Pipeline

Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquid and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used.

As for gases and liquids, any chemically stable substance can be sent through a pipeline. Therefore sewage, slurry, water, or even beer pipelines exist; but arguably the most valuable are those transporting fuels: oil (oleoduct), natural gas (gas grid) and biofuels

Dmitri Mendeleev first suggested using a pipe for transporting petroleum in 1863.


Types by transported substance

For oil or natural gas


There is some argument as to when the first crude oil pipeline was constructed. However, some say pipeline transport was pioneered by Vladimir Shukhov and the Branobel company in the late 19th century. Others say oil pipelines originated when the Oil Transport Association first constructed a 2-inch (51 mm) wrought iron pipeline over a 6-mile (9.7 km) track from an oil field in Pennsylvania to a railroad station in Oil Creek, in the 1860s. Pipelines are generally the most economical way to transport large quantities of oil, refined oil products or natural gas over land. Compared to shipping by railroad, they have lower cost per unit and higher capacity. Although pipelines can be built under the sea, that process is economically and technically demanding, so the majority of oil at sea is transported by tanker ships.

Oil pipelines are made from steel or plastic tubes with inner diameter typically from 4 to 48 inches (100 to 1,200 mm). Most pipelines are buried at a typical depth of about 3 to 6 feet (0.91 to 1.8 m). The oil is kept in motion by pump stations along the pipeline, and usually flows at speed of about 1 to 6 metres per second (3.3 to 20 ft/s). Multi-product pipelines are used to transport two or more different products in sequence in the same pipeline. Usually in multi-product pipelines there is no physical separation between the different products. Some mixing of adjacent products occurs, producing interface. At the receiving facilities this interface is usually absorbed in one of the product based on pre-calculated absorption rates.

Crude oil contains varying amounts of wax, or paraffin, and in colder climates wax buildup may occur within a pipeline. Often these pipelines are inspected and cleaned using pipeline inspection gauges pigs, also known as scrapers or Go-devils. Smart pigs are used to detect anomalies in the pipe such as dents, metal loss caused by corrosion, or other mechanical damage.[1] These devices are launched from pig-launcher stations and travel through the pipeline to be received at any other station down-stream, cleaning wax deposits and material that may have accumulated inside the line.

For natural gas, pipelines are constructed of carbon steel and varying in size from 2 to 60 inches (51 to 1,500 mm) in diameter, depending on the type of pipeline. The gas is pressurized by compressor stations and is odorless unless mixed with a mercaptan odorant where required by a regulating authority.
[edit]
For biofuels (ethanol and biobutanol)
See also: Biobutanol

Pipelines have been used for transportation of ethanol in Brazil, and there are several ethanol pipeline projects in Brazil and the United States.[2] Main problems related to the shipment of ethanol by pipeline are its high oxygen content, which makes it corrosive, and absorption of water and impurities in pipelines, which is not a problem with oil and natural gas.[2][3] Insufficient volumes and cost-effectiveness are other considerations limiting construction of ethanol pipelines.

For hydrogen
Main article: Hydrogen pipeline transport

Hydrogen pipeline transport is a transportation of hydrogen through a pipe as part of the hydrogen infrastructure. Hydrogen pipeline transport is used to connect the point of hydrogen production or delivery of hydrogen with the point of demand, with transport costs similar to CNG,[5] the technology is proven,[6]. Most hydrogen is produced at the place of demand with every 50 to 100 miles (160 km) an industrial production facility.[7]. The 1938 - Rhine-Ruhr 240 km hydrogen pipeline is still in operation[8]. As of 2004 there are 900 miles (1450 km) of low pressure hydrogen pipelines in the USA and 930 miles (1,500 km) in Europe.


For water

The Los Angeles Aqueduct in Antelope Valley.
Main article: Aqueduct

Two millennia ago the ancient Romans made use of large aqueducts to transport water from higher altitudes by building the aqueducts in graduated segments that allowed gravity to push the water along until it reached its destination. Hundreds of these were built throughout Europe and elsewhere, and along with flour mills were considered the lifeline of the Roman Empire. The ancient Chinese also made use of channels and pipe systems for public works. The infamous Han Dynasty court eunuch Zhang Rang (d. 189 AD) once ordered the engineer Bi Lan to construct a series of square-pallet chain pumps outside the capital city of Luoyang.[9] These chain pumps serviced the imperial palaces and living quarters of the capital city as the water lifted by the chain pumps were brought in by a stoneware pipe system.[9][10]

Pipelines are useful for transporting water for drinking or irrigation over long distances when it needs to move over hills, or where canals or channels are poor choices due to considerations of evaporation, pollution, or environmental impact.

