Global and Environmental Health Issues: Work Health Safety Assessment

This report presents a comprehensive work health safety assessment, likely for a course on global and environmental health issues (PUBH6002), focusing on the analysis of workplace hazards, risk controls, and the evaluation of associated risks. The assessment appears to cover a range of potential hazards, including physical (slippery floors, machinery), chemical (gases, fumes), ergonomic (manual handling), radiation, psychological (shiftwork, workload), and biological (contamination) hazards. For each hazard, the report details the potential harm, existing risk controls, current risk ratings, and recommendations for additional controls to mitigate risks. The report seems to use a risk matrix to determine the risk ratings and highlights the importance of legislative acts, safety protocols, and employee training to ensure a safe working environment. The case study focuses on the Santos Ltd energy sector, reflecting real-world application of the assessment principles. The report emphasizes the need for proactive measures, including employee training, hazard identification, and the implementation of safety protocols to prevent injuries, diseases, and workplace accidents.

Task or scenario Hazard/s Associated harm Existing Risk
Controls Current risk
rating
Any additional
controls are
required?
Residual
risk
rating
In work place slippery floor
or the misused machinery
play a key role in the risk
impacts. As an energy
sector the Santos ltd
workshops could be filled
with slippery floors and
also wires of machines and
other unused machines
could be found in a way
that could be harmful for
the workers and could
injure them if not detected
(Santos.com, 2019).
Physical
Hazard
Unorganised cables or
machineries could lead to
destruction of assets as
well. The unorganised
cables and machineries
could cause fire or other
problems in the workshop
or factory and it could be
leading to death of workers
and the destruction of the
factory assets.
In order to
control these
unwanted
situations the
company
would need to
mark the places
of the factories
with danger
marks and
caution boards
would be
implemented in
order to
mitigate the
problems. Also
the
management
Very high as
the risk factor
of the
unorganised
machineries
and wires are
greater in the
context of the
energy sector.
Work health and
safety Act 2011
would need to be
included for the
monitoring
providing employee
rights properly
(Legislation.gov.au,
2019). Other than
this the Safework
SA the government
organisation needed
to be regulating the
control of the
employment safety
in the company.
However the most
needed inclusion is
Medium

people of the
company
strategies these
conditions by
means of
employing
several
organising
workers who
organise and
monitor these
flaws.
primary health care
facility in the factory
(Safework.sa.gov.au,
2019).
In work places gases,
fumes, vapours could be
found spilling out from
different areas and it could
harm the workers breathing
along with other organ
failures. As energy sector
the Santos ltd pose threat
from the chemical gas
spilling from the
Chemical
Hazard
Chemical gases could also
lead to unwanted fire or
deaths among the workers
if the gas would be
poisonous and the amount
of the gas is overwhelming.
The fumes of gases could
be effectively form fire or
bombarding effects as well
if these come in contact
The machines
spilling
chemicals or
gases needed to
be changed or
at least repaired
for the control
of the
situations and
here also the
Medium as
the risk factor
of the
chemical
substances
are not drastic
in the energy
sectors.
Here also the
inclusion of the
government
monitoring and the
legislative act
needed for the
betterment of the
working
environment. The
primary health care
Low

machineries they use and it
could be effectively harm
the workers cardiac
condition or other organ
failures or forming different
chronic diseases inside their
bodies (Kowalski-McGraw
et al., 2017).
with other flaming agents. caution boards
would be
needed to warn
the workers
about the
conditions. A
monitoring
team would be
employed for
the assessment
and evaluation
of these
situations in
order to
develop the
plan of
preventing the
ill conditions.
in case of any injury
would be needed as
well (Walton &
Rogers, 2017).
Manual handling of heavy
machines can be a cause of
physical strains for the
workers. Other than manual
Ergonomic
Hazard
Heavy machines or poor
designed machines can be
the leading cause of worker
physical problem build up
In case of
heavy
machines the
machines
High as the
heavy
machinery
works are
Primary care
providing team
needed to be
incorporated and
Medium

