Chemical risk ranking and evaluation: case study in a paint manufacturing company

As economies grow and the use of chemicals becomes more and more widespread, the adoption of effective control measures allows for safer use of chemicals on an industrial scale. Chemical hazards can have severe negative consequences for both the health of employees, the safety of personnel and facilities (fire and explosion risk) and the environment. To characterize them, it is necessary to combine the inherent hazards associated to chemicals with their conditions of use that may generate emissions and exposures. Various methods, both qualitative and quantitative are available worldwide for chemical risk assessment, but unfortunately in Romania this important aspect is treated in a minimalist manner, which can often be considered as insufficiently rigorous. In this perspective, the present paper aims to validate through a practical case study conducted in a Romanian paint manufacturing company, the application of a simplified method of chemical risks prioritization and assessment. The obtained results allowed the substantiation of the control measures of these risks, being also able to constitute an instrument of raising awareness for all the interested parties (occupational safety and health inspectors, managers, safety officers, supervisors, workers), in the effective management of the chemical risks

The application of event tree analysis in a work accident at maintenance operations

Event tree analysis is an inductive method, which involves determining the events flowing from the failure of a component or part of the system. Starting from an initiator event or an origin failure, the event tree analysis allows the estimation of system deviation, taking into account in a systematic manner the functioning or failure of detection devices, alarm, prevention, protection or intervention. This paper follows the steps in determining the causes that led to a work accident through the Event Tree Analysis method. The construction of event tree analysis consists of graphical representation of operations which through a succession of decisions lead to an accident during maintenance of work equipment

Chemical risk assessment in a selected Romanian stainless steel processing company

The production and use of chemicals are continuously increasing worldwide. For example, the global output of chemicals increased approximately 12 times between 1970 and 2020. The burden of disease attributable to exposure to chemicals is significant. World Health Organization estimates that globally, about 5 million deaths and 90 million disability - adjusted life years are attributable to occupational, environmental exposure and management. Public authorities and employers need access to reliable information on chemicals and practical, widely-accepted risk assessment methods in order to effectively control and minimize this threat. To support the management of chemical substances in small and mediumsized enterprises, the UK Health and Safety Executive developed the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Essentials (COSHH Essentials), a control banding technique that determines the management method by assigning the qualitative work environment characteristics of the enterprises to a hazard and exposure prediction band. Qualitative tools were used for assessing the risk of these chemicals, creating solutions, and implementing control measures in various industrial fields. The present paper synthesizes the results of an extensive research study, dedicated to the evaluation of chemical risks within a Romanian company which has as object of activity the mechanical processing of steel laminates and their treatment by methods of electrochemical deposition of hard chromium / electrochemical nickel plating. The application of the simplified health, safety and environmental risk assessment methodology developed by the French National Security Research Institute (INRS) was considered to be the most appropriate in the preliminary phase of identifying and prioritizing the risks associated with chemicals used in technological processes in selected company. Based on the obtained results, the prevention and protection plan regarding the chemical risks was elaborated, the implementation of which led to the reduction of the workers' exposure and to the minimization of the probability and severity of the potential consequences

Means to improve underground coal mine safety by automated control of methane drainage systems

Based on the critical analysis of the presently employed management of methane drainage systems operation in Jiu Valley collieries, the paper aims to assess the basic elements required to develop an automated monitoring and control system of these. The results obtained after studies and researches carried out also allowed formulating certain proposals regarding the modification of manual control procedures of methane drainage systems operation, in order to correlate them with the prescriptions of legislation requirements from countries having a well-developed mining industry. Putting in practice the mentioned proposals could have immediate and beneficial effects on increasing the methane drainage process efficiency, leading meanwhile to an improved working environment and, implicitly, to a higher level of occupational safety and health in Jiu Valley collieries

Chemical risk ranking and evaluation: case study in a paint manufacturing company

As economies grow and the use of chemicals becomes more and more widespread, the adoption of effective control measures allows for safer use of chemicals on an industrial scale. Chemical hazards can have severe negative consequences for both the health of employees, the safety of personnel and facilities (fire and explosion risk) and the environment. To characterize them, it is necessary to combine the inherent hazards associated to chemicals with their conditions of use that may generate emissions and exposures. Various methods, both qualitative and quantitative are available worldwide for chemical risk assessment, but unfortunately in Romania this important aspect is treated in a minimalist manner, which can often be considered as insufficiently rigorous. In this perspective, the present paper aims to validate through a practical case study conducted in a Romanian paint manufacturing company, the application of a simplified method of chemical risks prioritization and assessment. The obtained results allowed the substantiation of the control measures of these risks, being also able to constitute an instrument of raising awareness for all the interested parties (occupational safety and health inspectors, managers, safety officers, supervisors, workers), in the effective management of the chemical risks