The 530 km (360 mile) Goldfields Water Supply Scheme in Western Australia using 750 mm (30 inch) pipe and completed in 1903 was the largest water supply scheme of its time.

Examples of significant water pipelines in South Australia are the Morgan-Whyalla (completed 1944) and Mannum-Adelaide [1] (completed 1955) pipelines.

There are two Los Angeles, California aqueducts, the First Los Angeles Aqueduct (completed 1913) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct (completed 1970) which also include extensive use of pipelines.


For beverages

For beer

Thor Pipeline in Randers, Denmark

Bars in the Veltins-Arena, a major football ground in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, are interconnected by a 5 km long beer pipeline. It is the favorite method for distributing beer in such large stadiums, because the bars have to overcome big differences between demands during various stages of a match; this allows them to be supplied by a central tank.

In Randers city in Denmark, the so-known Thor beer pipeline still exists. Originally copper pipes were running directly from the brewery, and, when in 90-ies the brewery moved out the city, Thor beer replaced the center of a star with a giant tank.


For other uses

The town of Hallstatt in Austria claims to contain "the oldest industrial pipeline in the world", dating back to 1595.[13] It was constructed from 13,000 trunks to transport saline solution for 40 kilometers from Hallstatt to Ebensee.[14]


Types by transport function

In general, pipelines can be classified in three categories depending on purpose:
Gathering pipelines
Group of smaller interconnected pipelines forming complex networks with the purpose of bringing crude oil or natural gas from several nearby wells to a treatment plant or processing facility. In this group, pipelines are usually short- a couple of hundred meters- and with small diameters. Also sub-sea pipelines for collecting product from deep water production platforms are considered gathering systems.
Transportation pipelines
Mainly long pipes with large diameters, moving products (oil, gas, refined products) between cities, countries and even continents. These transportation networks include several compressor stations in gas lines or pump stations for crude and multiproducts pipelines.
Distribution pipelines
Composed of several interconnected pipelines with small diameters, used to take the products to the final consumer. Feeder lines to distribute gas to homes and businesses downstream. Pipelines at terminals for distributing products to tanks and storage facilities are included in this group.


Operation

When a pipeline is built, the construction project not only covers the civil work to lay the pipeline and build the pump/compressor stations, it also has to cover all the work related to the installation of the field devices that will support remote operation.

Field devices are instrumentation, data gathering units and communication systems. The field Instrumentation includes flow, pressure and temperature gauges/transmitters, and other devices to measure the relevant data required. These instruments are installed along the pipeline on some specific locations, such as injection or delivery stations, pump stations (liquid pipelines) or compressor stations (gas pipelines), and block valve stations.

The information measured by these field instruments is then gathered in local Remote Terminal Units (RTU) that transfer the field data to a central location in real time using communication systems, such as satellite channels, microwave links, or cellular phone connections.

Pipelines are controlled and operated remotely, from what is usually known as The Main Control Room. In this center, all the data related to field measurement is consolidated in one central database. The data is received from multiple RTUs along the pipeline. It is common to find RTUs installed at every station along the pipeline.

The SCADA System for pipelines.

The SCADA system at the Main Control Room receives all the field data and presents it to the pipeline operator through a set of screens or Human Machine Interface, showing the operational conditions of the pipeline. The operator can monitor the hydraulic conditions of the line, as well as send operational commands (open/close valves, turn on/off compressors or pumps, change setpoints, etc.) through the SCADA system to the field.

To optimize and secure the operation of these assets, some pipeline companies are using what is called Advanced Pipeline Applications, which are software tools installed on top of the SCADA system, that provide extended functionality to perform leak detection, leak location, batch tracking (liquid lines), pig tracking, composition tracking, predictive modeling, look ahead modeling, operator training and more.


