Health and safety in production - recognition of dangerous situations

Every employee should know the rules related to occupational health and safety. Thanks to them, among other things, a production plant is a properly adapted and safe place for people staying there. Properly implemented and applied OHS rules allow for avoiding accidents and potentially dangerous situations. That is why it is important for each person to undergo appropriate training before starting work.

In addition to training and appropriate adaptation of the workplace, the involvement of the employees themselves and their proactive approach to the subject of safety are also important. Every event, even one that is only potentially dangerous, should be reported. Thanks to this, the employer can improve or maintain the level of safety at an appropriate level, as well as react quickly in the event of, for example, a failure or defect that would endanger people staying, for example, in the production hall.

Accidents, incidents and near misses

In order to effectively prevent accidents in production, it is necessary to have a precise understanding of the terminology related to safety. Every event in the workplace that could potentially lead to negative consequences requires appropriate classification. The three key concepts are: accident, incident and near miss.

Accidents

According to the Act of 30 October 2002 on social insurance for accidents at work and occupational diseases, an accident at work is "a sudden event caused by an external cause causing injury or death, which occurred in connection with work".

Accidents are divided into categories according to the number of people involved, i.e. individual and collective (at least 2 people are injured as a result of the same event), as well as according to their size and weight: light, heavy and fatal.

Light accident, i.e. minor bodily injury, causes temporary incapacity for work (longer than 3 days); it is most often a sprain, twist, cut, burn, fracture (without displacement).

Serious accident, i.e. serious or permanent bodily injury, as a result of which the employee stays in hospital for longer than 5 days; this may be, for example, loss of sight/hearing, an incurable or life-threatening disease caused by work, a serious fracture, body deformity.

Fatal accident, i.e. damage to health that leads to the death of the employee (no later than one year from the event.

When an accident occurs, the employer is obliged to provide first aid to the injured person, as well as to secure the scene of the accident and eliminate the danger. Then the causes and circumstances should be explained so that a similar event does not occur in the future.

Incidents, i.e. minor accidents that may be potential accidents

An incident is classified differently by different people - some consider it an accident, others a potential accident. Due to their minor consequences, incidents are often trivialized by both employees and employers. We are talking about events during which there is minor damage to health, allowing the employee to continue working. An example could be various cuts or other minor injuries.

An incident may also be a potential accident, which I describe in more detail below. These are dangerous situations that could have led to a serious accident that was avoided. (For example, a box filled with heavy tools could have fallen on an employee's head, but only a minor abrasion to the hand occurred, thanks to the employee's quick reflexes.)

Reporting incidents, despite their low harmfulness and minor consequences, can also contribute to improving safety and conditions in the workplace. Thanks to this, some incidents can be prevented in the future.

Near-miss incidents

A situation that was potentially dangerous and could have led to an accident, but due to various circumstances (e.g. someone noticed the danger in time) the accident did not occur, is called a near-miss incident. There are three types of such incidents:

Unsafe behavior of co-workers - these are all behaviors of employees that can lead to dangerous situations. The causes of such behavior may be a lack of appropriate OHS training, disregard for rules or rushing.

Unsafe working conditions at the plant - here the responsibility lies mainly with the employer, because they are the ones who should provide appropriate working conditions - environment, equipment, infrastructure. Dangerous may be, for example, faulty or improperly functioning machinery, too much noise, unmarked roads, dust in the air.

Potentially dangerous events - they depend on the specifics of the work performed, most often they are mentioned in the case of property damage in which no person was directly involved.

Near misses should also be reported to the employer, as their occurrence means that something needs to be improved/changed to prevent an accident in the future.

Summary

In a production environment, where there are various machines, tools and materials, the risk of accidents, incidents and near misses is quite high. That is why it is so important for manufacturing companies to take all measures to ensure the highest level of safety for their employees.

Employee training and compliance with health and safety regulations are very important. However, even in companies that take the utmost care to ensure appropriate working conditions, accidents, incidents and near misses occur. It is important to react appropriately: provide first aid (in the event of accidents), explain the circumstances and eliminate the (potential) threat.