Occupational Health and Safety Competency Assessment – Hazard Analysis

1. WORKPLACE ASSIGNMENT

1. Choose a workplace. This can be the whole workplace or a separate section of the workplace.
   1. For assessment purpose, select one (1) work unit.
   1. Identify all health hazards associate with the work activities in this workplace
   1. Discuss the findings.
   1. Briefly discuss health surveillance programme.
   1. Write a workplace assignment report based on item 1 to 5 using the format described in section B.

Definition:

“A work unit” is essentially a group of workers doing similar tasks (i.e having similar potential for exposure) whether in one work area covering several work areas and exposed to the same chemicals hazardous to health.

• REPORT TITLE PAGE

Refer to Appendix 1.

                EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (5 marks)

Write a one-page summary to explain the purpose, main activities, findings and conclusions of your report.

                INTRODUCTION (15 marks)

1. Purpose and objectives of the report.
   1. Provide a description of the company and the work site selected. The description must include the organizational chart, activities and work environment.
   1. Provide a description on the work units assessed (job title, groups, work processes, activities) so as to give the reader a clear understanding of the workplace activities and the hazards associated with the activities.
   1. Review of existing health surveillance programme.

                ASSESSMENT METHODS (20 marks)

1. Explain how you identify all hazards in the workplace.
   1. Describe the technique used to assess and evaluate the risk of the hazards identified.
   1. You are required to provide data or related documents to support your explanation.

                RESULT (25 marks)

1. List the hazards identified.
   1. Prioritize these hazards accordingly-provide your explanation in steps.

                DISCUSSION & RECOMMENDATION (25 marks)

1. Discuss the factors that contribute to the significant health risk.
   1. Provide recommendations to employer on the necessity for a health surveillance programme.

                CONCLUSION (5 marks)

Give conclusion of the report.

                APPENDICES (5 marks)

All necessary information used to support the report must be included in the appendices.

Experts Answer on Above Occupational Health & Safety Question

Workplace health hazard assessment report

Workplace selected – the workplace selected for analysis is a manufacturing production unit – a food processing factory in Selangor, Malaysia.

Introduction

The main focus of analysis in this report is on identifying workplace health hazards, analyse the risks from such hazards, and make recommendations about health surveillance measures to protect employee health. The company selected is a food manufacturing organisation that accounts for producing packaged food products by following a specific process including raw material handling, processing, packaging, storage and distribution.

Work unit assessed

The specific work unit that is assessed is the production operators which includes operations of processing machines, packaging finished products, cleaning production equipment, handling raw materials and performing quality checks. The existing health surveillance programme includes annual medical examinations, pre-employment health assessments, and occupational health awareness training.

Assessment methods

Hazard identification methods – The specific methods that were followed in identifying the hazards are performing a workplace inspection, interviewing employees, an in-depth review of incident reports, work processes analysis, and review of safety data sheets.
Risk assessment technique – the specific approach used in performing with assessment is hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control (HIRARC).

Risk matrix

The specific areas included in the risk matrix analysis are the likelihood of occurrence, severity of occurrence, and overall risk rating. The documents that were utilised are risk assessment forms, safety inspection checklist and medical surveillance records.

Results

Hazards identified – The hazards identified are excessive noise exposure from production machinery, and it could lead to hearing loss and fatigue. The risk level is so high. Another hazard is chemical exposure especially from cleaning and sanitizing Chemicals which could lead to skin irritation and respiratory irritation. The level of risk is medium. Ergonomic hazards from repetitive packaging activities could result in musculoskeletal disorders and back pain while the heat stress from production area temperature can negatively affect the employees in the form of the dehydration and heat exhaustion. The employees are also exposed to biological hazards from food contamination and microorganisms which could lead to infections and allergic reactions.

Discussion and recommendations

The factors that amount to significant health risks are noise exposure from continuous machine operation, ergonomic risk from repetitive tasks and prolonged standing, chemical exposure from frequent use of cleaning chemicals etc. It is therefore recommended to have a health surveillance program that focuses on annual audiometric testing for noise exposed workers, skin examinations on regular basis for chemical handlers, ergonomic assessments.on periodic basis and heat stress monitoring along with regular occupational health training.

Want Detailed Answers with References?

A critical analysis of the health hazards in the production unit of a food processing factory in Selangor Malaysia revealed significant findings about different types of hazards along with appropriate recommendations to deal with them. If you need a similar kind of hazard analysis, connect to our professional occupational health and safety experts to get the best quality of assignment writing service in Malaysia.