Occupational Safety and Health for Technologists, Engineers, and Managers

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2 THE SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT The safety movement in the United States has developed steadily since the early 1900s. In 1907, more than 3,200 people were killed in mining accidents. Legislation, precedent, and public opinion all favored management. There were few protections for workers safety. Working conditions for industrial employees today have improved significantly. Chance of worker death in an industrial accident is less than half of what it was 60 years ago. DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Understanding the past can help safety & health professionals examine the present and future with a sense of perspective and continuity. Modern developments in health & safety are part of the long continuum of developments. Beginning in the days of the ancient Babylonians. Circa 2000 BC, their ruler developed his Code of Hammurabi, which encompassed all the laws of the land at that time. Showed Hammurabi to be a just ruler, and set a precedent followed by other Mesopotamian kings. 2

3 DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Significance of the code from the perspective of safety & health are clauses dealing with injuries. Allowable fees for physicians & monetary damages assessed against those who injured others. Later emerged in the industrious Egyptian civilization. Much labor was provided by slaves & slaves were not treated well unless it suited the needs of Egyptian taskmasters. t DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION To ensure maintenance of a workforce to build a huge temple bearing his name, Rameses II created an industrial medical service to care for the workers. They were required to bathe daily in the Nile and given regular medical examinations, & sick workers isolated. The Romans were vitally concerned with safety & health, as seen from their construction projects. Aqueducts, sewerage systems, public baths, latrines, and well-ventilated houses. 3

4 DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION In 1567, Philippus Aureolus produced a treatise on the pulmonary diseases of miners. Covered diseases of smelter workers & metallurgists. Diseases associated with handling/exposure to mercury. Around the same time, Georgius Agricola published De Re Metallica, emphasizing need for ventilation in mines, showing devices to bring fresh air into mines. The eighteenth century saw Bernardino Ramazzini, who wrote Discourse on the Diseases of Workers. Drew conclusive parallels between diseases suffered by workers and their occupations. DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION The Industrial Revolution changed forever the methods of producing goods, summarized as: Introduction of inanimate power (i.e., steam power) to replace people and animal power. Substitution of machines for people. Introduction of new methods for converting raw materials. Organization/specialization of work, resulting in a division of labor. 4

5 DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION These changes necessitated a greater focusing of attention on the safety and health of workers. Steam power increased markedly the potential for life-threatening injuries, as did machines. The new methods used for converting raw materials also introduced new risks of injuries and diseases. Specialization, by increasing the likelihood of boredom and inattentiveness, also made the workplace a more dangerous environment. MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT The safety movement traces its roots to England. In the Industrial Revolution, child labor in factories was common. Hours were long, work hard, and conditions often unhealthy & unsafe. 5

6 MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT After an outbreak of fever among children working in their cotton mills, people of Manchester, England, demanded better factory working conditions. In 1802 the Health & Morals of Apprentices Act passed. Marked the beginning of governmental involvement in workplace safety. MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT When the industrial sector began to grow in the US, hazardous working conditions were commonplace. Factory inspection began in Massachusetts in In 1868, the first barrier safeguard was patented. In 1869, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a mine safety law requiring two exits from all mines. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was started in In 1877, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law requiring ii safeguards for hazardous machinery also saw passage of the Employer s Liability Law. Establishing potential for employer liability in workplace accidents. 6

7 MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT In 1892, the first recorded safety program was established in a Joliet, Illinois, steel plant. In response to a scare caused when a flywheel exploded. Following the explosion, a committee of managers formed to investigate and make recommendations. Used as the basis for development of a safety program considered to be the first in American industry. MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Around 1900, Frederick Taylor began studying efficiency in manufacturing, and drew a connection between lost personnel time & management policies and procedures. In 1907, the U.S. Dept. of the Interior created the Bureau of Mines to investigate accidents, examine health hazards, and make recommendations for improvements. In 1908 an early form of workers compensation was introduced in the United States. 7

