CHEA 512 SAFETY

Accidents and their Effects

Engr. Lina D. dela Cruz
Chemical Engineering Department
Technological Institute of the Philippines
Introduction
The effect of accidents on the industry, on the
workers and the companies and the cost of
preventing these accidents is a management
concern.
The prevailing view was that accident
prevention program was too costly.
The contemporary view is that accident are
too costly, and that accident prevention
makes sense economically.
Accidents are the fourth leading cause of
death after heart disease, cancer and strokes.
This ranking is based on all types of
accidents, including motor vehicular
accidents, drowning fires, falls, natural
disasters and work related accidents.

Although deaths from natural disasters tend to
be newsworthy, their actual impact is
substantially less.
For example, natural disasters in the United
Stats cause fewer than 100 deaths per year on
average.
Workplace accidents, on the other hand cause
more than 10,000 deaths every year in the
United Sates.
Costs of Accidents
To gain a proper perspective on the economics of
workplace accidents, we must view them in the
overall context of all accidents.
The overall cost of accidents in the Units States is
approximately $150 billion. These cost include such
factors as lost wages, medical expenses, insurance
administration, fire related losses, motor vehicle
property damage and indirect costs.

Accidents on and off the job cost U.S.
industry dearly. Every dollar that is spent
responding to accidents is a dollar that could
have been reinvested in modernization,
research and development, facility upgrade
and other competitiveness enhancing
activities.
Accidental Deaths in the United States
Accidental deaths in the US result from a
variety of causes, including motor vehicle
accidents, falls, poisoning, drowning, fire
related injuries, suffocation, firearms, medical
complications, and the impact of falling
objects.
Work Accident Costs and Rates
Workplace accidents cause employers millions every
year.
Consider the following examples: Arco Chemical
Company was ordered to pay $3.8 million in fines as
a result of failing to protect workers from an
explosion at its petrochemical plant in Texas. The
steel-making division of USX paid a $3.25 million
fine to settle numerous health and safety violation
citations.
Those examples show the cost of fines only.
In addition to fines, these employers incurred
cost for safety corrections, medical treatment,
survivor benefits, death and burial costs and a
variety of indirect cost.
Many safety and health professionals believe that the major
cost of accidents and injuries on the job result from damage
to morale.
Employee morale is a less tangible factor than documentable
factors such as lost time and medical costs.
Because few things are as detrimental to employee morale as
seeing a fellow worker injured, accidents can have
devastating effect on morale.
Whenever an employee is injured, his or her colleagues
silently think" That could have been me, in addition to
worrying about the employee.
Morale is damaged even more if the injured employee is well-
liked and other employees know his or her family.

Time Lost Because of Work Injuries
An important consideration when assessing
the effect of accidents on industry is the
amount of lost time due to work injuries.
Approximately 35 million hours are lost in a
typical year as a result of accidents.
Work Injuries by Type of Accidents
Work injuries can be classified by the type of
accident from which they resulted. The most
common causes of work injuries ar:
-Overexertion
-Impact accidents
-Falls
-Body reaction to chemicals
-Motor vehicle accidents
-Exposure to radiation
-Exposure to extreme temperature
Work Injuries by Type of Accidents
Overexertion, the result of employees
working beyond their physical limits, is the
leading cause of work injuries.
Impact accidents involve a worker being
struck by a or against an object.
Parts of the Body Injured on the Job
To develop and maintain an effective safety
and health program, it is necessary to know
not only the most common causes of death
and injury but also the part of the body most
frequently injured.
Parts of the Body Injured on the Job
Typically, the most frequent injuries to specific parts
of the body are as follows (from the most frequent to
the most)
-back
-legs and fingers
-arms and multiple parts of the body
-trunk
-hands
-eyes, head and feet
-neck, toes and body systems
Parts of the Body Injured on the Job
The back is the most frequently injured part of
thee body. Legs and fingers are injured with
approximately the same frequency, as are
arms and multiple parts of the body.
This ranking shows that one of the most
fundamental components of a safety and
health program should be instruction on how
to kift without hurting the back.
Chemical Burn Injuries
Chemical burn injuries are a special category
with which with prospective and practicing
safety professionals should be familiar. The
greatest incidence of chemical burns occurs in
manufacturing.
Other high incidence industries are services,
trade and construction.
Chemical Burn Injuries
The chemicals that most frequently cause
chemical burn include acids and alkalies;
soaps, detergents, and cleaning compounds;
solvents and degreasers; calcium hydroxide
use in cement plaster; potassium hydroxide
(an ingredient in drain cleaners and other
cleaning solutions); and sulfuric acid (battery
acid).
Chemical Burn Injuries
What is particularly disturbing about chemical
burn injuries is that a high percentage of them
occur in spite of the use of personal protective
equipment (PPE), the provision of safety
instruction, and the availability of treatment
facilities.
In some cases, the personal protective
equipment is faulty or inadequate. In others,
it is not properly used inspite of instructions.
Chemical Burn Injuries
Preventing chemical burn injuries presents a special challenge
to safety and health professionals. The following strategies
are recommended:
-familiarize yourself, the workers, and their supervisors with the
chemicals that will be used and their inherent dangers.
-secure the proper personal protection equipment for each type of
chemical that will be used.
-provide instruction on the proper use of personal protection
equipment and then make sure that supervisors confirm that
the equipment is used properly every time.
Monitor that workers are wearing personal protection equipment
and replace it when it begins to show wear.

Heat Burn Injuries
Heat burn injuries present a challenge to safety and
health professionals in the modern workplace.
Almost 40% of all such injuries occur in
manufacturing every year.
The most frequent causes are flame (this includes
smoke inhalation injuries), molten metal, petroleum
asphalt, steam and water.
The most common activities associated with heat burn
injuries are welding, cutting with torch, and handling
tar or asphalt.



Heat Burn Injuries
Following are several factors that contribute to heat burn
injuries in the workplace. Safety and health professionals
who understand these factors will be in a better position to
prevent heat burn injuries:
-employees has no health and safety policy regarding best
hazards
-employer fails to enforce safety procedures and practice
-employers are not familiar with the employer's safety policy and
procedures concerning heat hazards
-employees fail to use or improperly use personal protection
equipment
-employees have inadequate or worn personal protection
equipment

Heat Burn Injuries
-employees work in a limited space
-employees attempt to work too fast
-employees are careless
-employees have poorly maintained tools and
equipment
These factors should be considered carefully by safety
and health professionals when developing accident
prevention programs. Employees should be familiar
with the hazard, should know the appropriate safety
precautions, and should have use the proper personal
protection equipment.
Repetitive Strain/Soft Tissue Injuries
Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is a broad and
generic term that encompasses a variety of
injuries resulting from cumulative trauma to
the soft tissues of the body; including tendons,
sheaths, muscles, ligaments, joints, and
nerves.
Such injuries are typically associated with the
soft tissues of the hands, arms, neck and
shoulders.

Repetitive Strain/Soft Tissue Injuries
Carpal tunnel
syndrome (CTS) is the
most widely known
RSI. There are also
several other RSIs to
the bodys soft tissue.
The carpal tunnel is
area inside the wrist
through which the
median nerve passes.
Carpal tunnel
It is formed by the wrist bones and a ligament. CTS
is typically caused by repeated and cumulative stress
on the median nerve. Symptoms of CTS include
numbness, a tingling sensation, a pain in the fingers,
hand and wrist.
Stress placed on the median nerve typically results
from repeated motion while the hands and fingers
are bent in as unnatural position. However,
sometimes the stress results from a single traumatic
event such as sharp blow to the wrist.