Oc Occupational Health and Safety y Viji Vijayan Associate Professor Associate Dean Safety, Health and Emergency Department Duke-NUS Medical School
My CV y CV i in b brief • Started as a medical doctor then moved to microbiology, developmental biology and then biological safety and biological security. • Master’s degree in Human Factors and Systems Safety from Lund university in Sweden • Serve in organizations like Biorisk Association of Singapore, Asia Pacific Biosafety Association (APB-A), International Federation of Biosafety Associations (IFBA) • Consult for European Union CBRN Centers of Excellence, World Health Organization through their partner agencies, Global Affairs Canada though their projects in South East Asia. • Passion and strength: • Understanding the local situation and helping the workers to make sense of regulations and standards and helping them to develop locally applicable solutions to ensure biosafety and biosecurity. • Training to ensure that the workers are able to apply the knowledge to their everyday challenges and situations
Ou Outline of Prese sentation 1. Elements of Occupational Health and Safety Systems 2. Definition of Occupational Health and Safety 3. Implementing an Occupational Health and Safety Program
El Eleme ments ts of ISO 45001 Occupa upati tiona nal Health a and S Safety M y Management S System 1: Scope 2: Normative references 3: Terms of definition 4: Context of organization 5: Leadership 6: Planning 7: Support 8: Operation 9: Performance evaluation 10: Improvement
Ou Outline of Prese sentation 1. Elements of Occupational Health and Safety Systems 2. Definition of Occupational Health and Safety 3. Implementing an Occupational Health and Safety Program
Occupation onal H Health a and S Safety y • World Health Organization: "occupational health deals with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of hazards”. • Multidisciplinary field of healthcare concerned with enabling a person to do their job in the way that causes least harm to their health. • It is different from health and safety at work, which is concerned with preventing harm from any incidental hazards arising in the workplace. • The main focus is on three objectives: • the maintenance and promotion of workers’ health and working capacity; • the improvement of working environment and work to become conducive to safety and health and • development of work organizations and working cultures in a direction which supports health and safety at work and in doing so also promotes a positive social climate and smooth operation and may enhance productivity of the undertakings.
Hierarchy of O y of Occupation onal H Health a and Safety I y Implementation on Concept - International Communication Country law Institutional policies Worker’s operations and practice
Ou Outline of Prese sentation 1. Elements of Occupational Health and Safety Systems 2. Definition of Occupational Health and Safety 3. Implementing an Occupational Health and Safety Program
Im Implem emen enting Occupational Hea Health and Safety P y Progr ogram • Institution responsibilities • Individual responsibilities • Joint occupational health and safety committee • Health and safety rules • Correct work procedures • Employee orientation • Training • Workplace inspections • Reporting and investigating accidents/incidents • Emergency procedures • Medical and first aid • Health and safety promotion
In Institution res esponsibilities es • Occupational health program must be established, and workers must be enrolled in this program so that they can get medical attention when needed • Pre-employment placement medical examination for high risk workers • Provision of a medical contact card to workers emergency contact point in case a sudden illness occurs outside of work hours, they can show it to the doctor
In Institution res esponsibilities es • Example of enrolment in Occupational Health Program : • Occupational doctor should assess: • Zika virus work and pregnancy • SARS-CoV-2 work for elderly workers or workers with underlying risk factors like diabetes: these workers can be given other equally important work that does not directly deal with live virus
In Institution res esponsibilities es • Establish a system to ensure that safety and health of workers is safeguarded • Provide a system for dealing with accidents • Provide medical care for workers who are unwell or have had a workplace accident • Provide safe work environments including PPE, training, timely communications, practice drills
In Institution res esponsibilities es • Occupation health and safety program should include provisions for: • Work with animals • Work in BSL-3 • Work with Zika, SARS-CoV-2 and other hazards • Pregnant workers • Annual check up where needed • Annual N95 mask fitting • Vaccinations - example tetanus for work with animals, annual flu vaccination especially now to reduce flu incidence so that it does not mimic COVID-19
In Institution res esponsibilities es duri ring COVID ID- 19 P 19 Pandemic • Task Force/Committee at institution level • Clear communication to provide information on how to deal with different situations • Process for dealing with a confirmed COVID case in the institution • Provide a system for workers to report if they are unwell and not to come to work • System for workers to report if they have been in contact with confirmed COVID case and the process to follow • All aspects of an employee’s health status must be kept confidential. • The contact person in the institution should know what to do in emergencies (Incident Command team)
In Institution res esponsibilities es duri ring COVID ID- 19 P 19 Pandemic • 24-hour help in case of an emergency. • In order to keep the number of workers in the workplace small • Work from home • Shift work • Workers come in AM and PM shift and two shifts do not meet • Temperature screening at entry • Temperature logging by staff twice a day • Log details of person entering the workplace via telephone app or just a logbook • Cleaning in between shifts • Frequent cleaning of lifts, door handles, chairs and other common areas • Providing hand sanitizer • Hotline to call if in distress
Temperature t taki king g
Su Superviso sor’s s resp sponsi sibilities s during CO COVID-19 P 19 Pandemic • Keep workload to acceptable level fatigue is a very common cause of accidents • Communication to staff about hand hygiene • Changing work practice to ensure social distancing • Posters to remind staff of hand hygiene and social distancing • Provision of hand wash, PPE • Training and mentoring • Assigning responsibilities based on reliability (expertise, experience and trustworthiness) • Maintain open communication for staff to voice concerns or ask questions, especially under the difficult pandemic situation
Wo Worker’s responsibilities • Ensure that they work in accordance with all SOP • Talk to supervisors if not sure of something • Report any health and safety issue • Not come to work if feeling unwell with symptoms of COVID- fever, dry cough, tiredness, etc • Ensure they are trained adequately • Report all incidents including near misses so that lessons can be learned. Here institutions SHOULD NOT punish employees for reporting so that they can report without fear
Joi oint r respon onsibility d y during C g COVID-19 19 Pa Pandemic • Nurturing a culture of responsible behaviour • Not coming to work if unwell • Not coming to work if there was contact with COVID patient • Not coming to work if in quarantine • Reporting any accidents/exposures in the lab • Hand hygiene, social distancing, respiratory protection • This is the key prevention strategy at this time, and it is everyone’s responsibility to practice this • Frequent cleaning of common lab equipment • Frequent cleaning of lift, door handles and objects that are touched by people
CO COVID-19 19- lab lab workers • Risk assessment • Training • PPE • Communication • Emergency response plan • Exposure management
Ca Casualty i y infor ormation on c card t to gi o give fi first re responders
Wor ork w k with a animals • Enrolment in occupational health program for animal work • Allergies • Zoonotic diseases • Bites scratches, spitting, needle stick injuries
Occu Occupational Health Program • Zoonosis - Zoonoses are infectious diseases that are transmitted between species from animals to humans (or from humans to other animals). • Depending on the laboratory animal species that workers are dealing with the types of zoonotic infections are different • Workers should be trained and mentored in handling animals and animal emergencies
Zo Zoonotic Diseases Mode Mo e of zoonotic disea sease se tra ransm smissi ssion Mucous Muc us Pa Parenteral Respir spiratory Fa Faecal-or oral me membr mbrane ane inocula ino ulatio tion
Er Ergono nomi mics and nd Mus uscul uloskeletal Di Disorde ders Heaving lifting Improper sitting posture Repeated pipetting Keyboard related
Recommend
More recommend
