Health, Safety and Environment - International Labour Organization

Manual 2:HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENTFOR “GRASSROOTS” MEMBERS Health, safety and environmental hazardsActivity – Hazards at workAIMSTo help us to: discuss health, safety and environmental problems at work identify priority hazardsTASKIn your small group:1. Discuss the health, safety, welfare and environmental problems that you andother workers face in your workplace2. Make a list of the health, safety and environmental hazards that you think arethe prioritiesElect a spokesperson to report back with your group’s priority hazardsHazardand riskMechanicalhazardsPhysicalhazardsA “hazard” is anything with the potential to do harm, whereas a “risk” is thelikelihood of potential harm from that hazard being realised. For example,the hazard associated with power-driven agricultural machinery might begetting trapped or entangled by moving parts. The risk may be high ifguards are not fitted and workers are in close proximity to the machine. Ifhowever, the machine is properly guarded, regularly maintained andrepaired by competent staff, then the risk will be lower.Different types of hazards don’t necessarily fit into neat boxes, but theheadings below are given as examples.Poorly designed and/or guarded agricultural machinery is a major causeof fatalities and accidents. Injuries from cutting tools are another majorrisk.Agricultural workers face a wide range of physical hazards: noisy machinery, and noisy working environments such as intensivelivestock houses excessive vibration from tractors, chainsaws and so on deaths and injuries from falls asphyxiation in grain silos, wells and so on39 Health, Safety and EnvironmentA Series of Trade Union EducationManuals for Agricultural Workers