handling poor designed
machines can pose a
hazardous impact over the
physical condition of the
bodies of the workers. In an
energy sector such as
Santos ltd the possibility of
heavy machinery usage is
high and poses a high risk
factor for the workers as
well (d'Errico, Ardito &
Leombruni, 2016).
however, these kinds of
machines could also threat
the production amount of
the company as these
machines need higher
amount of power source to
work on and without the
sufficient power it would
lead to lower amount of
production.
needed to be
replaced with
modern
lightweight
machines
which can
work
effectively and
build on the
basis of the
ergonomics of
the workers.
This would
help the
workers in a
productive
way.
needed in the
energy sector
and the
manual work
force also
needed in this
sector.
also the automatic
machineries required
and elimination of
the manual handling
would be needed for
the employee ease in
the context of the
work load and help
them lessening the
physical stress
(Pagell, Veltri &
Johnston, 2016).
High radiating machinery
can affect the worker’s
physical body and create a
chronic disease as well such
as cancer. As an energy
Radiation
Hazard
Radiation from the
workplace machineries
would lead to chronic
disease development
among workers and also
In order
prevent
radiation
hazards there
needed to be
Low as
Santos ltd is
an advanced
company and
they use good
Radiation chambers
needed to be more
secured and the
whole worker group
needed to be
Very
low

sector company Santos ltd
would use laser machines,
infrared machinery and
other radiating machineries.
Flaw in these machineries
could possibly harm the
workers or the poor quality
of the radiating machineries
could pose the threat of
high quantity radiation that
threats the working security
of the workers (Beus,
Dhanani & McCord, 2015).
harm the assets of the
factory as the radiation can
be able to harm the harm
other machineries.
However, the primary treat
of these radiating machines
are the health of the
workers.
implementation
of radiation
preventing
chambers
where the
radiating
machines could
be placed and
the radiation
preventive
uniforms
would be used
for the workers
in order to
prevent the
radiation to hit
their bodies
directly and
form chronic
disease for
them.
quality
infrastructure
for the
radiation
control.
properly educated
about the factor of
handling these
machinery and the
risk factor of these
machineries as well.
Insurance for the
employee health
would also be
implemented as the
appraisal factor
(Hrica & Eiter,
2017).
Shiftwork or workload Psychological Psychological hazards The Very low as Proper monitoring of Very

poses a threat for the
negative impact over the
mental condition of the
workers. The negative
impact could lead to several
psychological problems for
the workers. Other than the
workload the harassment in
the workplace by other
workers or the upper heads
of the company play a key
role in the psychological
disorder formation in the
worker mind. However, in
the Santos ltd the
workplace environment is
better in terms of
harassment according to
surveys but the threat of
workload is high it is an
energy sector company and
the need of workers for
Hazard would lead to chaos among
the company workers and
thus the production rate of
the company would fall
under jeopardy. The good
will of the company would
also be hampered by this
situation and the company
would lose the man power
as well.
psychological
aspect of the
patients would
be monitored
regulated by
means of
counselling or
other mental
treatment
methods. It is
also
recommended
that the
workplace
bullying
needed to be
controlled as
well in order to
support the
workers with a
safe and secure
workplace
the workplace
environment
is better in
terms of the
employment
management
and they
monitor the
workplace
environment
for the better
management
of the
employees.
the employee
environment and
using legislative acts
in order to lessen the
psychological
impacts of the
employees and
providing them a
better working
environment
(Carayon et al.,
2015).
low

higher amount of energy
production pose the threat
of affecting the mental and
physical pressure of the
workers and thus forming
psychological problems
(Gazica & Spector, 2016).
environment.
The effect of bacterial
contamination, viral
contamination or other kind
of contaminating diseases
in the workplace poses a
critical threat. The
condition of the
contamination free system
is costly thus it is a
common problem in case of
several industries and
Biological
Hazard
Contamination among the
workers would lead to
deaths of the workers and
losing the manpower
would also hamper the
production rate of the
company. Other than the
production rate the
manpower would fall if the
contaminating disease
would not be managed or
In order to
prevent
contamination
in the
workplace the
management
team needs to
employ a
contamination
control team
who would
Medium as
the leading
company in
this sector
Santos ltd
reported clean
and
contamination
free
environment
for the
Everyday cleaning
and monitoring
procedure needed
for the elimination
of any kind of
contamination and
better pest control
also be needed for
the infection
elimination factor.
The employees also
Low

companies. The
contamination can be from
other diseased workers or
from the contamination
formation in the workplace.
Other than these several
insect bites or cuts in the
body leads to grow a
infected condition for the
workers. As energy based
company Santos workshop
would also face these kinds
of infectious conditions for
the workers.
controlled. monitor the
cleanliness of
the workplace
and also use
counter
measures to
prevent these
contaminations
. Also the
insect control
measures
needed to be
taken in order
to form a clean
and safe
working place
for the
workers. It
would be also
needed to
employ a
medical team
employees. needed to be
educated about the
first priority in this
kind of
contamination and
infection occurrence
(Hofmann, Burke &
Zohar, 2017).

in order to
provide
primary care to
the ill workers
and prevent
these
contaminations
as well.

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