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Making work healthy!“What every safety practitioner should know about 

Occupational Hygiene.”

WatsonWild&BakerLtd

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INTRODUCTION

Adrian K WatsonBSc (Hons), LLM, MSc, Dip Occ Hyg, Dip Env Hlth, CFPA(EU)Dip, CFIOSH, CFFOH, MIEH CEnvH, MRSB, MACGIH, MAIHA, MASSE

Chartered Environmental Health PractitionerChartered Occupational HygienistChartered Safety and Health Practitioner

Email: adrianwatson@wwbltd.co.ukMob: 07944 789632

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Occupational Hygiene

The prevention of disease and the maintenance of health in the workplace. 

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Occupational Hygienists

Identify and evaluate risks to health in the workplace and advise on the preventative and protective measures necessary to comply with the law.

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The diploma of professional competence in occupational hygiene.

The certificate of operational competence in occupational 

hygiene.

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DISEASE

ENVIRONMENT

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Risk Assessment

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“Risk is the possibility of danger”

R v Board of Trustees of the Science Museum [1993] ICR 876

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“the prosecution had to prove that the risk was a real risk as opposed to a fanciful or hypothetical risk and that unless it could be said that the person was exposed to a real risk […] no question as to the […] measures taken to meet risk arose.”

R v Porter (James Godfrey) [2008] EWCA Crim 1271

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For workman and employer alike such expressions as “risk,” “danger” and “safety” would lose much of their everyday meaning if divorced from the results to life and limb. … It is the consequences that necessitate the precautions in this field.

Lord MacDermott.in Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] 1 All ER 42

“The greater risk of injury is not the same thing as the risk of greater injury.”

Lord MacDermott in Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] AC 367, HL

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" There are two factors in determining the magnitude of a risk - the seriousness of the injury risked, and the likelihood of the injury being in fact caused."

Lord Normand in Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] 1 All ER 42

ENVIRONMENT

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ENVIRONMENT

Identifying exposures?

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Routes of exposure

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Types of exposure

Process

Fugitive

Episodic

Types of exposure

Continious

Cyclic

Sporadic

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Evaluating exposure?

Physical & chemical properties

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Intensity & duration

Frequency & timing

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Biological response & health effects

Occupational Exposure Standards

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Monitoring

Monitoring

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Monitoring

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Occupational Exposure Standards

OES’s are not dividing lines between safe and unsafe levels of exposure.

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Toxicology

Epidemiology

Interpretation of results

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Interpretation of results

Control

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ROUTE

CONTROL

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“The court's task of deciding what precautions a reasonable and prudent man would take in the circumstances of a particular case may not be easy. Nevertheless, the judgment of the reasonable and prudent man should be allowed its common every-day scope, and it should not be restrained from considering the foreseeable consequences of an accident and their seriousness for the person to whom the duty of care is owed.

Lord Normand in Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] AC 367, HL

The test is what precautions would the ordinary, reasonable and prudent man take? The relevant considerations include all those facts which could affect the conduct of a reasonable and prudent man and his decision on the precautions to be taken.

Lord Normand in Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] AC 367, HL

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“the whole point of a risk assessment is to identify whether the particular operation gives rise to any risk to safety and, if so, what is the extent of that risk, and what can and should be done to minimise or eradicate the risk. “

Kennedy v Cordia (Services) LLP (Scotland) [2016] UKSC 6

“I think that the more serious the damage which will happen if an accident occurs, the more thorough are the precautions which an employer must take. If I am right as to this general principle, I think it follows logically that if A and B, who are engaged on the same work, run precisely the same risk of an accident happening, but if the results of an accident will be more serious to A than to B, precautions which are adequate in the case of B may not be adequate in the case of A, and it is a duty of the employer to take such additional precautions for the safety of A as may be reasonable.”

Lord Morton in Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] AC 367, HL

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“If a bricklayer says that the risk is greater at the top of a building, he means that a slip there ismore likely to bring him death or injury, and if he says that a particular form of scaffolding is dangerous or not safe, he means not merely that it may fall, but that those who use it may get hurt. What may happen to those engaged is noless important than how it may happen. It is the consequences that necessitate the precautions in this field.

Lord MacDermott in Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] AC 367, HL

“Reasonably practicable is a narrower term than ‘Physically possible’ and implies that a computation must be made […] in which the quantum of risk is placed in one scale and the sacrifice involved in the measures necessary for averting the risk (whether in time, trouble or money) is placed in the other and that, if it be shown that there is a great disproportion between them – the risk being insignificant in relation to the sacrifice – the person upon whom the obligation is imposed discharges the onus which is upon him.”

Asquith LJ Edwards v National Coal Board [1949] All ER 743 (CA)

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CoSHH 2002

6(1)  An employer shall not carry out work which is liable to expose any employees to any substance hazardous to health unless he has—

(a) made a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk created by that work to the health of those employees and of the steps that need to be taken to meet the requirements of these Regulations; and

(b) implemented the steps referred to above.

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6(4) Where the employer employs 5 or more employees, he shall record—

(a) the significant findings of the risk assessment as soon as is practicable after the risk assessment is made; and

(b) the steps which he has taken to prevent, and where this is not reasonably practical, control exposures to substances hazardous to health.

7(1)  Every employer shall ensure that the exposure of his employees to substances hazardous to health is either prevented or, where this is not reasonably practicable, adequately controlled.

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7(3) Where it is not reasonably practicable to prevent exposure to a substance hazardous to health, the employer shall apply protection measures, … in order of priority—

(a) the design and use of appropriate work processes, systems and engineering controls and the provision and use of suitable work equipment and materials;.

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(b) the control of exposure at source, including adequate ventilation systems and appropriate organisational measures; and.

(c) where adequate control of exposure cannot be achieved by other means, the provision of suitable personal protective equipment in addition to the measures required by (a) & (b).

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Adequate control

7 (7)  Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), where there is exposure to a substance hazardous to health, control of that exposure shall only be treated as being adequate if –

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Rule 1

Apply 8 principles of good occupational hygiene practice

Principle 1 

Minimise releases

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Principle 2 

Control all routes of exposure

Principle 3

Use control measures proportionate to risks

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Principle 4

Use effective and reliable control measures

Principle 5

Use PPE in combination with other control measures

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Principle 6

Regularly check control measures

Principle 7

Provide information, instruction and training

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Principle 8

Ensure control measures do not increase risks

Rule 2

Ensure any WEL is not exceeded

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Rule 3

Reduce exposures to as low as is reasonably practicable for carcinogens, mutagens and 

substances may cause asthma.

8(1) Every employer who provides any control measure, other thing or facility … shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that it is properly used or applied as the case may be.

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9(1) Every employer who provides any control measure … shall ensure that, where relevant, it is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, in good repair and in a clean condition.

10(1) Where the risk assessment indicates that—

(a) it is requisite for ensuring the maintenance of adequate control of the exposure of employees to substances hazardous to health; or.

(b) it is otherwise requisite for protecting the health of employees,.

the employer shall ensure that the exposure of employees to substances hazardous to health is monitored in accordance with a suitable procedure.

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11(1) Where it is appropriate for the protection of the health of his employees who are, or are liable to be, exposed to a substance hazardous to health, the employer shall ensure that such employees are under suitable health surveillance.

12(1) Every employer who undertakes work which is liable to expose an employee to a substance hazardous to health shall provide that employee with suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training.

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Examples

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Conclusion

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Thank you!