic hazards occur as a result of physical factors that can harm the musculoskeletal
system.
• This type of hazard is not easily identified, examples of this hazard are poor lighting,
repetitive motion, awkward movements, and poor posture.
Ergonomic risk factors

11. Psychosocial hazards
• Psychosocial hazards are occupational hazards that affect someone's social life or
psychological health.
• Psychosocial hazards in the workplace include occupational burnout and
occupational stress, which can lead to burnout.
• According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of occupational burnout include a
cynical attitude towards work, severe lack of motivation at work, erratic sleeping
habits, and disillusionment about one's occupation.

12. How we can eliminate hazards?
• Hazard elimination is a hazard control strategy based on completely removing a
material or process causing a hazard.
• Elimination is the most effective of the five members of the hierarchy of hazard
controls in protecting workers, and where possible should be implemented before
all other control methods.
• Many jurisdictions require that an employer eliminate hazards if it is possible,
before considering other types of hazard control.
• Elimination is most effective early in the design process, when it may be
inexpensive and simple to implement.

13. • It is more difficult to implement for an existing process, when major changes in
equipment and procedures may be required.
• Elimination can fail as a strategy if the hazardous process or material is
reintroduced at a later stage in the design or production phases.
• The complete elimination of hazards is a major component to the philosophy of
Prevention through Design, which promotes the practice of eliminating hazards at
the earliest design stages of a project.
• Complete elimination of a hazard is often the most difficult control to achieve, but
addressing it at the start of a project allows designers and planners to make large
changes much more easily without the need to retrofit or redo work.

14. How we can replace hazards?
• Hazard substitution is a hazard control strategy in which a material or process is
replaced with another that is less hazardous. Substitution is the second most
effective of the five members of the hierarchy of hazard controls in protecting
workers, after elimination.
• Substitution and elimination are most effective early in the design process, when
they may be inexpensive and simple to implement, while for an existing process
they may require major changes in equipment and procedures.
• The concept of prevention through design emphasizes integrating the more
effective control methods such as elimination and substitution early in the design
phase.

15. • Hazard substitutions can involve not only changing one chemical for another, but also
using the same chemical in a less hazardous form.
• Substitutions can also be made to processes and equipment.
• In making a substitution, the hazards of the new material should be considered and
monitored, so that a new hazard is not unwittingly introduced, causing "regrettable
substitutions".
• Substitution can also fail as a strategy if the hazardous process or material is reintroduced
at a later stage in the design or production phases, or if cost or quality concerns cause a
substitution to not be adopted.

16. Engineering controls
• Engineering controls are strategies designed to protect workers from hazardous
conditions by placing a barrier between the worker and the hazard or by removing
a hazardous substance through air ventilation.
• Engineering controls involve a physical change to the workplace itself, rather than
relying on workers' behavior or requiring workers to wear protective clothing.
• Engineering controls is the third of five members of the hierarchy of hazard
controls, which orders control strategies by their feasibility and effectiveness.
• Engineering controls are preferred over administrative controls and personal
protective equipment (PPE) because they are designed to remove the hazard at the
source, before it comes in contact with the worker.

17. • Well-designed engineering controls can be highly effective in protecting workers and
will typically be independent of worker interactions to provide this high level of
protection.
• The initial cost of engineering controls can be higher than the cost of administrative
controls or PPE, but over the longer term, operating costs are frequently lower, and in
some instances, can provide a cost savings in other areas of the process.
• Elimination and substitution are usually considered to be separate levels of hazard
controls, but in some schemes they are categorized as types of engineering control.
• The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health researches engineering
control technologies, and provides information on their details and effectiveness in the
NIOSH Engineering Controls Database.

18. • Administrative controls are training, procedure, policy, or shift designs that lessen
the threat of a hazard to an individual.
• Administrative controls typically change the behavior of people (e.g., factory
workers) rather than removing the actual hazard or providing personal protective
equipment (PPE).
• Administrative controls are fourth in larger hierarchy of hazard controls, which
ranks the effectiveness and efficiency of hazard controls.
Administrative controls

19. • Administrative controls are more effective than PPE because they involve some
manner of prior planning and avoidance, whereas PPE only serves only as a final
barrier between the hazard and worker.
• Administrative controls are second lowest because they require workers or
employers to actively think or comply with regulations and do not offer
permanent solutions to problems.
• Generally, administrative controls are cheaper to begin, but they may become
more expensive over time as higher failure rates and the need for constant
training or re-certification eclipse the initial investments of the three more
desirable hazard controls in the hierarchy.

20. • The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
recommends administrative controls when hazards cannot be removed or
changed, and engineering controls are not practical.
• Some common examples of administrative controls include work practice
controls such as prohibiting mouth pipetting and rotating worker shifts in
coal mines to prevent hearing loss.
• Other examples include hours of service regulations for commercial vehicle
operators, Safety signage for hazards, and regular maintenance of
equipment.

21. Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or
other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or
infection.
• The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat,
chemicals, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter.
• Protective equipment may be worn for job-related occupational safety and health
purposes, as well as for sports and other recreational activities.

22. • Protective clothing is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and protective
gear applies to items such as pads, guards, shields, or masks, and others. PPE
suits can be similar in appearance to a cleanroom suit.
• The purpose of personal protective equipment is to reduce employee exposure to
hazards when engineering controls and administrative controls are not feasible or
effective to reduce these risks to acceptable levels.
• PPE is needed when there are hazards present.
• PPE has the serious limitation that it does not eliminate the hazard at the source
and may result in employees being exposed to the hazard if the equipment fails.

23. • Any item of PPE imposes a barrier between the wearer/user and the working
environment.
• This can create additional strains on the wearer, impair their ability to carry out
their work and create significant levels of discomfort.
• Any of these can discourage wearers from using PPE correctly, therefore placing
them at risk of injury, ill-health or, under extreme circumstances, death.
• Good ergonomic design can help to minimise these barriers and can therefore help
to ensure safe and healthy working conditions through the correct use of PPE.

24. • Practices of occupational safety and health can use hazard controls and
interventions to mitigate workplace hazards, which pose a threat to the safety and
quality of life of workers.
• The hierarchy of hazard controls provides a policy framework which ranks the
types of hazard controls in terms of absolute risk reduction.
• At the top of the hierarchy are elimination and substitution, which remove the
hazard entirely or replace the hazard with a safer alternative.

25. • If elimination or substitution measures cannot be applied, engineering controls
and administrative controls – which seek to design safer mechanisms and coach
safer human behavior – are implemented.
• Personal protective equipment ranks last on the hierarchy of controls, as the
workers are regularly exposed to the hazard, with a barrier of protection.
• The hierarchy of controls is important in acknowledging that, while personal
protective equipment has tremendous utility, it is not the desired mechanism of
control in terms of worker safety.

26. • Prevention through design (PtD), also called safety by design usually in Europe, is
the concept of applying methods to minimize occupational hazards early in the
design process, with an emphasis on optimizing employee health and safety
throughout the life cycle of materials and processes.
• It is a concept and movement that encourages construction or product designers to
"design out" health and safety risks during design development.
Prevention through design (PtD)

27. • The concept supports the view that along with quality, programme and cost;
safety is determined during the design stage.
• It increases the cost-effectiveness of enhancements to occupational safety and
health.
• This method for reducing workplace safety risks lessens workers' reliance on
personal protective equipment, which is the least effective of the hierarchy of
hazard control.