Technology

Components

Pipeline networks are composed of several pieces of equipment that operate together to move products from location to location. The main elements of a pipeline system are:

A pipeline schematic.
Initial injection station
Known also as supply or inlet station, is the beginning of the system, where the product is injected into the line. Storage facilities, pumps or compressors are usually located at these locations.
Compressor/pump stations
Pumps for liquid pipelines and Compressors for gas pipelines, are located along the line to move the product through the pipeline. The location of these stations is defined by the topography of the terrain, the type of product being transported, or operational conditions of the network.
Partial delivery station
Known also as intermediate stations, these facilities allow the pipeline operator to deliver part of the product being transported.
Block valve station
These are the first line of protection for pipelines. With these valves the operator can isolate any segment of the line for maintenance work or isolate a rupture or leak. Block valve stations are usually located every 20 to 30 miles (48 km), depending on the type of pipeline. Even though it is not a design rule, it is a very usual practice in liquid pipelines. The location of these stations depends exclusively on the nature of the product being transported, the trajectory of the pipeline and/or the operational conditions of the line.
Regulator station
This is a special type of valve station, where the operator can release some of the pressure from the line. Regulators are usually located at the downhill side of a peak.
Final delivery station
Known also as outlet stations or terminals, this is where the product will be distributed to the consumer. It could be a tank terminal for liquid pipelines or a connection to a distribution network for gas pipelines.


Leak detection systems

Since oil and gas pipelines are an important asset of the economic development of almost any country, it has been required either by government regulations or internal policies to ensure the safety of the assets, and the population and environment where these pipelines run.

Pipeline companies face government regulation, environmental constraints and social situations. Pipeline companies should comply with government regulations which may define minimum staff to run the operation, operator training requirements, up to specifics including pipeline facilities, technology and applications required to ensure operational safety. As an example, in the State of Washington, it is mandatory for pipeline operators to be able to detect and locate leaks of 8 percent of maximum flow within 15 minutes or less.

The social situation also affects the operation of pipelines. In third world countries, product theft is a problem for pipeline companies. It is common to find unauthorized extractions in the middle of the pipeline. In this case, the detection levels should be under 2 percent of maximum flow, with a high expectation for location accuracy.

Different types of technologies and strategies have been implemented, from physically walking the lines to satellite surveillance. The most common technology to protect these lines from occasional leaks is known as Computational Pipeline Monitoring Systems or CPM. CPM takes information from the field related to pressures, flows, and temperatures to estimate the hydraulic behavior of the product being transported. Once the estimation is done, the results are compared to other field references to detect the presence of an anomaly or unexpected situation, which may be related to a leak.

The American Petroleum Institute has published several articles related to the performance of CPM in liquids pipelines, the API Publications are:
API 1130 – Computational pipeline monitoring for liquids pipelines
API 1155 – Evaluation methodology for software based leak detection systems
API 1149 – Pipeline variable uncertainties & their effects on leak detectability

Implementation

As a rule pipelines for all uses are laid in most cases underground. However in some cases it is necessary to cross a valley or a river on a pipeline bridge. Pipelines for centralized heating systems are often (why?)(why not?) laid on the ground or overhead. Pipelines for petroleum running through permafrost areas as Trans-Alaska-Pipeline are often run overhead in order to avoid melting the frozen ground by hot petroleum which would result in sinking the pipeline in the ground. Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2010)


Regulation

An underground petroleum pipeline running through a park

In the US, pipelines are regulated by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Offshore pipelines are regulated by the Minerals Management Service (MMS). In Canada, pipelines are regulated by either the provincial regulators or, if they cross provincial boundaries or the Canada/US border, by the National Energy Board (NEB). Government regulations in Canada and the United States require that buried fuel pipelines must be protected from corrosion. Often, the most economical method of corrosion control is by use of pipeline coating in conjunction with cathodic protection and technology to monitor the pipeline. Above ground, cathodic protection is not an option. The coating is the only external protection.


Pipelines and geopolitics

Natural gas pipelines from Russia to the European Union, 2009

Pipelines for major energy resources (petroleum and natural gas) are not merely an element of trade. They connect to issues of geopolitics and international security as well, and the construction, placement, and control of oil and gas pipelines often figure prominently in state interests and actions. A notable example of pipeline politics occurred at the beginning of the year 2009, wherein a dispute between Russia and Ukraine ostensibly over pricing led to a major political crisis. Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine after talks between it and the Ukrainian government fell through.

Oil and gas pipelines also figure prominently in the politics of Central Asia and the Caucasus.



