Occupational Health Management

The current assignment focuses upon the aspect of occupational health management. There are a number of incidents of occupational health hazards within factory setups and construction sites which could be attributed to factors such as physical, biological, chemical etc. The occupational health hazards can have huge implications for the health of the employees along with reducing the organizational work productivity. For the current assignment, the aspect of noise pollution has been taken into consideration and the different intervention methods or strategies discussed.

Running head: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
Occupational Health Management
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

1
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................3
2. Workplace details...............................................................................................................3
3. Occupational health hazard and associated risks at the workplace....................................7
3.1. Risk arising from the hazard...............................................................................................7
3.2 risk assessment and current management strategies..........................................................10
3.3 legal and ethical considerations.........................................................................................10
4. Prevention program..........................................................................................................11
4.1 outcomes and goals of the prevention program.................................................................11
4.2 components of the prevention program:-...........................................................................11
4.2.1 Continued education of employers and employers.........................................................12
4.2.2 Company policy and national legislation form...............................................................12
4.3 Tools for program monitoring and evaluation:-.................................................................12
4.3.1 Anonymous questionnaire...............................................................................................13
4.3.2 Periodic review................................................................................................................13
Conclusion............................................................................................................................14
Appendices...........................................................................................................................15
Contingency plan:....................................................................................................................15
References............................................................................................................................16

2
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT

3
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
The current assignment focuses upon the aspect of occupational health management.
There are a number of incidents of occupational health hazards within factory setups and
construction sites which could be attributed to factors such as physical, biological, chemical
etc. The occupational health hazards can have huge implications for the health of the
employees along with reducing the organizational work productivity. For the current
assignment, the aspect of noise pollution has been taken into consideration and the different
intervention methods or strategies discussed.

4
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
1. Introduction
The current study discusses the aspect of management of occupational health hazards.
A vast number of accidents occurring within construction unites could result in huge health
risks to the employees (Schnall, Dobson, Rosskam & Elling, 2018). In order to manage or
control occupational health risks. it is necessary to identify the type of occupational health
hazards. These have been listed under the five major types such as – physical hazards,
chemical hazards, biological hazards, radiological hazards and ergonomic hazards.
In the process of work, one may be subjected to huge number of health risk hazards
which could have lethal consequences, as most of the occupational hazards can affect the
vital parts or organs of the body. For example, the physical damage could result in severe
injury such leg amputations whereas the chemical and radiological injuries may affect vital
organs of the body such as eyes, face, lungs, liver etc. Most of the times, the accident occur
due to lack of adequate safety measures.
In the current assignment, a workplace scenario had been taken into consideration and
the different health risk factors. The assignment provides an in-depth analysis of the different
health risk factors. Based upon which a number of intervention strategies have been designed
which helps in controlling the rate of occurrence of such health hazards.
2. Workplace details
In the current study, an Australia based construction company had been taken into
consideration which is FLOUR AUSTRALIA. The FLOUR AUSTRALIA PTY. LTD
provides integrated engineering; procurement; construction and maintenance solution for
clients throughout the Fortune list of world most admired companies (fluor.com, 2018).

5
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
The company provides services in a number of multidisciplinary areas such as –
engineering design, procurement, fabrication, construction and diversified services. In the
current study, the construction activities of the company had been taken into consideration
which generates huge amount of noise pollution and is serious cause of health concerns for
the employees. The global execution platform allows the company to deliver complex
logistically challenging projects. The company has a workforce of more than 56,000
employees deployed in projects in over 100 countries. The company executes its construction
projects and activities 24/7. It had been recently found that the 24/7 exposure to high levels of
sound can often cause serious health concerns in the employees (fluor.com, 2018).
Here, the demographics of the workers need to be considered for understanding the
impact high noise pollution can have on their health. Some of the important demographic
factors over here are the age of the employees, the gender of the employees, experience of the
employee or length of stay as well as the frequency and length of exposure to high noise
pollution. As suggested by Alméras, Vallières, Tremblay, Poirier & Després (2016), the age
of an employee serves as an important governing factor for health risks. For example,
employees who are over the age of 65 can develop increased cardiac risk owing to continued
exposure to high level of noise. On the contrary, employees who have stayed very long in the
construction plant could also develop risk factors such as losing their normal heating capacity
(Reese, 2015). Thus, very long exposure to high-frequency noise can also disturb the normal
hearing capacity of an individual along with increased risk factors of cardiac stroke as
exposure to high level of noise can make the heart grow weak.
The current situation of exposure to high levels of noise has been seen to endanger the
health and well being of the employee. In the current situation, of exposure to high levels of
noise pollution over longer periods of time, many employees have been seen to develop
associated health risks such as nervous problem or poor heart health (Etteh, 2018). The poor

6
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
health conditions have led to high rates of absenteeism within the construction units and
reduced employee performance (Goetzel et al., 2014). Therefore, the management needs to
think as well as design an effective intervention plan to reduce the health discrepancies within
the employees.

