Hazard

Hazard is any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone under certain conditions at work. You deal with hazards in your life every day walking across busy streets, driving and playing sports. 

Risk is the chance or probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard. It may also apply to situations with property or equipment loss. The level of risk is often categorised upon the potential harm or adverse health effect that the hazard may cause.

Example: A medicine could be described as a hazard if it has the potential to cause harm. However, the risk of that harm may be very small provided effective controls/measures are in place. If a patient could suffer harm as a result of taking the medicine, the chance of the harm occurring at a given harshness may be described as a clinical risk. If harm resulted from taking the medicine and the harm was not expected this would be a patient safety incident.[pic 1]

There are four main type of hazards. They are:

1. Physical hazard: Physical hazards commonly found in any places we go that includes harm in body due to environmental things. Slip and fall hazards are a concern in almost any workplace, but a hospital environment, in which the atmosphere is unpredictable and often fast-paced, can be especially worrying. That can be cause due to wet floors, including floors contaminated with water, grease or food or bad lightening. Example: electric hazard, needles, broken glasses, spill on floor, high exposure to sunlight/ultraviolet rays, heat or cold, etc. [pic 2]

1. Chemical hazard: Chemical hazards include skin irritants or respiratory sensitizers that have an adverse effect on a worker's health as a result of direct contact with or exposure to the chemical, usually through inhalation, skin contact or ingestion. Hazardous chemicals may present an immediate or long term risk to human health through their toxicological properties, or a risk to safety of persons and property. For example: liquids like cleaning products, paints, acids, solvents especially chemicals in an unlabelled container. [pic 3]

1. Biological hazard: Biological hazards are organic substances that pose a threat to the health of humans and other living organisms. Biological hazards include pathogenic micro-organisms, viruses, toxins (from biological sources), spores, fungi and bio-active substances. Biological hazards can also be considered to include biological vectors or transmitters of disease. For example, workers in health care professions are exposed to biological hazards via contact with human bodily matter, such as blood, tissues, saliva, mucous, urine and faeces, because these substances have a high risk of containing viral or bacterial diseases. [pic 4]

1. Social hazard: Social hazard is the harm that one society or part of a society may do to another. Social hazards are related to discrimination, technological changes, malfunctioning equipment, downsizing, overwork, understaffing, and violence, dependent and demanding patients, and patient deaths. All of these factors contribute to stress, fatigue, anger, frustration and the feeling of being isolated and powerless. Example: abuse, bullying, overtime work, dissatisfaction in work, etc.[pic 5]

It’s important to keep in mind that while there are a lot of potential hazards in hospitals, there are also regulations and recommendations in place to protect. Hazardous substance can cause long-term and short term health problems. A cleaner splashing bleach on their skin could cause a burn or inflammation, which will have little long-term effect in most cases. However, a splash in the eye could cause permanent damage to their sight.

References

• http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Hazards/