PHILIPPINE OCCUPATIONAL

HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS

 Occupational Safety and Health is a cross-disciplinary area
concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of
people engaged in work. The goal of all occupational safety
and health programs is to foster a safe work environment. As a
secondary effect, it may also protect co-workers, family
members, employers, customers, suppliers, nearby communities,
and other members of the public who are impacted by the
workplace environment. It may involve interactions among many
subject areas, including medicine, occupational well-being, public
health, safety engineering / industrial engineering, chemistry,
health physics and others.
 The Occupation Safety and Health Center in the
country is established by Executive order No. 307. The
implementing rules and regulations are issued by the
Employees Compensation Commission (ECC).
These Implementing Rules and Regulations are issued
pursuant to the authority of the Employees Compensation
Commission (ECC) under Section 8 of Executive Order No.
307 establishing the Occupational Safety and Health
Center (OSHC).
The main objectives of the OSC are follows:
1. prevent, eliminate or reduce work-related injuries, illnesses
and deaths.
2. implement effectively occupational health and safety
programs that will promote the health, efficiency and general
well-being of the Filipino workers through the improvement of
the quality of his working life that will enhance significantly the
productivity of industries and business.
3. maintain an expert intelligence and training center for
industrial disease and occupational safety
Coverage of Services
The Services of the Occupational Safety and Health Center
(OSHC) covers the preventive (primary, secondary, tertiary
prevention) aspects of occupational safety and health in every
workplace, public or private.
The Center serves as the authority on Occupational Safety
and Health in the areas of research, training, and information
dissemination and technical services.
The Center undertakes studies and research in all aspect of
occupational safety and health. It focuses and studies:
1. To prevent and reduce occupational and work-related injuries and
illnesses;
2. To continuously review and support the updating of the
list of occupational illnesses as prescribed in PD 626,
Employees’ Compensation and State Insurance Fund; and
3. To aid standard setting and enforcement of OSH
Standards.
II. HAZARDS AND RISKS AND ITS EFFECTS
A hazard is a situation that poses a level of threat to
life, health, property, or environment. Most hazards are
dormant or potential, with only a theoretical risk of harm.
However, once a hazard becomes "active", it can create an
emergency situation. A hazard does not exist when it is not
happening. A hazardous situation that has come to pass is
called an incident. Hazard and vulnerability interact
together to create risk.
Hazards are sometimes classified into three modes:
• Dormant - The situation has the potential to be hazardous, but
no people, property, or environment is currently affected by
this. For instance, a hillside may be unstable, with the potential
for a landslide, but there is nothing below or on the hillside
that could be affected.
• Armed - People, property, or environment are in potential
harm's way.
• Active - A harmful incident involving the hazard has actually
occurred. Often this is referred to not as an "active hazard"
but as an accident, emergency, incident, or disaster.
TYPES OF HAZARDS
1. Biological
A biological hazard is one originating from an organism that is
foreign (in presence or concentration) to the organism being affected.
Many biological hazards are associated with food, including certain
viruses, parasites, fungi, bacteria, and plant and seafood toxins.
Pathogenic Campylobacter and Salmonella are common food borne
biological hazards. The hazards from these bacteria can be avoided
through risk mitigation steps such as proper handling, storing, and
cooking of food. Disease in humans can come from biological hazards
in the form of infection by bacteria, viruses, or parasites.
2. Chemical
A chemical can be considered a hazard if by virtue
of its intrinsic properties can cause harm or danger to
humans, property, or the environment. Some chemicals occur
naturally in certain geological formations, such as radon gas
or arsenic. Other chemicals include products with commercial
uses, such as agricultural and industrial chemicals, as well as
products developed for home use. Pesticides, which are
normally used to control unwanted insects and plants, may
cause a variety of negative effects on non-target organisms.
3. Mechanical
A mechanical hazard is any hazard involving a
machine or process. Motor vehicles, aircraft, and air
bags pose mechanical hazards. Compressed gases
or liquids can also be considered a mechanical
hazard.
4. Physical
A physical hazard is a naturally occurring process that
has the potential to create loss or damage. Physical hazards
include, but are not limited to, earthquakes, floods, and
tornadoes. Physical hazards often have both human and natural
elements. Flood problems can be affected by climate fluctuations
and storm frequency, both natural elements, and by land
drainage and building in a flood plain, human elements. Another
physical hazard, X-rays, are naturally occurring from solar
radiation, but have been utilized by humans for medical
purposes; however, overexposure can lead to cancer, skin burns,
and tissue damage.
5. Ergonomic
It is a physical factor within the environment that harms the
musculoskeletal system. Ergonomic hazards include uncomfortable
workstation height and poor body positioning. Ergonomic hazards are
caused by poorly designed workplaces or processes. Examples are
poor lighting, or a job that requires you to repeat the same movement
over and over. An office receptionist that has to type an abundant
amount of documents may be affected by ergonomic hazards. If
she/he is not seated they will have back pain, neck pain, bad eye
sight and leg cramps.
 One of the most basic health practices in any
workplace is having it free from common workplace
hazard. Workplace hazards vary from one working
environment to another. Because there are so many
types of hazards, the three that will be discussed
are mechanical hazards, biological hazards, and
chemical hazards.
Effect of Hazards in Workplace
1. Mechanical Hazards
The severity of the injury depends on mostly how the accident
happens like slips, falls and entanglement. It is the responsibility of the
company to make sure all risks are minimized.
2. Chemical Hazards
Everywhere around us see chemical and mixture of chemicals. Some
chemicals are acidic while some are extremely volatile. The workplace
health risks involved any particular chemical is hard to determine
without first knowing what exactly the chemical is and what
environment it is in.
3. Biological Hazards
Viruses, diseases and other forms of sickness and biological
hazards are the hardest to manage when it comes to the
workplace. The most common areas of transmitting disease
are in public areas and at work so workplace health is
seriously threatened by biological hazards. One more
reason why biological hazards are hard to manage is their
ability to travel from place to place.
Hazard vs. Risk
The terms hazard and risk are often used
interchangeably, however, in terms of risk assessment, these
are two very distinct terms. As defined above, a hazard is
any biological, chemical, mechanical, or physical agent that
is reasonably likely to cause harm or damage to humans or
the environment with sufficient exposure or dose. Risk is
defined as the probability that exposure to a hazard will
lead to a negative consequence, or more simply, Risk =
Hazard x Dose (Exposure).