Ensuring occupational health and safety in workplaces

A company usually makes profits. However, profit cannot be gained at the expense of safety and health at the workplace. Work-related accidents lead to losses in both human and financial terms. All companies must comply at least with occupational safety and health laws of their country developing internal systems, arrangements and guidelines.
In the specific ready-made garment (RMG) sector, the generalised system of preferences (GSP) facility in the US market has been suspended over factory safety issue. Buyers from across the world are pressing for ensuring workplace safety following the Tazreen Fashions fire and the Rana Plaza collapse.
An 'accident at work' is a unwanted and sudden event resulting in deaths or physical injuries. Sometimes such an accident causes neither injury nor damage. This is called a 'near miss'. According to studies, 80 per cent of the accidents happen due to risky jobs and only 20 per cent occur because of unsafe environment. Around one in 30 hazardous working situations or risky jobs leads to a minor injury with no time off work. Around one in 300 cases leads to an injury with time off work. One in 3,000 hazardous actions or situations leads to a serious injury with time off work and around one in 30,000 leads to a very serious injury or even an injury that may prove fatal.
An employer must ensure efficient working methods, sufficient supervision by persons in charge, a good work environ and clear instructions. A prevention policy may not simply focus on those workers who carry out the most dangerous tasks, but must be integrated with the company's general policy. A company's management carries considerable responsibility in drawing up and implementing a prevention policy. It must delegate tasks and authority, provide adequate training and instruction and develop a sound structure for consultation. The managers must ensure the existing rules and regulations are observed. This involves carrying out regular inspections. The managers also have to provide the necessary information and also report and investigate accidents and perform evaluations after obstacles arise.
For promotion of healthy and safe working environment, motivation of employers, line managers and employees is a key area. It is not always enough to give everyone the necessary information and upgrade skills. Motivated employees will carry out certain actions as safely as possible.
Managers have an important task here, because, they really can change mentality. They start by setting a good example and take account of proposals and suggestions by the employees. They try to understand the nature and abilities of employees, so that they can give them appropriate instructions. A behavioural safety inspection is a tour that he should make through the company, department or site in order to observe the behaviour of workers in their routine working environment, with the aim of increasing safety awareness by observing safety in the workplace for a short time. Take notes and inform the employees about positive and negative safety aspects.  
An effective occupational safety and health prevention policy needs safety rules. These rules constitute a guide for the personnel and describe how the workers must behave to reduce the risk to a minimum.
The permit is issued by the person in charge of the department where work is to be carried out and he or she will impose a series of measures on the work permit applicant,  the executor or the person who wants the work performed. The work permit must be duly completed and signed by both the parties in order for work to start. A valid work permit must be at the workplace for the executor to start his/her activities. S/he must be intimately familiar with the contents of the work permit and must respect the applicable regulations and the prescribed measures. The work permit contains a lot of useful information.
The internal emergency plan should contain measures and provisions established by a company to address accidents, disasters or any other adverse situation. The emergency plan must indicate which risks should be taken into consideration. The emergency plan is tuned to the existing external disaster plans.
All potential emergency situations should be taken into account and be easy to read. The correct information must be easy to find fast. All the individuals concerned must have access to the emergency plan. In emergency situations, it is important to rapidly identify the persons in charge and the tasks each individual must perform.
Regarding the evacuation plan, temporary workers and third parties or visitors must know where the escape routes are located in the company, how the alarm signal sounds and what the warning methods are. All companies should organise fire drills periodically to ensure their evacuation procedure is ready in case of emergency.
 Any substance can be dangerous. A substance is considered truly dangerous when it inflicts damage in case of improper use. Dangerous substances may be in the form of gases, solid materials, liquid, mist and dust. Toxic matters disrupt the normal functions of the human body. Harmful products enter the body through skin contact, inhalation or ingestion. Explosive elements explode at a certain temperature, through contact with other substances or in case of shock or friction. Explosive substances explode easily, even without the effect of additional oxygen. Highly flammable matters ignite in presence of a flame, a heat source or a spark. Extremely flammable substances ignite very easily, even at sub-zero (°C) temperatures. Oxidising, when one substance comes into contact with other substances, can cause anything flammable to burn fiercely. Corrosive things can damage living tissues and may cause serious burns.    
There are two basic ways to limit the risk, firstly by keeping exposure to a minimum or avoiding it altogether and secondly by protecting themselves as much as possible. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an excellent solution to further minimise risks, if working with certain substances is unavoidable and any other control measures have been exhausted or are impractical. Special individual eye and face protection is available to protect against liquid splashes. Respiratory protection prevents inhalation of dangerous gases and fumes, and protective clothing and especially gloves prevent skin contact.
 A confined space is a space that is closed off or half-open, often with a narrow entrance and little room to move. The means of escape are generally limited. Confined spaces are not suitable for work or spend long periods of time. They are often damp by nature and temperatures are higher because of poor ventilation, causing those present to sweat more. The high humidity increases conductivity.
It is necessary to measure if the level of oxygen remains adequate and to make sure there is no abnormal build-up of gases or substances that may be dangerous in their own right or may deplete the oxygen supply. All measurements must be taken by qualified personnel and regularly. Before entering a confined space you need to make sure there is an adequate supply of fresh air through a system of general ventilation or local air extraction. In order to keep from tripping and falling, there needs to be adequate lighting, an appropriate workplace layout and good housekeeping. Remove or cover all flammable substances during welding and cutting activities in order to eliminate fire risks. Always keep fire extinguishing equipment within easy reach. Not to store oxygen cylinders in a confined space.
Fire is a chemical reaction requiring three components-fuel, oxygen and an ignition source. If any of these three components is missing, a fire cannot start! A fuel is a substance that can burn. Fuels are subdivided into solid fuels, liquid fuels and gaseous fuels. Several types of combustion process depending on the combustion rate are: Slow combustion, normal combustion, explosion (takes place very quickly), detonation.
What is to be done in case of fire? All kinds of fire equipment need to be stored at designated points inside a factory. The important thing in case of fire is to act quickly. Start by saving yourself. Alert the emergency services or the person in charge or push the alarm button. Try to remain calm and to avoid panic so everyone can get out safely. Follow the directions of the fire brigade and those in charge of the evacuation. Never use the elevator, take the stairs, instead. Only try to extinguish a fire after reporting. The key treatment in case of burns is water first, everything else can wait. Cool the burned body part under cold running water for at least 15 minutes. Clothing that is stuck to the burn should be left in place until the emergency services arrive.
A successful occupational safety and health policy has to be based on the employees' involvement, management commitment, existence of internal and external experts, appropriate evaluation of risks, systematic assessment of health and safety in all processes of the company, specific training and cascading flow of information. The role of the occupational safety and health department is giving expert advice and assisting managers in this field.
It is true that occupational safety and health (OSH) impact on good business, help demonstrate that a business is socially responsible and is keen to protect and enhance the brand image and value. These also help maximise productivity of workers, enhance employees' commitment to the business, build a more competent and healthier workforce, reduce business costs and disruption, enable enterprises to meet customers' expectations and encourage the workforce to stay longer in active life.
The writer is Assistant Deputy Secretary of BKMEA (Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association).
 harun.bkmea@gmail.com