Health and Safety International | Issue 44
Getting Ahead on Safety
Hans-Horst Konkolewsky of the Geneva-based International Social Security Association (ISSA) makes a convincing economic case for investment in safety and health equipment. Observed from an international perspective, this overview underpins the returns to be gained from wise investment in worker safety.
Materials Used in Specialist Workwear
In the first of a series of two articles, we introduce the research of Dr Ningtao Mao, Senior Lecturer in Performance Textiles at the University of Leeds. So informative and extensive was Dr Mao’s submission on the subject of workwear, we believe it will be a vital reference for readers and, as such, urge you also to read September’s edition of H&SI, where you will find further material that will help to inform your selection of this vital kind of PPE.
Real Health and Real Safety
Roderick Dymott, CEO of IRATA International tells us real health and safety will genuinely happen – despite prevalent views that training excellence and safe working can only remain an ideal. This need not be the case if enough companies and trade associations set an example.
Researching Chemical Protection
Research into the detection and prevention of exposure to chemicals has a long history in Sweden. Carin Håkansta gives a brief overview of the policy context that enabled this type of OSH research to prosper, how policies have changed over time and how those changes affected the area. Furthermore, she describes how Swedish research on chemical exposures has developed through time. Finally, in order to give a flavour of research today, three examples of ongoing research projects funded by FAS in the area of chemical risks are presented.
Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus
Where extreme respiratory risks might be encountered, such as the possible presence of an irrespirable atmosphere, recourse is often necessary to the use of breathing apparatus (BA). In some such situations, breathing air is supplied via an airline rather than carried in a cylinder as a compressed gas. This has the obvious advantage that there is no need for the weight and bulk of the cylinder but, equally obviously, the disadvantage that the wearer is tethered by the airline which has to be dragged around the working area to allow a degree of mobility.
Slips Trips and Falls [Jul 2012]
Slips and falls in the workplace represent more than a trivial problem. According to research in the United States by the Liberty Mutual Research Center for Safety, same-level slips and falls represent nearly 11 percent of all workers’ compensation claims and more than 13 percent of all these injuries are second only to manual material handling and holding loads, which represent 37 percent and 40 percent respectively.
Testing Gloves Against High Voltages
SATRA’s Peter Doughty talks about the hazards associated with live electrical working and the tests that are carried out on gloves used to offer protection against high voltages.
