Health And Safety In
Industrial Plants
TCE3209
J Tanyanyiwa
Course Synopsis
• The module teaches the fact that every industrial company ought to
propagate a corporate policy that lets it be understood by the workforce;
that safety considerations override all preoccupations on company
premises, including production; Industrial operations are operated subject
to the provisions of the law: the Factories and Works Act (1976, with
amendments that followed);
• The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Regulations contained in the Factories and
Works Act are special areas of focus;
• Engineering codes used in the fabrication and inspection of boilers and
pressure vessels that are acceptable to the Chief Inspector of Factories in
Zimbabwe, notably the ASME Code, Section VIII, Division 1;
Course Synopsis
• Non-destructive testing ( NDT) methods used for crack detection in
pressure vessels are covered;
• Plant and process designs for the following: material hazards - mainly
attributed to chemicals (toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity,
flammability, etc;); process hazards – mainly attributed to
overpressure, temperature deviations, loss of containment, fires and
sources of ignition, explosions, human error;
• Study the methods of hazard identification, and risk evaluation used
in the chemical process industry (CPI); process safety and
environmental issues in chemical process design including waste
minimization and life cycle analysis, HAZOP.
Accident
• Undesired circumstances which give rise to ill-health or injury,
damage to property, plant, products or the environment; production
losses or increased liabilities.
Incident
• Undesired circumstances and ‘near misses’ which could cause
accidents.
Ill health
• Acute and chronic ill health caused by physical, chemical or biological
agents as well as adverse effects on mental health.
Hazard
• The potential to cause harm. Harm including ill health and injury,
damage to property, plant, products or the environment, production
losses or increased liabilities.
Risk
• Means the likelihood that a specified undesired event will occur due
to the realisation of a hazard by, or during work activities or by the
products and services created by work activities.
Hazards/Danger
Observable or predicted from knowledge
🡫
Risk
Not directly observable - probability of harm to system elements being realised from
exposure to hazards and danger.
🡫
Harm
Damage to system elements - long or short term
🡫
Accidents
🡫
Injuries Ill-Health Damage
Safety
• The ‘control of accidental loss’.
Reasons for Preventing Accidents
• There are three reasons:
• Moral / Humane
• Cost
• Legal
Moral / Humane
• No-one comes to work to be injured or killed
• Needless destruction of life and health is morally unjustified.
• Failure to take necessary precautions against predictable accidents
and occupational illnesses makes management and workers morally
responsible for those accidents and occupational illnesses.
Cost
• Accidents cost organisations money.
e.g. Piper Alpha – 167 people killed – estimated to have cost over £2
billion including £746 million in direct insurance payouts.
• Accidents and occupational illnesses severely limit efficiency and
productivity.
• Accidents and occupational illnesses produce far-reaching social
harm.
• The safety movement has demonstrated that its techniques are
effective in reducing accident rates and promoting efficiency.
Legislation
• Organisations have a legal obligation.
• Recent state and federal legislation mandates management
responsibility to provide a safe, healthful workplace.
• In the Zimbabwe – Factories and Works Act 1976 and associated
Regulations
KEY PRINCIPLES IN OCCUPATIONAL
SAFETY AND HEALTH
• Objective: that work should take place in a safe and healthy
environment.
• Fellow Servant Rule—Employer was not liable for injury to an
employee that resulted from negligence of a fellow employee.
• Contributory Negligence—Employer was not liable if the employee
was injured due to his own negligence.
• Assumption of Risk—Employer was not liable because the employee
took the job with full knowledge of the risks and hazards involved.
All workers have rights.
• Workers, as well as employers and governments,
• must ensure that these rights are protected and must strive to
establish and maintain decent working conditions and a decent
working environment.
• More specifically:
— work should take place in a safe and healthy working environment;
— conditions of work should be consistent with workers’ well-being
and human dignity;
— work should offer real possibilities for personal achievement, self
fulfilment and service to society (ILO, 1984).
Occupational safety and health policies must
be established.
• Such policies must be implemented at both the national
(governmental) and enterprise levels.
• They must be effectively communicated to all parties concerned.
A national system for occupational safety and
health must be established.
• Such a system must include all the mechanisms and elements
necessary to build and maintain a preventive safety and health
culture.
• The national system must be maintained, progressively developed
and periodically reviewed
A national programme on occupational
safety and health must be formulated
• Once formulated, it must be implemented, monitored, evaluated and
periodically reviewed.
Social partners (that is, employers and workers)
and other stakeholders must be consulted.
• This should be done during formulation, implementation and review
of all policies, systems and programmes.
Occupational safety and health programmes and
policies must aim at both prevention and
protection.
• Efforts must be focused above all on primary prevention at the
workplace level.
• Workplaces and working environments should be planned and
designed to be safe and healthy.
Continuous improvement of occupational safety
and health must be promoted.
• This is necessary to ensure that national laws, regulations and
technical standards to prevent occupational injuries, diseases and
deaths are adapted periodically to social, technical and scientific
progress and other changes in the world of work. It is best done by
the development and implementation of a national policy, national
system and national programme.
Information is vital for the development and
implementation of effective programmes and
policies.
• The collection and dissemination of accurate information on hazards
and hazardous materials, surveillance of workplaces, monitoring of
compliance with policies and good practice, and other related
activities are central to the establishment and enforcement of
effective policies.
Health promotion is a central element of
occupational health practice.
• Efforts must be made to enhance workers’ physical, mental and social
well-being.
Occupational health services covering all workers
should be established.
• Ideally, all workers in all categories of economic activity should have
access to such services, which aim to protect and promote workers’
health and improve working conditions.
Compensation, rehabilitation and curative services
must be made available to workers who suffer
occupational injuries, accidents and work related
diseases
• Action must be taken to minimize the consequences of
• occupational hazards.
Education and training are vital components
of safe, healthy working environments.
• Workers and employers must be made aware of the importance of
establishing safe working procedures and of how to do so.
• Trainers must be trained in areas of special relevance to particular
industries, so that they can address the specific occupational safety
and health concerns.
Workers, employers and competent authorities
have certain responsibilities, duties and
obligations.
• For example, workers must follow established safety procedures;
employers must provide safe workplaces and ensure access to first
aid; and the competent authorities must devise, communicate and
periodically review and update occupational safety and health
policies.
Policies must be enforced.
• A system of inspection must be in place to secure compliance with
occupational safety and health measures and other labour legislation.
Factories and Works Act