Dangers

Accidents

Pipelines conveying flammable or explosive material, such as natural gas or oil, pose special safety concerns.
For a more complete list see List of pipeline accidents
1982 - One of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history occurred along the Trans-Siberian Pipeline in the former Soviet Union. It has been alleged that the explosion was the result of CIA sabotage of the Trans-Siberian Pipeline.
June 4, 1989 - sparks from two passing trains detonated gas leaking from an LPG pipeline near Ufa, Russia. Up to 645 people were reported killed.
October 17, 1998 - 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion at Jesse in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, a petroleum pipeline exploded killing about 1,200 villagers, some of whom were scavenging gasoline - the worst of several similar incidents in this country.
June 10, 1999 - a pipeline rupture in a Bellingham, Washington park led to the release of 277,200 gallons of gasoline. The gasoline was ignited, causing an explosion that killed two children and one adult.
August 19, 2000 - natural gas pipeline rupture and fire near Carlsbad, New Mexico; this explosion and fire killed 12 members of the same family. The cause was due to severe internal corrosion of the pipeline.
July 30, 2004 - a major natural gas pipeline exploded in Ghislenghien, Belgium near Ath (thirty kilometres southwest of Brussels), killing at least 24 people and leaving 132 wounded, some critically. (CNN) (Expatica)
May 12, 2006 - an oil pipeline ruptured outside Lagos, Nigeria. Up to 200 people may have been killed. See Nigeria oil blast.
November 1, 2007 - a propane pipeline exploded near Carmichael, Mississippi, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Meridian, Mississippi. Two people were killed instantly and an additional four were injured. Several homes were destroyed and sixty families were displaced. The pipeline is owned by Enterprise Products Partners LP, and runs from Mont Belvieu, Texas, to Apex, North Carolina, according to an Enterprise spokesman.



As targets

Pipelines can be the target of vandalism, sabotage, or even terrorist attacks. In war, pipelines are often the target of military attacks, as destruction of pipelines can seriously disrupt enemy logistics.


Source

en.wikipedia.org

Occupational safety and health

Occupational health and safety is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goal of all occupational health and safety programs is to foster a safe work environment.[1] 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 occupational medicine, occupational (or industrial) hygiene, public health, safety engineering, chemistry, health physics, ergonomics, toxicology, epidemiology, environmental health, industrial relations, public policy, industrial sociology, medical sociology, social law, labour law and occupational health psychology.


Definition

Since 1950, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have shared a common definition of occupational health. It was adopted by the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health at its first session in 1950 and revised at its twelfth session in 1995. The definition reads: "Occupational health should aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to summarize, the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job."



Relationship to occupational health psychology

Occupational health psychology (OHP), a related discipline, is a relatively new field that combines elements of occupational health and safety, industrial/organizational psychology, and health psychology.[2] The field is concerned with identifying work-related psychosocial factors that adversely affect the health of people who work. OHP is also concerned with developing ways to effect change in workplaces for the purpose of improving the health of people who work. For more detail on OHP, see the section on occupational health psychology.



Reasons for Occupational health and safety

The reasons for establishing good occupational health and safety standards are frequently identified as:
Moral - An employee should not have to risk injury or death at work, nor should others associated with the work environment.
Economic - many governments realize that poor occupational health and safety performance results in cost to the State (e.g. through social security payments to the incapacitated, costs for medical treatment, and the loss of the "employability" of the worker). Employing organizations also sustain costs in the event of an incident at work (such as legal fees, fines, compensatory damages, investigation time, lost production, lost goodwill from the workforce, from customers and from the wider community).
Legal - Occupational requirements may be reinforced in civil law and/or criminal law; it is accepted that without the extra "encouragement" of potential regulatory action or litigation, many organisations would not act upon their implied moral obligations.


Occupational health and safety officers promote health and safety procedures in an organisation. They recognize hazards and measure health and safety risks, set suitable safety controls in place, and give recommendations on avoiding accidents to management and employees in an organisation. This paper looks at the main tasks undertaken by OHS practitioners in Europe, Australia and the USA, and the main knowledge and skills that are required of them. “Like it or not, organisations have a duty to provide health and safety training. But it could involve much more than you think.” (Damon, Nadia. 2008. ‘Reducing The Risks’, Training and Coaching Today, United Kingdom, pg.14)



Safety Professionals in Australia

OHS practitioners in Australia have a ‘people-focused approach on human error and compliance issues’. (Pryor, Pam, 2006, ‘Profile of an OHS professional in Australia and implications for the achievement of the National OHS Strategy 2002 – 2012. Paper given at the Safety In Action Conference, Melbourne, May 2006). Their main concerns as Safety professionals are as follows (information obtained from the European Network of Safety and Health Practitioner Organisations (ENHSPO) survey on OHS Practitioners in Australia):