7
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
Building evacuation plan

8
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
3. Occupational health hazard and associated risks at the workplace
There is a huge number of health risks associated with workplace hazards. Some of
these could be caused due to various factors such as physical factors, biological factors,
chemical factors, radiological factors etc. The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration have identified common workplace safety hazards, a few of which have been
discussed over here such as fall risks due to working at height, accidents due to fire or
electricity, a risk of fire in confined spaces, exposure to hazardous substances. As mentioned
by Phillips et al. (2015), in the lack of effective control measure the safety and security
standards of the employees may be compromised. As argued by Goh, Pfeffer, Zenios &
Rajpal (2015), the high incidence of accidents could be attributed to negligence on the part of
the management, as the management fails to provide effective training to its employees
resulting in high health risk factors.
3.1. Risk arising from the hazard
It has been seen that noise pollution can lead to increased health risk to the patient
such as emotional and behavioural stress, permanent hearing damage due to exposure to high
intensity of sound for longer duration of time, increase the chances of occurrence of disease
such as a headache, high blood pressure, heart failure etc. As mentioned by Shea, De Cieri,
Donohue, Cooper & Sheehan (2016), exposure to high levels of noise for longer time
duration can cause damage to the liver, heart etc.

9
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENTBusiness
risk
Impact Likeliho
od
Mitigation
strategy
Contingency plan
health risk
due to
exposure
to high
level of
noise
pollution
High Highly
likely
 Replace
the old
machineri
es with
the new
ones
which will
probably
generate
less noise
 Ask the
workers
to use
earplugs
as it will
block the
high
intensity
of sound
 Identify the
machineries
which
generate high
level of noise
pollution
 Eliminate the
machineries
producing
high level of
noise
pollution
 Provide
effective
therapeutic
interventions
to the affected
employees
Poor health
resulting in
increased
absenteeis
m from
work
High Likely  Train the
employees
regarding
effective
noise
pollution
reducing
strategies
 Frequent
health
checkups
of the
employees
 Provide
therapeutic
intervention to
the employees
 Train the
employees on
effective
management
strategies
Reduction
in the
capability
to perform
by the
employees
high Highly
likely
 Ask the
employees
to use ear
plugs
 Reduce
their
exposure
to a single
unit
generating
high noise
pollution
for a very
long time
 Provide
effective
therapeutic
interventions
 Provide
extended
holidays to the
employees
 Organize
sufficient
health
counselling
sessions for
the employees

10
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
3.2 Risk assessment and current management strategies
A number of risk assessment strategies could be employed over here such as
conducting internal audits which will help in the identification of the faulty pieces of
machinery which generates huge amount of noise during the construction work or process.
Therefore, the goal would be to identify these types of machinery and replace them with the
new ones which have effective sound control. As mentioned by Loeppke et al. (2015), the
high-intensity sound generated from the construction units or factories also disturbs the
nearby ecosystems. Therefore, the factory unit should employ could reduce the sound decibel
to a minimum limit which is bearable by the employees (Waters & Dick, 2015).
In this respect, the Flour construction Australia have taken effective management
strategies such as reducing the length and level of exposure of the employees to high decibel
sound by providing the employees with rotational shifts. Additionally, training the employees
upon the use of effective noise control strategies such as the use of earplugs can reduce the
level of damage (Landsbergis, Grzywacz n& LaMontagne, 2014).
3.3 legal and ethical considerations
There are a number of legal and ethical considerations which needs to take into
consideration by a company for providing safe and secure workplace to its employees
(Caruso, 2014). Some of these are safe manufacturing environment and reduce environmental
effects.
In this respect, a number of legal and ethical issues have been highlighted. Some of
these have been discussed under the Codes of Professional Conduct. The Codes of
professional conduct place paramount importance on the safety and health of the employees.
The guidelines as stated under the code of professional conduct say that one should not

11
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
undertake work or projects for which they do not possess the required qualifications.
Additionally, the employees should work for the advancement of the safety and well being of
the profession. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reserves the
right to prosecute the employers of FLOUR AUSTRALIA if at any stage it feels that the
employer in question have blatantly ignored the identified hazards or refused to correct the
hazards which could result in death (Shea et al., 2016). In this respect, certain ethical issues
are faced in conducting safety level studies within the construction sites where the risk to
benefits ratio is considerably low, that is the risk factors are considerably higher than the
benefits.
3.4 Need for change
In this respect, changes are required in the safety control measures as there have been
rise in the number of workplace casualties. The safety plan as advised by OSHA needs to be
implemented, as per which emphasis would be placed upon hazard identification and
implementing programs for mitigation of the hazards.
4. Prevention program
4.1 outcomes and goals of the prevention program
The outcomes or goals of the prevention programs implemented in this regard is to-
 reduce the duration of exposure of the employees to high intensity sound
 to reduce the increased rate of absenteeism due to poor health of the employees
(Xiang, Bi, Pisaniello & Hansen, 2014)
 to improve the staff performance by promoting physical and psychological health

