INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN FOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

INTRODUCTION

Each year in the United States, thousands of employees are killed on the job, many times that number die of work-related diseases, and millions suffer a work-related injury or health disorder (BLS 1998a, 1999). According to the International Labour Organization (ILO 1998), about 250 million workers worldwide are injured annually on the job, 160 million suffer from occupational diseases, and ap- proximately 335,0000 die each year from occupational injuries. In the United States, the occupational injury and illness incidence rates per 100 full-time workers have been generally decreasing since 1973, but as of 1998, the illness and injury rate was still 6.7 per 100 employees and the injury rate was 6.2 (BLS 1998a). There were a total of 5.9 million occupational injuries and illnesses in 1998 in private industry (BLS 1998a). These figure represented the sixth year in a row of declining injury rates. Overall lost workday rates have steadily declined from 1990 to 1998, but cases with days of restricted work activity have increased. There were just over 60000 occupational fatalities in the private sector in 1998. These work-related deaths and injuries have enormous costs. In the United States alone, it was estimated that in 1992 the direct costs (e.g., medical, property damage) totaled

$65 billion and the indirect costs (e.g., lost earnings, workplace training and restaffing, time delays) totaled $106 billion (Leigh et al. 1997). Of the U.S. dollar figures presented, approximately $230 million of the direct costs and $3.46 billion of the indirect costs were related to fatal occupational injuries. Nonfatal injuries accounted for $48.9 billion in direct costs and $92.7 billion in indirect costs (the rest was cost due to death and morbidity from occupational illnesses). These estimates assumed 6500 occupational fatalities and 13.2 million nonfatal injuries.

The workplace continues to undergo rapid change with the introduction of new technologies and processes. Many new processes, such as genetic engineering and biotechnology, introduce new haz- ards that are challenging, particularly since we do not know much about their potential risks. Will current hazard-control methods be effective in dealing with these new hazards? Our challenge is to protect workers from harm while taking advantage of the benefits of this new technology. To achieve this, we must be ready to develop new safety and health methods to deal with new technology.

This chapter will examine the causation and prevention of occupational diseases and injuries, with an emphasis on recognizing and evaluating hazards, determining disease / injury potential, and defin- ing effective intervention strategies. Due to the huge amount of pertinent information on each of these topic, it cannot be all inclusive. Rather, it will provide direction for establishing effective detection and control methods. Additional resources are provided in the Appendix for more detailed information about the subjects covered.