• Putting the use of Personal Protective Equipment into practice;


• Designing tactics for dealing with safety and putting them into practice. (Pryor, P. 2006)


Most OHS practitioners in Australia are employed in manufacturing (18.2%), mining (15.5%) and the health and community services industries (13%). The other large industries of transport and storage, construction, retail and wholesale trade and agriculture, forestry and fishing combined are the focus of a total of 18% of OHS practitioners that participated in the survey (Pryor, P. 2006). The most common hazard types dealt with on a monthly basis by these practitioners are ‘human error’ and biochemical hazards (Pryor, P. 2006). OHS practitioners in Australia mainly handle body stressing mechanisms of injury and in addition to

this, the next most common mechanism dealt with is falls. Plant-related hazards are also given a considerable amount of attention by OHS practitioners in Australia and there is a substantial amount of effort invested in job safety and risk analysis (Pryor, P. 2006).

The responses made in the survey implied that the roles and activities of the OHS practitioner in Australia at present ‘is not being optimized to support achievement of the National Strategy’ (Pryor, P. 2006). It’s been found that a number of industries have little or no access to professional OHS guidance, opinions, information and instruction. It’s also been found that ‘high consequence (and low frequency) hazards and hazards affecting health are receiving significantly less attention than hazards resulting in high frequency injuries (but usually lower consequence)’. (Pryor P, 2006) In response to these results, Pryor asks:

“Is it an outcome of the education of the OHS professional? Is it because the OHS professional does not have the skills and attributes to operate at a strategic level and to set the agenda rather than just respond? What is the best way to change the situation to ensure that governments, advisory bodies, and workplaces have access to specialist OHS advice to optimize achievement of the National OHS Strategy and so improve occupational heath and safety business outcomes for all Australians?” (Pryor, P. 2006)



Safety Professionals in Europe:

In Norway, the main required tasks of an Occupational Health and Safety Practitioner include:

• Systematic evaluations of the working environment • Endorsing preventative measures which eliminate reasons for illnesses in the work place • Giving information in the subject of employees’ health • Giving information on occupational hygiene, ergonomics and also environmental and safety risks in the work place (Hale A, Ytehus I, 2004, ‘Changing requirements for the safety profession: roles and tasks’, Journal of Occupational Health & Safety – Australia and New Zealand)


In the Netherlands, required tasks for health and safety staff are only summarily defined, and include:


• Voluntary medical examinations • A consulting room on the work environment for the workers • Health check assessments (if needed for the job concerned) (Hale, A et alia. 2004)


‘The main influence on the Dutch law on the job of the safety professional is through the requirement on each employer to use the services of a certified working conditions service to advise them on health and safety’ (Hale, A et alia. 2004). A ‘certified service’ must employ sufficient numbers of four types of certified experts to cover the risks in the organisations which use the service:


• A safety professional; • An occupational hygienist; • An occupational physician; and • A work and organisation specialist. (Hale, A et alia. 2004)


It shows in Table 1 (based on the European Network of Safety and Health Practitioner Organisations [ENHSPO] survey to) that in Norway, 37 % of Health and Safety practitioners had a MSc education level, and 14% in the Netherlands; 44% were BSc graduates and 63% in the Netherlands; and 19% were of a Technician level and 23% in the Netherlands (Hale, A et alia. 2004).



Safety Professionals in the USA


The main tasks undertaken by the OHS practitioner in the USA include:

• Develop processes, procedures, criterions, requirements, and methods to attain the best possible management of the hazards and exposures that can cause injury to people, and damage property, or the environment; • Apply good business practices and economic principles for efficient use of resources to add to the importance of the safety processes;


• Promote other members of the company to contribute by exchanging ideas and other different approaches to make sure that every one in the corporation possess OHS knowledge and have functional roles in the development and execution of safety procedures; • Assess services, outcomes, methods, equipment, workstations, and procedures by using qualitative and quantitative methods to recognise the hazards and measure the related risks; • Examine all possibilities, effectiveness, reliability, and expenditure to attain the best results for the company concerned (Board of Certified Safety Professionals, 2006, “Examination Guide” accessed 20 April at http://www.bcsp.org/bcsp/media/exam_guide.pdf)