Understanding and managing worker’s exposure to specific risks

The protection of workers exposed to specific risks is regulated by a substantial and well individualized legislation on safety and health at work. Currently there are many difficulties and shortcomings in implementing legal requirements on specific risks assessment and prevention, especially due to their insufficient knowledge and understanding by employers. In this context, starting from detailing and explaining legal requirements applicable, this paper aims to summarize and systematize the information regarding available, both at national and European level, tools and guides prepared for a unitary process of implementation of legal provisions on specific risks assessment and prevention. The paper was structured so as to constitute a legal and methodological guide to assist employers and other interested parties in the effort to implement an efficient and effective management of preventive activities directed to avoid or reduce workers’ exposure to specific risks

A model for integrating work safety into the design of technical equipments

The paper proposes a model unfolded for occupational safety aspects inclusion in the design and management of change stages for a piece of machinery. The “Integrated Safety - Technical Equipment” (ISTE) model substantiates a logical connection between various task-based features to be fulfilled, hazardous areas and occurrences, hazards, risk assessment, ways to wedge in, workplace characteristics, the effect of the working environment, work crew as well as apparatus, tools and/or basically corresponding to and following a set of prior theoretically grounded guidelines, found in literature. At the same time, the paper gives the outline of the case study performed to give proof of the practical model’s, illustrating operational safety design for a mechanical press line, used for sheet metal milling. Resorting to the developed model, it was performed the design, construction and assembling of the automatic press line which is compliant in terms of occupational safety

Assessment tools analysis of work-related musculoskeletal disorders: strengths and limitations

Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common occupational diseases, affecting millions of workers in the European Union and costing employers billions of euros. Researching the relationships and possibilities of optimal mutual adaptation, under given conditions, both of human to his work and of work to humans, in order to increase the technical-economic efficiency, to optimize the conditions of satisfaction, motivation and work results, while maintaining the worker’s state of health also involves, as a basic stage, the assessment of the risks of osteomuscular-articular overload. Starting from a statistical synthesis on the incidence of MSD and the characteristic types of demands, the paper systematizes in a unitary vision the categories of methods, techniques and tools available for recording and evaluating the factors of physical and postural stress of workers. The pointed description of three of the most commonly applied ergonomic risk assessment tools, aimed at developing a synthesis of Strengths-Weaknesses type, which highlights the advantages of methods in counterbalance with their limitations, providing a first basis for selection in order to apply them in the practice of companies that are aware that investing in safety means investing in profit and not losing financial resources and implicitly human, material ones

An exporatory study on workplace accidents and illnesses cost analysis tools

Until the present, addressing the economic dimension of work accidents and occupational diseases in Romania has been sporadic, relatively unsystematic and unenforceable. Any quantitative assessment of the consequences of accidents and occupational diseases involves determining the cost associated with these undesirable events, which can be used as an economic indicator. Embedding the labor safety criterion among the performance criteria of a company makes its profit directly conditional on the fulfillment of legal requirements on working conditions, so that general management must include among its objectives and maximizing the results of preventive activity. In this context, the paper presents the results of a critical comparative analysis conducted on tools developed worldwide to analyze the costs associated with accidents. The main purpose of the study was to establish the feasibility of introducing the most appropriate tools in the practice of romanian companies, in order to optimize the cost-benefit of investments in occupational safety and health

Understanding and managing worker’s exposure to specific risks

The protection of workers exposed to specific risks is regulated by a substantial and well individualized legislation on safety and health at work. Currently there are many difficulties and shortcomings in implementing legal requirements on specific risks assessment and prevention, especially due to their insufficient knowledge and understanding by employers. In this context, starting from detailing and explaining legal requirements applicable, this paper aims to summarize and systematize the information regarding available, both at national and European level, tools and guides prepared for a unitary process of implementation of legal provisions on specific risks assessment and prevention. The paper was structured so as to constitute a legal and methodological guide to assist employers and other interested parties in the effort to implement an efficient and effective management of preventive activities directed to avoid or reduce workers’ exposure to specific risks