Healthcare Workplace Safety Hazard Incident Report Analysis

This report analyzes a workplace hazard incident in a food processing factory, where an employee suffered a severe hand injury due to faulty machinery. The report details the incident, identifying physical hazards related to inadequate safety guards on machinery. It highlights the impact on productivity, employee morale, and the subsequent shutdown of production. The analysis covers precontact, post-contact, and point-of-contact controls implemented after the incident, including engineering controls like machinery guards, personal protective equipment (PPE), and administrative controls such as new operating procedures and training. The report also addresses employee rights and compensation. Recommendations emphasize regular risk assessments, daily safety checks, employee training on PPE, and regular machinery inspections. The report concludes with the importance of engineering controls, occupational health and safety, and the employer's responsibility for maintaining a safe work environment. The author emphasizes the importance of learning from the incident to prevent future hazards and ensure employee well-being.

Running head: HEALTH CARE
Health care
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Introduction:
Safety in the workplace is all about going through the process of identifying hazards and
risk factors and then determining the appropriate way to control the risk. However, overlooking
some of risk factors can create safety issues for workers. I witnessed one such incident of
workplace hazard while working in food processing industry in Sydney. The company had a
business of manufacturing wafers and chips and I had a role in packaging the final products and
transferring it to the warehouse. The organization had a good safety culture with regular
inspection before operation each day. However, during the processing of the food products, one
of the employees while pushing the food to the other conveyor belt accidently put his hands to
the exposed or moving parts leading to severe injury on his left wrist. The final consequences of
this hazard were that his upper part of the hand had to be amputated and the company had to give
compensation to the employee.
Hazards:
From the review of incidence, it can be said that the employee was exposed to physical
hazard because of faulty machinery or equipment. The machinery present at the factory lacked
proper safety guards to protect hands from moving or exposed parts. Thus, the employee was
exposed to physical hazard because of injury to his hands.
This workplace incident had a significant on the productivity of the company. The
incident led to panic and fear among workers. From the incident, it was very clear that incident
occurred because of poor designing of the machinery instead of the worker’s negligence. Thus,
this event led to widespread protest and all the employee decided to stop working until proper

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safety inquiry was done and until all the machineries were declared safe for the workers. Hence,
the company had to experience total shut down of their production for at least 15 days leading to
great losses. The employee morale was seriously affected by the incident too. Katsuro et al.
(2010) and Ahmad and Sattar (2017) reported too that exposure to inappropriate work
environment and poor health and safety conditions lowered employee morale and productivity.
Identification of controls:
Following the severe injury to the hand of the workers, the health and safety investigation
resulted in the implementation of precontact, post contact and point of contact control to prevent
future risk of such events. Precontact control includes inspection and modifying or removing the
source of hazard (Spurlock, 2017). This involved inspecting the area. After inspecting the
accidental area and the machineries present at the unit, it was confirmed that faulty machinery
was the main cause behind the incident. Hence, engineering control was implemented first by
providing machinery guard at all points were moving objects could cause harm to workers. Some
modifications in the structure of the machinery were done which helped to reduce the source of
the hazard. All the workers were also provided new and better personal protective equipment so
that any hazard is eliminated at the first place. This was a form of point of contact control for
workers. This was followed by implementation of point of contact controls by implementation of
strict administrative controls such as development of fresh standards and guidelines for operating
procedures and further training to worker regarding safe use of machinery during the food
processing procedure.
Employee rights:

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No employee rights were violated during the process and the injured person received
adequate compensation in response to the loss of his hands.
Recommendation:
After reflecting on the overall hazard incident and the lessons learnt through the process,
it can be concluded that regular risk assessment and daily safety check is crucial to prevent the
risk of future hazards. The following actions are recommended to ensure that similar hazardous
incident does not occur in the future:
 All employees should be given training on effective use of PPE
 All record of PPE equipment must be done and replacements should be done on time
 The compatibility of the machinery should be established regularly by arranging
inspection of the equipments on a daily basis
 Use appropriate warning signs at important points of the workplace so that workers
remain cautious during work
 It is recommended to maintain regular guarding so that workers are protected from
ejected parts and any bodily access to the machinery is avoided
 The employer should arrange for regular maintenance and repair service to avoid any
accidental start up again (Workplace Safety and Prevention Services, 2019).
Incident recurrence:
The above recommendation suggested several intervention to prevent the machinery
related hazards for workers. The change in the number of incidences following the
implementation of the intervention can be done by means of hazard evaluation process. This
will involved tracking the incidence or risk of injury by maintaining a hazard log book and

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taking feedback from workers regarding any safety concerns following the intervention. This
step will help to understand the benefits or effectiveness of the intervention and reduce the
burden of workplace injury too (Ruseckaite & Collie, 2013).
Conclusion:
After reflecting and analyzing the workplace hazard incident and the cause behind such
hazard, I have learnt that employers have a major responsibility to protect and maintain
safety of their workers. My company already has safety control and daily inspection process.
However, the incident made me realize how crucial the engineering controls are in ensuring
that safety standards are maintain. All training and safety measure may fail if adequate
engineering controls are not achieved. The incidence also made me realized the significance
of Occupational Health and Safety in the workplace as this is a legal requirement for all
employees and maintaining this is necessary to ensure that employee health is maintained
and there is no disruption in the continuity of work process.

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References:
Ahmad, I. and Sattar, A., 2017. THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PERCEIVED JOB
SATISFACTION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
& SAFETY AND EMPLOYEES’PERFORMANCE. Gomal Journal of Medical
Sciences, 15(1).
Katsuro, P., Gadzirayi, C. T., Taruwona, M., & Mupararano, S. (2010). Impact of occupational
health and safety on worker productivity: A case of Zimbabwe food industry.
Ruseckaite, R., & Collie, A. (2013). The incidence and impact of recurrent workplace injury and
disease: a cohort study of WorkSafe Victoria, Australia compensation claims. BMJ
open, 3(3), e002396.
Spurlock, B. (2017). Physical Hazards of the Workplace. CRC Press.
Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (2019). Guide to machinery and equipment safety.
Retrieved from: https://www.wsps.ca/Information-Resources/Topics/Machines,-Tools-
Equipment.aspx