Knowledge required by the OHS professional in USA include:

• Constitutional and case law controlling safety, health, and the environment • Operational procedures to plan/ develop safe work practices • Safety, health and environmental sciences • Design of hazard control systems (i.e. fall protection, scaffoldings) • Design of recordkeeping systems that take collection into account, as well as storage, interpretation, and dissemination • Mathematics and statistics • Processes and systems for attaining safety through design (Board of Certified Safety Professionals, 2006)


Some skills required by the OHS professional in the USA include (but are not limited to):


• Understanding and relating to systems, policies and rules • Holding checks and having control methods for possible hazardous exposures • Mathematical and statistical analysis • Examining manufacturing hazards • Planning safe work practices for systems, facilities, and equipment


• Understanding and using safety, health, and environmental science information for the improvement of procedures • Interpersonal communication skills (Board of Certified Safety Professionals, 2006)



The differences in each location

Similar to the findings of the ENHSPO survey conducted in Australia, the Institute of Occupational Medicine found that in the UK, there is a need to put a greater emphasis on work-related illness (Anonymous. 2008. ‘Occupational Health’, Health and Safety News: In Brief, Vol 60, Iss. 3; UK. pg. 6). Its been shown that in Australia and the USA that a major responsibility of the OHS professional is to keep company directors and managers aware of the issues that they face in regards to Occupational Health and Safety principles and legislation. However, in Europe, it has been shown that this is where they are lacking. “Nearly half of senior managers and company directors do not have an up-to-date understanding of their health and safety-related duties and responsibilities.” (Paton, Nic. 2008. ‘Senior Managers Fail to Show Competence in Health and Safety’ Occupational Health, Vol. 60, Iss. 3; pg. 6)



National implementing legislation

Different states take different approaches to legislation, regulation, and enforcement.

In the European Union, member states have enforcing authorities to ensure that the basic legal requirements relating to occupational health and safety are met. In many EU countries, there is strong cooperation between employer and worker organisations (e.g. Unions) to ensure good OSH performance as it is recognized this has benefits for both the worker (through maintenance of health) and the enterprise (through improved productivity and quality). In 1996 the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work was founded.


Member states of the European Union have all transposed into their national legislation a series of directives that establish minimum standards on occupational health and safety. These directives (of which there are about 20 on a variety of topics) follow a similar structure requiring the employer to assess the workplace risks and put in place preventive measures based on a hierarchy of control. This hierarchy starts with elimination of the hazard and ends with personal protective equipment.


In the UK, health and safety legislation is drawn up and enforced by the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities (the local council) under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Increasingly in the UK the regulatory trend is away from prescriptive rules, and towards risk assessment. Recent major changes to the laws governing asbestos and fire safety management embrace the concept of risk assessment.


In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 created both the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).[3] OSHA, in the U.S. Department of Labor, is responsible for developing and enforcing workplace safety and health regulations. NIOSH, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is focused on research, information, education, and training in occupational safety and health.[4]


OSHA have been regulating occupational safety and health since 1971. Occupational safety and health regulation of a limited number of specifically defined industries was in place for several decades before that, and broad regulations by some individual states was in place for many years prior to the establishment of OSHA.


In Canada, workers are covered by provincial or federal labour codes depending on the sector in which they work. Workers covered by federal legislation (including those in mining, transportation, and federal employment) are covered by the Canada Labour Code; all other workers are covered by the health and safety legislation of the province they work in. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), an agency of the Government of Canada, was created in 1978 by an Act of Parliament. The act was based on the belief that all Canadians had "...a fundamental right to a healthy and safe working environment." CCOHS is mandated to promote safe and healthy workplaces to help prevent work-related injuries and illnesses.


In Malaysia, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) under the Ministry of Human Resource is responsible to ensure that the safety, health and welfare of workers in both the public and private sector is upheld. DOSH is responsible to enforce the Factory and Machinery Act 1969 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.


In the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Health is responsible for occupational disease prevention and the State Administration of Work Safety for safety issues at work. On the provincial and municipal level, there are Health Supervisions for occupational health and local bureaus of Work Safety for safety. The "Occupational Disease Control Act of PRC" came into force on May 1, 2002.[5] and Work safety Act of PRC on November 1, 2002.[6] The Occupational Disease Control Act is under revising. The prevention of occupational disease is still in its initial stage compared with industried countries such as the US or UK.