12
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
 to train the employees on effective sound management strategies
4.2 components of the prevention program:-
The prevention program could be divided into a number of components such as –
structure, content and delivery. The structure component defines the manner in which the
intervention program is constructed and organized. The content refers to the manner in which
the information, strategies and skills are presented and delivery refers to the process by which
the program is selected and implemented (Landsbergis, Grzywacz & LaMontagne, 2014).
4.2.1 Continued education of employers and employers
For the prevention of the possible health hazards within a construction site, safety
education could be provided to both the employers and the employees. For example, using
sound control vaults for reducing the amount of high-intensity sounds generated from some
of the machines as well as the use of personal protective gears such as earplugs could be
beneficial.
4.2.2 Company policy and national legislation form
Flour firmly believes in protecting and supporting the health, safety, security, dignity,
welfare of each worker. Additionally, safe and healthy living is critical elements for
delivering their work.
In this respect, Safe Work Australia is an Australian government statutory agency
which mentions that training, instruction and information must be provided in a form to the
employees at the time of induction, which ensures that the employees abide by the safety
rules.

13
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
4.3 Program monitoring and evaluation:-
A number of tools could be used for monitoring and evaluation of the prevention
strategies. Some of these are conducting internal audit or survey which helps in the collection
or gathering of sufficient information regarding the benefits provided by the intervention
strategies (Jarman, Martin, Venn, Otahal & Sanderson, 2015). These could be done by
organising surveys where current employees of the organization could be interviewed in
order to gather relevant data regarding the success of the interventions implemented. These
could be used for bringing about required changes within the safety standards of the
company.
4.3.1 Anonymous questionnaire
In this respect, some additional steps could be employed by the company for an
assessment of the risks such as the drafting of an anonymous questionnaire through which
responses of the employees will be collected regarding the implemented safety standards. The
data will be used by FLOUR CHEMICALS for bridging the safety gaps.
4.3.2 Periodic review
The safety checks and assessments need to be conducted on a periodic basis once
every six months which will help in controlling the rate of accidents. Additionally, the
periodic internal audit helps in enhancing the productivity of the organization.
4.4 Tools used for undertaking evaluation
For undertaking the evaluation, internal quality control and audit methods could be
used where the workers would be asked to fill an online questionnaire. The data collected
from the online survey as well as the using data from the organization of past history of
accidents, effective safety measures and policies could be implemented.

14
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
Emergency response
Organisation
Name
Contact Title Phone number
ALL - - 000
State Emergency
Services (SES)
- - 000
Police - - 000
Fire - - 000
Ambulance - - 000
Procedu
res
A brief outline of
procedures
Evacuation
point/
address
Reference to
full procedure
document
Supporting
documentati
on
Impleme
ntation
of noise
control
procedur
es
1. implementation of
machines with effective
sound control systems
2. provide rotational
duties to the staff to
reduce their levels of
exposure to high level
of sound
3. training the
employees on sound
reduction techniques
and procedures while
working in the factory
4.conducting internal
audits from time to time
NA NA NA
Conclusion
In the current context, Australia based Construction Company Flour Australia had
been taken into consideration. There have been complaints of high levels of sound pollution

15
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
within the construction unit which possess a number of health risks to the employees. The
high-intensity sound possesses a number of health risk factors such as causing permanent
hearing loss in the patient along with associated factors such as cardiac risks, risks of nerve
damage due to exposure to constant high level of sound.
In this respect, a number of intervention strategies could be implemented such as
reducing the amount of exposure to high-level noise for a longer period of time, use of
earplugs and provision of therapeutic intervention and strategies to the employees.
Additionally, high level of awareness from the employees as well as the management is
required which control and reduce the risk of noise pollution. Some of the effective measures
which could be implemented over here are conducting internal audits from time to time
which could reduce the chances of accidents within the construction sites. Some of the other
factors which could possess health risk to employees within a construction could be attributed
to issues such as fire. Therefore, providing and training on evacuation could help the
employees avoid the possible health hazard.
Appendices
Contingency plan:
 Identify the machineries which generate high level of noise pollution
 Eliminate the machineries producing high level of noise pollution
 Provide therapeutic intervention to the employees
 Train the employees on effective management strategies (Adgate, Goldstein &
McKenzie, 2014)
 Provide effective therapeutic interventions
 Provide extended holidays to the employees
 Organize sufficient health counselling sessions for the employees

