Basic definitions in health and safety

Before a detailed discussion of health and safety issues can take place, some basic occupational health and safety definitions are required:

Health :

The protection of the bodies and minds of people from illness resulting from the materials, processes or procedures used in the workplace.

Safety :

T protection of people from physical injury. The borderline between health and safety is ill-defined and the two words are normally used together to indicate

concern for the physical and mental well-being of the individual at the place of work.

Welfare :

The provision of facilities to maintain the health and well-being of individuals at the workplace.

Welfare facilities include washing and sanitation arrangements, the provision of drinking water, heating, lighting, accommodation for clothing, seating (when required by the work activity), eating and rest rooms. First aid arrangements are also considered as welfare facilities.

Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction

Occupational or work-related ill-health :

Is concerned with those illnesses or physical and mental disorders that are either caused or triggered by workplace activities.

Such conditions may be induced by the particular work activity of the individual or by activities of others in the workplace. The time interval between exposure and the onset of the illness may be short (e.g. asthma attacks) or long (e.g. deafness or cancer).

Environmental protection:

Arrangements to cover those activities in the workplace which affect the environment (in the form of flora, fauna, water, air and soil) and, possibly, the health and safety of employees and others. Such activities include waste and effluent disposal and atmospheric pollution.

Accident :

defined by the Health and Safety Executive as ‘any unplanned event that results in injury or ill health of people, or damage or loss to property, plant, materials or the environment or a loss of a business opportunity’. Other authorities define an accident more narrowly by excluding events that do not involve injury or ill-health.

We will always use the Health and Safety Executive definition.

Near miss :

Is any incident that could have resulted in an accident. Knowledge of near misses is very important since research has shown that, approximately, for every ten ‘near miss’ events at a particular location in the workplace, a minor accident will occur.

Dangerous occurrence :

Is a ‘near miss’ which could have led to serious injury or loss of life. Dangerous occurrences are defined in the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (often known as RIDDOR) and are always reportable to the Enforcement Authorities. Examples include the collapse of a scaffold or a crane or the failure of any passenger carrying equipment.

Hazard and risk:

a hazard is the potential of a substance, activity or process to cause harm. Hazards take many forms including, for example, chemicals, electricity and working from a ladder. A hazard can be ranked relative to other hazards or to a possible level of danger.

A risk is the likelihood of a substance, activity or process to cause harm. A risk can be reduced and the hazard controlled by good management.

It is very important to distinguish between a hazard and a risk – the two terms are often confused and activities such as construction work are called high risk when they are high hazard. Although the hazard will continue to be high, the risks will be reduced as controls

are implemented. The level of risk remaining when controls have been adopted is known as the residual risk. There should only be high residual risk where there

is poor health and safety management and inadequate control measures.