Identifing Safety and Health Hazards

Hazards, risks, outcomes

The terminology used in OSH varies between states, but generally speaking:
A hazard is something that can cause harm if not controlled.
The outcome is the harm that results from an uncontrolled hazard.
A risk is a combination of the probability that a particular outcome will occur and the severity of the harm involved.

“Hazard”, “risk”, and “outcome” are used in other fields to describe e.g. environmental damage, or damage to equipment. However, in the context of OSH, “harm” generally describes the direct or indirect degradation, temporary or permanent, of the physical, mental, or social well-being of workers. For example, repetitively carrying out manual handling of heavy objects is a hazard. The outcome could be a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) or an acute back or joint injury. The risk can be expressed numerically (e.g. a 0.5 or 50/50 chance of the outcome occurring during a year), in relative terms (e.g. "high/medium/low"), or with a multi-dimensional classification scheme (e.g. situation-specific risks).


Hazard Assessment

Hazard analysis or hazard assessment is a process in which individual hazards of the workplace are identified, assessed and controlled/eliminated as close to source (location of the hazard) as reasonable and possible. As technology, resources, social expectation or regulatory requirements change, hazard analysis focuses controls more closely toward the source of the hazard. Thus hazard control is a dynamic program of prevention. Hazard-based programs also have the advantage of not assigning or impling there are "acceptable risks" in the workplace. A hazard-based program may not be able to eliminate all risks, but neither does it accept "satisfactory" -- but still risky—outcomes. And as those who calculate and manage the risk are usually managers while those exposed to the risks are a different group, workers, a hazard-based approach can by-pass conflict inherent in a risk-based approach.


Risk assessment
Further information: Risk assessment#Risk assessment in public health

Modern occupational safety and health legislation usually demands that a risk assessment be carried out prior to making an intervention. It should be kept in mind that risk management requires risk to be managed to a level which is as low as is reasonably practical.

This assessment should:
Identify the hazards
Identify all affected by the hazard and how
Evaluate the risk
Identify and prioritize appropriate control measures

The calculation of risk is based on the likelihood or probability of the harm being realized and the severity of the consequences. This can be expressed mathematically as a quantitative assessment (by assigning low, medium and high likelihood and severity with integers and multiplying them to obtain a risk factor, or qualitatively as a description of the circumstances by which the harm could arise.

The assessment should be recorded and reviewed periodically and whenever there is a significant change to work practices. The assessment should include practical recommendations to control the risk. Once recommended controls are implemented, the risk should be re-calculated to determine of it has been lowered to an acceptable level. Generally speaking, newly introduced controls should lower risk by one level, i.e, from high to medium or from medium to low.


Common workplace hazard groupsMechanical hazards include:
By type of agent:
Impact force
Collisions
Falls from height
Struck by objects
Confined space
Slips and trips
Falling on a pointed object
Compressed air/high pressure fluids (such as cutting fluid)
Entanglement
Equipment-related injury
By type of damage:
Crushing
Cutting
Friction and abrasion
Shearing
Stabbing and puncture
Other physical hazards:
Noise
Vibration
Lighting
Barotrauma (hypobaric/hyperbaric pressure)
Ionizing radiation
Electricity
Asphyxiation
Cold stress (hypothermia)
Heat stress (hyperthermia)
Dehydration (due to sweating)
Biological hazards include:
Bacteria
Virus
Fungi
Mold
Blood-borne pathogens
Tuberculosis
Harry McShane, age 16, 1908. Pulled into machinery in a factory in Cincinnati. His arm was ripped off at the shoulder and his leg broken. No compensation paid. Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Chemical hazards include:
Acids
Bases
Heavy metals
Lead
Solvents
Petroleum
Particulates
Asbestos and other fine dust/fibrous materials
Silica
Fumes (noxious gases/vapors)
Highly-reactive chemicals
Fire, conflagration and explosion hazards:
Explosion
Deflagration
Detonation
Conflagration
Psychosocial issues include:
Work-related stress, whose causal factors include excessive working time and overwork
Violence from outside the organisation
Bullying, which may include emotional, verbal, and sexual harassment
Mobbing
Burnout
Exposure to unhealthy elements during meetings with business associates, e.g. tobacco, uncontrolled alcohol
Musculoskeletal disorders, avoided by the employment of good ergonomic design



Fire prevention (fire protection/fire safety) often comes within the remit of health and safety professionals as well.