8 MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Workers compensation actually had its beginnings in Germany, and soon spread through Europe. Workers compensation made great strides in the US when Wisconsin passed the first effective workers compensation law in Today, all 50 states have some form of workers compensation. MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT The Association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers (AISEE), formed in the early 1900s, pressed for a national conference on safety. The first meeting of the Cooperative Safety Congress (CSC) took place in Milwaukee in A year after the initial meeting of the CSC, the National Council of Industrial Safety (NCIS) was established in Chicago. In 1915, this organization changed its name to the National Safety Council, now the premier safety organization in the United States. 8

9 MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT From 1918 through the 1950s, the federal government encouraged contractors to implement & maintain a safe work environment. Industry in the US arrived at two critical conclusions There is a definite connection between quality & safety. Off-the-job accidents have a negative impact on productivity. MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT The 1960s saw the passage of a flurry of legislation promoting workplace safety. The Service Contract Act The Federal Metal & Nonmetallic Mine Safety Act. The Federal Coal Mine and Safety Act The Contract Workers and Safety Standards Act. These laws applied to a limited audience of workers, and the injury & death toll due to industrial mishaps was still too high. In the late 1960s, more than 14,000 employees were killed annually in connection with their jobs. 9

10 MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Work injury rates were taking an upward swing, the primary reasons for passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) of 1970 and the Federal Mine Safety Act of Superfund Amendments & Reauthorization Act of 1986, and the Amended Clean Air Act in 1990 were major pieces of environmental legislation. The concept of Total Safety Management (TSM) was introduced in 1996 to help safety professionals in organizations using Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy and/or ISO 9000 registration. MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT In 2000, U.S. firms began to pursue ISO Workplace terrorism became an important issue in In 2007 special safety needs of older people who reentered the workforce became an issue for safety professionals. In 2010, organizations began to concern themselves with off-the-job safety as a critical part of their overall safety and health plan. 10

11 TRAGEDIES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Safety & health tragedies in the workplace greatly accelerated the pace of the safety movement in the US. TRAGEDIES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Hawk s Nest Tragedy - solidified public opinion in favor of protecting workers from the debilitating disease silicosis. A company contracted to drill a passage through a mountain in the Hawk s Nest region of West Virginia. Workers spent as many as 10 hours per day breathing dust created by drilling and blasting. This mountain had an unusually high silica content. Silicosis normally takes 10 to 30 years to show up. Hawk s Nest workers began dying in as little as a year. By the time the project was completed, hundreds had died. 11

12 TRAGEDIES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE SAFETY MOVEMENT This tragedy & resulting public outcry led a group of companies to form the Air Hygiene Foundation. To research & develop standards for work in dusty areas. The US Department of Labor helped make silicosis a compensable disease in most states. Approximately 1 million workers in the US are still exposed to silica every year. 250 people die annually from silicosis. TRAGEDIES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Asbestos Menace - in 1964, Dr. Irving J. Selikoff told a conference on biological effects of asbestos that the widely used material was killing workers. Asbestos was once considered a miracle fiber. At the time of Selikoff s findings, asbestos was one of the most widely used materials in the US. Found in homes, schools, offices, factories, ships, and even in the filters of cigarettes. This conference changed how Americans viewed not just asbestos, but workplace hazards in general. Selikoff was the first to link asbestos to lung cancer and respiratory diseases. 12

13 TRAGEDIES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Selikoff continued to study the effects of asbestos exposure from 1967 to In the 1970s-80s, asbestos became a controlled material. Regulations governing use, standards for exposure were established, and asbestos-related lawsuits changed how industry dealt with this tragic material. TRAGEDIES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Bhopal Tragedy - On Dec. 3, 1984, over 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) & other gases, including hydrogen cyanide, leaked into north Bhopal, India. Killing more than 3,000 people in its aftermath. It was discovered the protective equipment that could have halted impending disaster was not in full working order. The International Medical Commission found that as many as 50,000 people were exposed, and may still suffer disability as a result. This disaster shocked the world. 13

14 TRAGEDIES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE SAFETY MOVEMENT Union Carbide Corporation, owner of the plant, was accused of many things, including: Criminal negligence. Corporate prejudice - choosing poverty-stricken Bhopal, on the assumption few would care if anything went wrong. Avoidance - putting its plant in Bhopal to avoid stricter US safety & health standards. In February 1989, India s Supreme Court ordered Union Carbide India Ltd., to pay $470 million in compensatory damages. Funds were paid to the Indian government to be used to compensate the victims. ROLE OF ORGANIZED LABOR Organized labor has played a crucial role in the development of the safety movement in the US. Many of the earliest safety developments were the result of long, hard-fought battles by organized labor. A dissenting view holds union involvement actually slowed development of the safety movement. Unions allowed demands for safer working conditions to become entangled with their demands for better wages. As a result, they met with resistance from management. 14

15 ROLE OF ORGANIZED LABOR A most important contribution of organized labor to the safety movement was their work to overturn antilabor laws relating to safety in the workplace The fellow servant rule held that employers were not liable for workplace injuries resulting from negligence of other employees. Contributory negligence absolved an employer if the actions of employees contributed to their own injuries. Assumption of risk was based on the theory that people who accept a job assume the risks that go with it. ROLE OF ORGANIZED LABOR Because the overwhelming majority of industrial accidents involve negligence on the part of one or more workers, employers had little to worry about. And little incentive to promote a safe work environment. Organized labor played a crucial role in bringing deplorable working conditions to public attention. Awareness & outrage eventually led to employer-biased laws being overturned in all states except one. In New Hampshire, the fellow servant rule still applies. 15

16 ROLE OF SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS Specific health problems tied to workplace hazards have played significant roles in the development of the modern safety and health movement. ROLE OF SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS Lung disease in coal miners was a major problem in the 1800s, particularly in Great Britain, where much of the Western world s coal was mined at the time. Anthrocosis, or the black spit, persisted from the early 1800s, when first identified, until about It was finally eliminated by safety &health measures. By the early 1940s, British scientists were using the term coal-miner s pneumoconiosis, orcwp, to describe a disease suffered by many miners. Designated a separate, compensable disease in

17 ROLE OF SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS An West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 78 miners focused attention on mining health & safety. Congress passes Coal Mine Health & Safety Act, Amended 1977/78 to broaden scope of coverage. Congress held hearings on silicosis in 1936, and business, industry & government representatives attended the National Silicosis Conference. Finding that silica dust particulates did, in fact, cause silicosis. ROLE OF SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS Mercury poisoning was first noticed among citizens of a Japanese fishing village in the early 1930s. A chemical plant near the village Minamata periodically dumped methyl mercury into the bay that was the village s primary source of food. The citizens ingested hazardous dosages of mercury every time they ate fish from the bay. 17

18 ROLE OF SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS Mercury poisoning became an issue in the US after a 1940s study on New York s hat-making industry. Many workers displayed the same types of symptoms as the citizens of Minamata, Japan. A study linked mercury nitrate used in hat production. As a result, use of this hazardous chemical in the hat-making industry was stopped. A suitable substitute hydrogen peroxide was found. ROLE OF SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS By the time it was determined that asbestos is a hazardous material, the fibers of which can cause asbestosis or lung cancer (mesothelioma), thousands of buildings contained the substance. As these buildings began to age, the asbestos particularly that used to insulate pipes breaks down. As asbestos breaks down, it releases dangerous microscopic fibers into the air. The fibers are so hazardous that t removing asbestos from old buildings has become a highly specialized task requiring special equipment & training. 18

19 DEVELOPMENT OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROGRAMS Widely used accident prevention techniques include: Failure minimization, fail-safe designs. Isolation, lockouts, screening. Personal protective equipment. Redundancy, timed replacements, etc. DEVELOPMENT OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROGRAMS Individual components of broader safety programs have evolved since the late 1800s. Early employers had little concern for worker safety. And little incentive to be concerned. Between World War I & World War II, industry discovered the connection between quality & safety. World War II labor shortages created a greater openness toward giving safety the serious consideration it deserved. 19

20 DEVELOPMENT OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROGRAMS Industry began to realize: Improved engineering could prevent accidents. Employees were willing to learn and accept established safety rules, which could be enforced. Financial savings from safety improvement could be reaped by savings in compensation and medical bills. DEVELOPMENT OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROGRAMS Early safety programs were based on the three E s of safety: Engineering. Education. Enforcement. 20

21 DEVELOPMENT OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROGRAMS Engineering aspects of a safety program involve design improvements to both product & process. Manufacturing processes can be engineered to decrease potential hazards associated with them. Education ensures that employees know how to work safely, why it is important to do so, and that safety is expected by management. Enforcement involves making sure employees abide by safety policies, rules, regulations, practices, and procedures. Supervisors & fellow employees play a key role. DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS Numerous organizations are devoted in full, or at least in part, to promotion of safety & health in the workplace. Shown are organizations with workplace safety as part of their missions. Figure 1-3 Organizations concerned with workplace safety. 21

22 DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS Several governmental agencies & two related organizations concerned with safety and health. These lists are extensive now, but this has not always been the case. Figure 1-3 Organizations concerned with workplace safety. DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS Safety organizations in this country had humble beginnings the grandfather of them all is the NSC. The Association of Iron & Steel Electrical Engineers called for a national industrial safety conference In The first Cooperative Safety Congress met in Milwaukee in In New York City, the National Council of Industrial Safety was formed in 1913, changed to the National Safety Council at the 1915 meeting. Today, the NSC is the largest organization in the US devoted solely to safety & health practices/procedures. 22

23 DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) is the government s administrative arm for the Occupational Safety & Health Act of OSHA sets/revokes safety & health standards, conducts inspections, investigates problems Issues citations & assesses penalties. Petitions courts to take action against unsafe employers. Provides safety training & injury prevention consultation. Maintains a database of health and safety statistics. DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the Department of Health and Human Services. NIOSH is required to publish annually a comprehensive list of all known toxic substances. NIOSH will also provide on-site tests of potentially toxic substances so that companies know what they are handling and what precautions to take. 23

24 SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT TODAY Today, there is widespread understanding of the importance of providing a safe & healthy workplace. After World War II, practitioners of occupational health & safety began to see the need for cooperative efforts. SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT TODAY Early, vocal proponent of the cooperative/integrated approach was H.G.Dyktor, who advocated: Learn more by sharing knowledge about workplace health problems, particularly those caused by toxic substances. Provide a greater level of expertise in evaluating health and safety problems. Provide a broad database that can be used to compare health and safety problems experienced by different companies in the same industry. Encourage accident prevention. Make employee health and safety a high priority. 24

25 INTEGRATED APPROACH TO SAFETY AND HEALTH OSHA reinforces the integrated approach by requiring companies to have a plan for: Providing appropriate medical treatment for injured or ill workers. Regularly examining workers who are exposed to toxic substances. Having a qualified first-aid person available during all working hours. Larger companies often maintain a staff of safety & health professionals. Smaller companies may contract out fulfillment of these requirements. INTEGRATED APPROACH TO SAFETY AND HEALTH Health & safety staff in a modern industrial company may include the following positions: Industrial hygiene chemist and/or engineer - companies that use toxic substances may employ industrial hygiene chemists to test work environment & people working in it. Radiation control specialist - monitor radiation levels to which workers may be exposed, test for levels of exposure, respond to radiation accidents, develop company-wide plans for handling radiation accidents. Industrial safety engineer or manager - safety & health generalists with specialized education and training. 25

26 NEW MATERIALS, NEW PROCESSES, AND NEW PROBLEMS The materials out of which products are made have become increasingly complex and exotic. Carbon steels, cast steels, cast irons, tungsten, molybdenum, lead, tin, zinc, and powdered metals. Each of these metals requires its own specialized processes. Nonmetals are more numerous & more complex, with their own potential hazards to the workplace Plastics, plastic alloys and blends, advanced composites. Fibrous materials, elastomers, and ceramics. Modern industrial processes are also becoming more complex as they are automated, potential hazards associated with them often increase. RAPID GROWTH IN THE PROFESSION Complexities of the modern workplace have made safety and health a growing profession. Associate & baccalaureate degree programs in industrial technology typically include industrial safety courses. Some engineering degree programs have safety & health tracks, and several colleges and universities offer full degrees in occupational safety & health. More large companies are employing safety & health professionals and more small companies are assigning these duties to existing employees. 26