Reducing Exposure To Hazardous Substances â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Reducing Exposure To Hazardous Substances? Answer: Introduction The current assignment focuses on the concept of occupational health and safety. The safety concerns of the employees working within an organization are pivotal to maintaining the organizational culture. In this context, the risks could be divided into a number of types such as chemical, biological, psychological and environmental hazards. The current study focuses on assessment and risk management through implementation of effective regulations and codes or practise. The assignment takes into consideration two different scenarios such as hazard due to exposure to different chemical substances and impact of noise pollution on the health of the workforce. Surfboard manufacture: A number of preventive measures need to be employed for ensuring the health and safety concerns of the employees working within an organization. As commented by Rothmore and Boucaut (2015), healthy employees help in enhancing the productivity of the organization. For the present assignment, the hazards associated with employee health management within a surfboard factory had been taken into consideration. The manufacturing of the surfboard exposes the workers to a wide range of hazardous chemicals such as fibreglass, resins, solvents and paints. Though, the manufacturing unit had provided the workers with additional preventive measures such as plastic goggles and face masks the staff was still sceptical. The same could be attributed to the absence of sufficient number of trained staffs within the factory outlet. There are two main types of polyurethane foam used for the manufacturing of the surfboards such as Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) and Diphenylmethane Diisocyanate (MDI). In this context, TDI is used more frequently compared to MDI due to its flexibility options. The use of TDI can result in a number of health risks to an individual such as asthma and other respiratory distresses owing to hypersensitivity (Gibson and Warren, 2017). As commented by Carvalho and Melo (2015), exposure to the strong smell of TDI beyond the threshold level can result in the irritation of the e yes and the nose. Reports and evidences have also pointed out at the direct link of TDI with inducing malignancy within an individual. Control hierarchy In order to prevent or reduce the health risks due to exposure to a number of hazardous chemicals in a surfboard manufacturing factory a number of steps could be taken which could be enumerated with the help of a control hierarchy. Some of the basic steps of the hierarchy are-implementation of suitable measures, introduction of technical measures to reduce the exposure to harmful chemicals, implementation of effective organizational policies and framework and use of protective equipments. The suitable measures include substitution of the hazardous materials with a less harmful one. In this context, the TDI could be could be substituted with MDI which have been found to possess comparatively lesser health risks. As commented by MacIntyre et al. (2014), empanelment of technical measures including regular checking and monitoring of machineries to be physically handled can reduce the rate of accidents. In this respect, some of the organizational policies and frameworks which could be implemented over here are Workplace Health and Safety Regulations, 2011. The implementation of such guidelines helps in maintaining the organizational culture by promulgating training process of the employees along with provision of protective equipments. Regulations and codes of practise managing work environment and facilities The rules and regulations implemented in the context of a workplace play a crucial role in ensuring the optimum management of the work environment. Most of the policy and frameworks are covered under the act of Workplace Health and Safety, 2011. The implementation of the Construction Work Codes of practise provides a number of safety guidelines for ensuring health and safety of the workers engaged in the manufacturing process of the surfboards (safeworkaustralia, 2017). As commented by Cooklin et al. (2015), conducting performance checks and maintenance of hand equipments can reduce the risk of untoward incidents within a manufacturing setup. Aircraft noise: Assessment of risk from aircraft noise The second section of the assignment focuses on the control measures of noise pollution and its adverse effects on the health of an individual. In this context, the problems faced by the workforce and apprentices of the aircraft maintenance have been highlighted over here. The noise inside the workshop regularly exceeds 85 decibels, whereas on the runway the noise level can exceed 140 decibels and above. The exposure to high levels of aircraft noises can generate a huge number of responses within an individual. Some of the adverse effects are sleep disturbance, annoyance, learning impairments in children as short term outcomes(Basner et al. 2014). On the contrary, some of the long term effects include high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, which might have much serious consequences. As mentioned by Warner and Hadley (2015), the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) limit for industrial noise is set at 90 decibel. Therefore, crossing limits equivalent to 140 decibel can cause severe pain within the individual often causing Tinnitus. The tinnituses are high frequency whistling sounds or buzzing sounds in the ear or the hippocampus of the brain (Orford et al. 2014). Thus, such uncomfortable conditions might further develop into hearing losses within individuals. Determination of risk rating with and without control measures (refer to attached risk assessment template) Without ear muffs: likelihood severity Rare (1) Remote (2) Occasional (3) Frequent (4) Almost certain (5) Catastrophic (5) 6 8 10 10 23 Major (4) 8 12 14 16 24 Moderate (3) 7 11 13 15 20 Minor (2) 3 6 7 15 18 Negligible (1) 1 1 2 4 5 Table 1: Risk assessment matrix (Source: researcher) RPN Risk level 1-3 Low 4-12 Medium 15-25 High Table 2: analysing the risk level With ear muffs: likelihood severity Rare (1) Remote (2) Occasional (3) Frequent (4) Almost certain (5) Catastrophic (5) 1 1 6 8 12 Major (4) 4 3 7 9 14 Moderate (3) 2 4 9 10 15 Minor (2) 2 5 12 12 17 Negligible (1) 3 7 13 14 19 Table 2: Risk assessment matrix (Source: researcher) Analysis: Thus, on comparison of the data with and without the use of eat cuffs considerable reduction in the amount of damage caused has been noted. In this respect, the severity of the incidents have been divided into five major parameters such as negligible, minor, moderate, major and catastrophic. The severity has been cross checked against the likelihood of the events which ranges from rare, remote, occasional, frequent, and almost certain. The occurrences of fatal or catastrophic incidents along with moderate to major hearing impairments have been considerably controlled with the use of the ear cuffs. There has been considerable reduction in the rate of almost certain losses with the use of ear cuffs. Therefore, the aircraft workshop needs to implement a number of effective codes of practise and regulations in order to control the rate of hearing loss from the production of such huge level of noises. Additionally, the implementation of noise controlling technologies within the aircrafts can also help in controlling the hearing damages caused to the workforce from such exposures. Conclusion Thus, a number of effective strategies and practices need to be implemented within the workplace in order to control the adverse effects of the same over the health of an individual. For the current assignment two different scenarios had been taken into consideration i.e. the surfboard manufacturing factory along with the aircraft maintenance workshop. The surfboard manufacturing unit exposes the employees to a number of harmful chemicals from the direct handling of the machineries. Therefore, some of the effective methods which could be employed over here include implementation of alternate or substitutes. This can help in reducing the damage caused to individual healthcare. Additionally, providing the employees with sufficient training and guidance can also help in reducing the chances of accidents. The performances of risk ass essments have also highlighted that use of ear muffs can help in reducing the damage caused by exposure to high levels of noise. 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