Health and Safety for Engineering

Question: Describe about Health and Safety for Engineering? Answer: Introduction The contemporary times has witnessed the growth of factories, innumerable companies that work daily throughout the year in order to deliver products to the consumers and meet the demands on the commercial world. As a result of this, there are a number of accidents and ill health cases occurring everywhere and specially in the engineering work and a huge number is reported to the Department of Health and Safety (Brauer, 2006). Generally it is observed that most of these accidents arise as a result of the movement of the people, or the goods and vehicles in and around the workshops. Hence in order to reduce the chances of accidents in these engineering workshops it is extremely essential that the more serious and frequent risks are recognized and the appropriate precautions are taken. Taking proper account of the money and resources it is essential that the precautions be taken and such risks are reduced (Kloss, 2010). However for the purpose of increasing the health and safety standards of the engineering workshop for the manufacturing of soap an appropriate risk assessment process is required to be undertaken (Tyler, 1993). The work shop activities in a soap manufacturing process involves the movement of stocks with the help of forklift trucks, the utilization of workshop machineries such as the Continuous Flow Stirred-Tank Reactor or the reaction vessels and the handling of the chemicals used in the manufacturing process such as the various bleaching agents and other chemicals. The health and safety management process involves the training plans for ensuring health and safety and review and update of the plans in a regular basis. It further includes the different paper work required for specified risk assessment and method statements and also the inspections of the maintenance of safety features and the emergency stops according to the rules relating to safety and health measures. Risk Assessment According to The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the assessment of risks is extremely important part in order to maintain the health and safety of the employees and non-employees in the engineering workshop. RISK ASSESSMENT: (hseni, n.d.) Possible Hazards Who might be harmed Whether Existing measures are adequate Quantity of Risk What needs to be done Next Review Date Manual Handling Employees, Engineers NO Moderate L (3) I (3) The manual handling of heavy bulks of soaps needs to be replaced with the transportation carriages for moving the bulks of soap from one place to another. June, 2015 Transport and movement of vehicles Employees, Non- Employees, Engineers, Employers NO Moderate L (3) I (4) The transportation of the huge bulks of soaps need to be moved with the help of better transportation facilities June, 2015 Cleaning and Degreasing Solvents Employees, Engineers YES Low L (2) I (3) The required measures have been taken. June, 2015 Machineries used Employees, Engineers NO High L (4) I (4) Proper head gears, hand Gloves needs to be used by the employees in order to reduce the risks arising out of the use of machineries such as the Continuous Flow Stirred-Tank Reactor or the reaction vessels June, 2015 Use of Chemicals Employees, Engineers NO High L (4) I (5) For the handling of harmful chemicals used in the manufacturing of soaps it is necessary that the engineers use face masks and hand gloves to protect themselves. Also when not in use the chemicals need to be stored in safe places in order to prevent any reactions. June, 2015 Noise Employees, Engineers YES Low L (2) I (3) The required measures have been taken. June, 2015 Risk Assessment Matrix: Figures: Health and Safety Risk Management Each of the member states of Europe has their own national Occupational Health Legislation. However, these legislations are based on the European Occupational Health Safety Directives given by the European Union (Tyler, 1993). The primary objective of these directives is to make the employers more responsible in order to create safe working environment and ensure health and safety of the employees (Kloss, 2010). Hence for the achievement of such an working environment the employers needs to be aware of the probable risks that is connected to the work and how these risks can be managed with appropriate measures. Possible risk management measures are required to be prescribed under operational conditions of using hazardous substances that are not safe and suitable to the employees. These measures include the use of personal protection equipments or Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV). These personal protection equipments include hand gloves, dust caps or safety goggles. Formulators of mixtures such as the detergents or paints or similar mixtures used in soaps do not fall under the obligations (Souza, 2003). However, they do have the obligations under the Exposure Scenarios of the individual substances inside the mixture in order to safely use the mixture. This evaluation results needs to be communicated downwards the supply chain in order to allow the end user know about the safety measures relating to the product. The risk management relating to formulators of mixtures would be that they have the duty to analyse carefully the information with regard to the suppliers of raw materials. Primarily the formulator is required to determine that the substances that are present in the mixtures are hazardous or not (Leckie, 2004). They need to calculate the risk associated with the use of these substances and how dangerous they can be for the employee while working with the mixture. Due to these reasons the formulators need to ensure that the substances can be used according to the given standards and is also suitable for the product. In order to verify this, the SDS of the substance is required to be checked and later if that is not sufficient the formulator tries to determine that himself. Further with regard to the cleaners also the proper risk management should be maintained since in most cases the cleaner can be exposed to some risks while carrying out his duties (Spellman and Whiting, 2005). While cleaning of the workshop the primary risks relating to cleaners are the connection with hazardous substances resulting in irritation or corrosion to the skin or eyes. The risks relating to working with hazardous substances is calculated with the help of the limit value of the risk. This limit value can be defined as the level to which any particular worker can be exposed to day by day throughout the working lifetime without having any health effects. The value of the limits is usually derived by the suppliers of substances. The risk assessment needs to be made as to the quantity of exposure the cleaner has to the cleaning product while he is working. A comparison is to be made with regard to the limit value of the exposure and safe use of products. Control Measures and Strategies Management of health and safety measures in a soap manufacturing workshop requires appropriate control measures and strategies. Since in a soap manufacturing company the use of alkaline solutions is common rubber gloves are required to be worn by the employees when handling alkali crystals or solutions as the alkaline solutions are caustic in nature (aise, n.d.). Safety glasses should be worn by the employees while making mixtures of alkali for eye protection. Care should be taken so that no toxic fumes are inhaled while cooking of the soap products. The presence of clean and cold water or milk should be present for rinsing the eyes and skin. Lifting of the kettles should be done carefully with the help of co-workers. References aise, (n.d.).Generic Exposure Information Sheet (GEIS) for Detergents. [online] Available at: https://www.aise.eu/documents/document/20140617113855-geis_guidance_for_the_institutional_cleaning_sector_final_version_1_0_may2014.pdf [Accessed 6 Feb. 2015]. Brauer, R. (2006).Safety and health for engineers. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley. Holnicki-Szulc, J. (2008).Smart technologies for safety engineering. Chichester, England: J. Wiley. hseni, (n.d.).Health and Safety in Engineering. [online] Available at: https://www.hseni.gov.uk/hsg129_health_and_safety_in_engineering_workshops.pdf [Accessed 6 Feb. 2015]. Kloss, D. (2010).Occupational health law. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Leckie, D. (2004). 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