In Canada, Hazards are typically categorized into one of six groups:

1. Safety (moving machinery, working at heights, slippery surfaces, mobile equipment, etc.) 2. Ergonomic (material handling, environment, work organization, etc.) 3. Chemical Agents 4. Biological Agents 5. Physical Agents(noise, lighting, radiation, etc.) 6. Psychosocial(stress, violence, etc.)



OHS Information sources

Internal sources OHS information required for legal compliance and to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the management of OHS include:

• hazard and incident reports together with details of corrective actions; • first aid records; • injury and illness reports; • workers’ compensation claims records and other compensation details; • investigation reports; • trends in absenteeism or sick leave records; • workplace inspections; • records of environmental monitoring; • health surveillance and exposure records; • maintenance records; • minutes of meetings including management meetings, staff and • workgroup meetings and OHS committee meetings; • Job Safety Analyses (JSA) and risk assessments; • reports and audits; • enforcement notices and actions; • collated information such as trend analyses of incident and • injury reports; • Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and hazardous • substances/chemical registers; • documentation related to registered plant; • performance appraisal records; • training records; and • information related to performance measures for the OHS • management process.



Future developments

Occupational health and safety has come a long way from its beginnings in the heavy industry sector. It now has an impact on every worker, in every work place, and those charged with managing health and safety are having more and more tasks added to their portfolio. The most significant responsibility is environmental protection. The skills required to manage occupational health and safety are compatible with environmental protection, which is why these responsibilities are so often bolted onto the workplace health and safety professional.


See also Organized labour portal


General
ANSI Z10
Environment, Health and Safety - EHS, SHE or HES
Material safety data sheet - MSDS
Mountain & Plains ERC - A NIOSH-Funded Education and Research Center in Colorado
Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems - OHSMS
Occupational Medicine Specialists of Canada
OHSAS 18001
Public safety

Government organizations
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (Canada)
Congressional Office of Compliance (US)
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU)
Government & Educational OHS Resources (Australia)
Health and Safety Executive (UK)
Health for Work Adviceline for small businesses (UK)
Information Center of Occupational Safety and Health (Israel)
Institute of Occupational Safety_and_Health[http://www.labourdept.gov.lk
International Labour Organisation (United Nations)
KOSHA:Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (South Korea)
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (US)
National Institute of Occupational Health (India)
National Institute of Occupational Health (Norway)
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Malaysia)
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Sri Lanka)
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (US)
Safe Work Australia (Australia)
Work Safe BC formerly Workers' Compensation Board of BC (WCB) (British Columbia, Canada)
Workplace Safety & Health Council (Singapore)
Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (Ontario, Canada)
WorkSafe Victoria, Australia


Laws
Health and Safety at Work Act (UK)
Indonesian Act No.1/1970 about Occupational Safety at Work 1970 (Indonesia)
Occupational Safety and Health Act (US)
Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 (Australia)
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Malaysia)
Timeline of major U.S. environmental and occupational health regulation
Workplace Safety and Health Act (Singapore)


Lawsuits
Castillo v. Case Farms of Ohio

Related fields
Construction safety
Epidemiology
Ergonomics, Participatory Ergonomics
Hazard analysis
Hazard prevention
Hazop
Industrial hygiene
Infection control
Mine safety
Occupational health psychology
Process Safety Management
Psychology
Public health
Toxicology
[edit]
Workplace environmental standards
ISO 8518
ISO 8672
ISO 8760 - ISO 8762
ISO 9486 - ISO 9487
ISO 11041
ISO 11174
ISO 15202
ISO 15767
ISO 16107
ISO 16200
ISO 16702
ISO 16740
ISO 17733 - ISO 17734
ISO 17737
ISO 20552
[edit]
Other
Active Agenda is a free and open source project to reduce workplace risk.
Advocates for Injured Workers (AIW)
Asbestosis - Compensation and Liability Disputes
Disability Management
Examinetics - mobile occupational health screening
Hazards a UK-based, independent, union-friendly health and safety magazine
Juliana Mateo Foundation for Disabled Farmworkers
NIOSH Power Tools Database
Occupational hygiene
Occupational illness
Occupational rehabilitation
Occupational risk assessment
Occupational therapy
Institute of Occupational Medicine
Prevention through design
Safe-In-Sound Award Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Award
Safeguard (magazine) (in New Zealand)
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health
Workers' compensation


Source

en.wikipedia.org