The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) recently published a guidance document on four health hazards it believes should receive special attention. It uses OSHA's earlier Focus Four initiative which covered safety hazards as a rough template. As a non-safety pro, I had to do some sniffing to make sure my definitions of safety and health match with that of safety pros. Health hazards, which are covered in the recently published guidance document, usually impact a worker's health over time/repetition and bring about delayed illnesses, injuries and health concerns. Think of asbestos, repetitive tasks like material handling and extended exposure to excessive noise. Safety hazards are generally more acute and immediate in their impact. This makes sense as the original Focus Four initiative that focused on safety hazards directed attention to falls, electrocution, crushing incidents and struck by events. Safety hazards usually result in immediate pain and health issues whereas health hazards usually result in health issues over time and repetition.
The recent AIHA publication focuses on health issues over time via health hazards. In addition to identifying health hazards, the AIHA provides information and direction on a variety of health related topics like identifying the hazard, how severe the health impacts can be, what strategies can be used to mitigate the hazard, how safety pros can help and more.
The Focus Four Health topics discussed in detail in the new guidance cover manual material handling, noise, air contaminants and high temperatures.
1. Manual material handling
This includes heavy and/or frequent manual lifting, pushing, pulling or holding of material and tools. Over time this can lead to overexertion injuries and musculoskeletal disorders. Proper work planning and implementation can reduce and prevent injuries related to material handling.
2. Noise
Most construction creates lots of noise or takes place around other noise generating operations. Over time, regular exposure to loud noise can cause hearing loss that is irreversible. Have you ever worked around that old super or PM that whistles a bit when they talk? Noise got the best of them.
3. Air contaminants
These can be gases or particulates. They can be hard to see or smell. Symptoms of air contaminant exposure usually occur in the throat, nose and/or lungs. As with noise, negative health impacts from air contaminants are often irreversible. Proper work planning and air sampling can identify and prevent exposure resulting in negative health effects.
4. High temperatures
Most everyone knows that this means. High temperatures, humidity and sun exposure can lead to heat related illnesses. Exposure without full recovery over a period of days can increase the chances of heat related illness. Once a heat related illness is experienced, recurrence is more likely. Keys to consider are rest, task type, hydration, shade, modified work hours and more.
This was a very brief summary of the AIHA Focus Four for Health guidance document. If you are a safety pro and/or overachiever, you can check out all 57 pages for yourself here.
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