16
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
References
Adgate, J. L., Goldstein, B. D., & McKenzie, L. M. (2014). Potential public health hazards,
exposures and health effects from unconventional natural gas
development. Environmental science & technology, 48(15), 8307-8320. Retrieved
from : https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es404621d
Alméras, N., Vallières, M., Tremblay, É., Poirier, P., & Després, J. (2016). Contributions of
leisure-time vs. occupational physical activity to variation in cardiorespiratory fitness
and cardiometabolic risk profile: results from a workplace health management
program. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 32(10), S241. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjca.2016.07.388
Caruso, C. C. (2014). Negative impacts of shiftwork and long work hours. Rehabilitation
Nursing, 39(1), 16-25. Retrieved from : https://doi.org/10.1002/rnj.107
Etteh, H. (2018). 1216 Workplace health risks management in developing west africa
countries, the role of academic health institutions. Retrieved from :
http://oem.bmj.com/content/75/Suppl_2/A240.2
fluor.com (2018), fluor.com , Retrieved on 27 May 2018, from,
http://www.fluor.com/services/construction
Goetzel, R. Z., Henke, R. M., Tabrizi, M., Pelletier, K. R., Loeppke, R., Ballard, D. W., ... &
Serxner, S. (2014). Do workplace health promotion (wellness) programs
work?. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 56(9), 927-934. doi:
10.1097/JOM.0000000000000276

17
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
Goh, J., Pfeffer, J., Zenios, S. A., & Rajpal, S. (2015). Workplace stressors & health
outcomes: Health policy for the workplace. Behavioral Science & Policy, 1(1), 43-52.
Retrieved from : https://muse.jhu.edu/article/607750/summary
Jarman, L., Martin, A., Venn, A., Otahal, P., & Sanderson, K. (2015). Does workplace health
promotion contribute to job stress reduction? Three-year findings from Partnering
Healthy@ Work. BMC public health, 15(1), 1293. Retrieved from :
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2625-1
Landsbergis, P. A., Grzywacz, J. G., & LaMontagne, A. D. (2014). Work organization, job
insecurity, and occupational health disparities. American journal of industrial
medicine, 57(5), 495-515. Retrieved from : https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22126
Landsbergis, P. A., Grzywacz, J. G., & LaMontagne, A. D. (2014). Work organization, job
insecurity, and occupational health disparities. American journal of industrial
medicine, 57(5), 495-515. Retrieved from : https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22126
Loeppke, R. R., Hohn, T., Baase, C., Bunn, W. B., Burton, W. N., Eisenberg, B. S., ... &
Hymel, P. A. (2015). Integrating health and safety in the workplace: how closely
aligning health and safety strategies can yield measurable benefits. Journal of
occupational and environmental medicine, 57(5), 585-597. doi:
10.1097/JOM.0000000000000467
Phillips, J. A., Holland, M. G., Baldwin, D. D., Gifford-Meuleveld, L., Mueller, K. L.,
Perkison, B., ... & Dreger, M. (2015). Marijuana in the workplace: Guidance for
occupational health professionals and employers: Joint guidance statement of the
American Association of Occupational Health Nurses and the American College of
Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Workplace health & safety, 63(4), 139-

18
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT
164. Retrieved from :
https://search.proquest.com/openview/7451e79b8d23f7e95333371101b36899/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar&cbl=47930
Reese, C. D. (2015). Occupational health and safety management: a practical approach.
CRC press. Retrieved from : https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=2Oj5CQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Reese,+C.+D.+(2015).
+Occupational+health+and+safety+management:+a+practical+approach.
+CRC+press.&ots=PBzCw8_ZMf&sig=7fD_TTWGfXs6IhMG5sVaP3GYSvs#v=on
epage&q&f=false
Schnall, P. L., Dobson, M., Rosskam, E., & Elling, R. H. (2018). Unhealthy work: Causes,
consequences, cures. Routledge. Retrieved from :
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351840859
Shea, T., De Cieri, H., Donohue, R., Cooper, B., & Sheehan, C. (2016). Leading indicators of
occupational health and safety: An employee and workplace level validation
study. Safety science, 85, 293-304. Retrieved from :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2016.01.015
Waters, T. R., & Dick, R. B. (2015). Evidence of health risks associated with prolonged
standing at work and intervention effectiveness. Rehabilitation Nursing, 40(3), 148-
165. Retrieved from : https://doi.org/10.1002/rnj.166
Xiang, J., Bi, P., Pisaniello, D., & Hansen, A. (2014). Health impacts of workplace heat
exposure: an epidemiological review. Industrial health, 52(2), 91-101. Retrieved from
: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth/52/2/52_2012-0145/_article/-char/ja/

19
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT