OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY

Introduction

The concept of general duty of care is the cornerstone of modern occupational safety and health in many jurisdictions throughout the world. The terms "general duty of care", "duty of care" or "general duties" relate to broad responsibilities, expressed in general terms, of a wide range of persons who are connected with the work or working environment. These may include employers, employees, self-employed persons and others, such as people who control workplaces, design and construct buildings or manufacture and supply plant. The concept reflects the fact that a "duty of care" is owed in law by one person to another. Examples of such duties include:

• an employer must, as far as practicable, provide a work environment in which employees are not exposed to hazards;

• employees must take reasonable care for their own safety and health, and that of others, at work; and

• self-employed persons must, as far as practicable, ensure the work does not adversely affect the safety and health of others.

An employee who is injured is likely to suffer financial loss and either disfigurement, disability, pain or in extreme cases death. The effects of an injury may not always be temporary and can have devastating long-term consequences on an individual's personal life, social and other activities. There may also be a significant impact on the injured person's family and friends.

The employer should be concerned with accident prevention because the direct and indirect costs associated with accidents can endanger a company's competitiveness. For instance, financial losses due to increased insurance premiums, lost production or disruption to production schedules, damage to equipment and plant, loss of time for other employees (eg, supervisors) during the accident investigation, training of replacement employees and the possibility of fines and adverse publicity are all issues to consider.

Whilst it is possible to insure against some of the expenses associated with injury, ill health and damage to property, the hidden uninsurable costs could well exceed the insurable costs.

In the increasingly competitive market place, it is becoming common for clients to request companies to provide safety records as part of tender analysis processes or pre-qualification. Additionally in some cases, once the successful companies have been selected, on going occupational safety and health performance evaluations are conducted on behalf of the principal contractor.

A number of management's beliefs are crucial to the success of the accident prevention process. These beliefs include the following principles:

• people are our most important asset;

• the majority of accidents and incidents are not caused by "careless workers", but failures in control (either within the organization or within the particular job), which are the responsibility of management;

• the preservation of human and physical resources is an important means of minimizing costs;

• safety and health is a management responsibility of equal importance to production and quality;

• control of safety and health is achieved through co-operative effort at all levels in the organization. Effective safety and health management is not "common sense" but based on a common understanding of risks and how to control them brought about through good management;

• competence in managing safety and health is an essential part of professional management;

• all accidents, ill health and incidents are preventable;

• safety and health; and quality, are two sides of the same coin.

International Labor Organization testifies recent growing of occupational accidents rate that has reached 125 million per annum and 220,000 of them are fatal.

Statistic accident rate in Ukraine is:

• fatal accident caused by occupational injury or disease occurs every 3 min and;

• fatal accident caused by injury happens every 5 hrs;

• an injury happens every 8 min.

World average rate of fatal accidents makes 6 per 100,000 workers. In Ukraine such rate is 2 times higher and is greatest among countries of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The coil industry has greatest occupational risk. About 5 miners die on extraction of each million ton of coils. Risk rating of miners’ work in USA is 100 times lower.

Financial loss entailed by accidents is significant. Every accident in European country with developed industry costs about 500 - 1000 francs per diem. As for Ukraine in 1996 financial support for occupational safety made 52 of national currency for every employee, and at the same time expenses for recovery after accidents made 268.3 millions totally or 950 for each accident. In 1998 recovery of damage caused by accident reached 400 millions.

During the period from 1991 to 1998 in Ukraine 567500 fatal accidents occurred, this risk rate is 38 times higher than occupational one. Fatal road accident rate makes 76000; poisoning – 82000; suicide – 108000; drowning – 37300; fire – 12700.

The highest fatal accident rate for 1000 of citizens is registered in Dnepropetrovsk (1.69), Donetsk (1.67), Zaporizie (1.66), Kherson (1.64), Kyrovograd (1.61), Chernigov (1.6), Lugansk (1.57), Kharkiv (1.57) and Odessa (1.53) regions. Those regions take 54.5% of the total fatal accidents in Ukraine.

Occupational safety is compound of legislative, social, economical, organizational, technical, sanitary, hygiene, medical and prophylactic measures aimed at preserving health and ability to work.

"Traditional" occupational safety and health legislation applied narrowly to specified areas such as factories, shops, warehouses and construction sites. In contrast, a feature of modern general duty of care style legislation is that it applies as broadly as possible. This is reflected in the definitions of "workplace" adopted in the various Acts. For example, a workplace is defined as any place where employees or self-employed persons work or are likely to be in the course of their work. The definition includes such places as aircraft, ships, vehicles, farms, forests, buildings and other structures.

General duty of care style legislation applies to both health and safety at work. Occupational Safety does this by defining a hazard as follows: "hazard", in relation to a person, means anything that may result in - injury to the person; or harm to the health of the person. Injuries are easily recognized. "Health", however, is a broader concept. It includes work-related injuries and diseases, such as occupational deafness, dermatitis, occupational overuse injuries, asbestosis and occupational cancers. It could also include more general health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure and stress, where the work environment and procedures could be shown to be contributing factors.

Course of “Occupational Safety” – is based on completing basic educational (physics, chemistry, mathematics) and basic technical courses (strength of materials, electrical engineering, technology and occupational equipment). Occupational Safety is much connected with safety of life activity, ergonomics, work psychology and technical aesthetic. All this courses enable improving work production, preserving health and reducing risk.