Hazard identification

A hazard in relation to a person is defined as "anything that may result in injury to a person or harm to the health of a person".

There are a number of ways of identifying potential sources of injury or disease. Selection of the appropriate procedure will depend on the type of work processes and hazards involved. Procedures may range from a simple checklist for a specific piece of equipment or substance, to a more open-ended appraisal of a group of related work processes. Systematic inspections and audits can be used to detect changes away from the designed or designated conditions. Such programs can be scheduled on time, fault or random regimes. Importantly the results should be utilized and form part of an on-going base of data for the workplace. A combination of methods may provide the most effective results. Methods of identifying workplace hazards include:

- developing a hazard checklist;

- conducting walk-through surveys and inspections;

- reviewing information from designers or manufacturers;

- analyzing unsafe incident, accident and injury data;

- analyzing work processes;

- consulting with employees;

- examining and considering material safety data sheets and product labels; and

- seeking advice from specialist practitioners and representatives.

Some hazards are inherent in the work process, such as mechanical hazards, noise, or the toxic properties of substances. Other hazards result from equipment or machine failures and misuse, control or power system failures, chemical spills, and structural failures.

Hazards may be grouped into three categories - physical, mental and biological. Within each category, there are further hazard groups or types. It is useful to consider these hazard types (see below) when identifying work related hazards to ensure that a wide range of potential hazards is considered. The most common hazards in terms of bodily injury or disease are those, which result in:

- strain or overuse injuries and disease to back, shoulder, wrist etc;

- cut and abrasion injuries to the eyes, hands, fingers, feet and head;

- impact and crush injuries to the head, feet and fingers;

- burns (by heat, light or chemicals) to the eyes, feet, and skin;

- noise induced hearing loss; and

- toxic effects (short or long term) to respiratory system or skin, resulting in poisoning, cancers or dermatitis.

Development of a physical hazard list is very important as this forms the basis for the next step of the process. There are no standard formats used to record the data and so the following example worksheet (Table 1.1) is only for reference and may need modification to suit the nature of individual projects.

Table 1.1

Inspection worksheet

INSPECTION WORKSHEET No.1 Inspected by: John Ninks, Angela Smith	Date: 1 Jan 1995
PLANT	HAZARD AND SOURCE	COMMENTS
Large paper guillotine	Crush from paper holding bar	Operator and casual passers-by need protection.
Amputation from blade due to: · Access to blade from rear · Safety latch failure · Electronic beam not failing to safety
Industrial lift truck (reg.no. FSG-7791)	Could tip over or lose load if overloaded	Usually received pallet loads within capacity, but heavier loads than the trucks capacity arrive occasionally
If raised above mast height load could fall on operator	Fitted with overhead protection
Person could be struck and crushed by lift truck	Truck regularly operates near operators on binding line
Rear turning wheels could run over and crush a person's foot	Two people have previously had their feet run over while talking to driver
Pizza oven	Possible burns when taking food out	Has happened frequently. Should use gloves.
Electric knife	Possible electrocution from cutting cord	Could connect through RCD
Electric meat slicer	Possible electrocution	Use RCD : test regularly
Cutting hazard	Use steel mesh cutting glove & safe work practices.