Hazard Identification
Identifying hazards is essential in any workplace and for your own personal safety. Learning how to methodically analyze hazards is difficult, as we all have differing levels of experience and our own blind spots about potential threats.
Watch the video under Resources related to identifying hazards. In your workplace, home, or public environment, sit for 10 minutes, and thoroughly analyze the hazards you identify.
For this DB, describe the environment you are analyzing, and then provide at least 3 hazards for each category: physical, chemical, biological, and other. Finally, prioritize the hazards from most to least dangerous, and then provide an overall description of why they are ranked this way. Remember, a hazard may not be dangerous if it is contained and you do not come into contact with it; however, if the hazard is improperly managed, it could become a major problem and hurt people.
In your replies to colleagues, think through your connection to the described environment. Are there other hazards or issues that can cause a dangerous situation to develop? Or did you learn something that can be applied to your situation?
The goal here is to extend the conversation, not to restate previous opinions. A professional thoroughly details an issue and tells you more than you asked; put effort into safety, and your workers will be safer. Do not put in the effort, and you and your workers’ safety is in jeopardy.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND THE START OF OSHA
Welcome to Environmental Health and Safety! Throughout this course, we will cover the many ways that workers, employers, and safety organizations attempt to encourage workplace health and safety in the face of the diverse challenges (physical, psychological, and criminal) found in the broad range of modern worksites. You will begin by exploring the historical development of modern concepts of environmental health and safety. You will particularly focus on the Industrial Revolution and the Organized Labor movement in the U.S., two of the main factors that energized the relatively recent changes in the types of threats to, and amount of concern for, worker safety. Throughout this week, you will also learn how well-publicized environmental disasters have shaped public opinion and laws in this area, and continue to do so. Our next focus for this unit will be an overview of the many organizations that have sprung up to monitor and regulate worker health and safety in this country. In particular, we will focus on OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and on OSHA-associated regulations. Let’s get started.Objectives:
- Explain how the environmental health and safety movement in the U.S. grew and changed due to the Industrial Revolution and formation of labor unions
- Illustrate how public responses to specific environmental disasters led to new laws, safety standards, and safety organizations
- Describe the major components of the mission of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Summarize the most important aspects of the OSH Act, OSHA Standards, and liabilities
Activities:
- Introduce yourself through the Introduction discussion forum
- Read, view/review Unit Readings & Resources
- Actively participate in Unit Discussions
- Submit the Unit 1 Quiz (by Thursday)
INTRODUCTIONS
“Environmental Health and Safety” may mean very different things to different people. What does it mean to you? Please introduce yourself, and share with the class what made you decide to take a course on Environmental Health and Safety.
READINGS AND RESOURCES
Textbook - Chapter 1, Environmental Health and Safety Movement: An Overview
- Chapter 5, The OSHA Act, Standards, and Liability
Lecture Notes Environmental Safety Movement and OSHA 
Watch VideoThe Story of OSHA
(28:05) User: PublicResourceOrg – Added: 8/28/08YouTube URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1N48Z5HerALike you stepped into the 1970s. Here is a video made by the government that discusses the creation of OSHA and what spurred the movement of worker protection. In particular, pay attention to how labor unions fought to make the workplace a safer place. It is a tad long, but interesting and covers the important topics in the establishment of OSHA. 
Watch VideoRana Plaza Collapse Documentary: The Deadly Cost of Fashion | Op-Docs | The New York Times
(5:07) User: n/a – Added:4/15/14YouTube URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fkhzdc4ybwIn the U.S., we have fought for and gained amazing rights within the workplace. However, many places around the globe are not yet at this level of worker protection. Have we transferred (or outsourced) our bad workplace conditions to third world nations in order to have affordable stuff? In this short documentary of the deadly collapse of the 2013 Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh, a photojournalist draws connections to New York from clothing labels he found in the rubble. “The building’s owner was subsequently accused of ignoring signs the building was unsafe as well as illegally adding extra floors to the structure.” From Harry Bradford, The Huffington Post, 13 Of The Most Deadly Workplace Disasters In History. TED talk. Mike Rowe: Learning From Dirty Jobs. 12/2008 (19:51)http://www.ted.com/ talks/mike_rowe_celebrates_ dirty_jobs?language=enThis is a course on learning to be conscious of health and safety no matter what field you may be in. Two important take aways are that your health and safety is your responsibility, no matter what laws might be there to help, and that the standard way of doing things may not be the best, so question respectfully. For the latter, this course focuses on health and safety standards, but it is a good general rule. Here, Mike Rowe from the Discovery series “Dirty Jobs’ tells a captivating story of how he came to similar revelations and the importance of a good day’s work. 
Watch VideoDecember 3, 1984: Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India – www.NBCUniversalArchives.com
(3:07) User: n/a – Added:12/1/14YouTube URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMHmy-95MrIHere is another video of a workplace disaster that occurred overseas. Can you imagine this happening here? On the night of December 2, 1984, a leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India caused toxic chemicals to vaporize and spread to the towns surrounding the chemical plant. The gas that escaped affected more than 550,000 people. HAZARD AND RISK IDENTIFICATION
Watch VideoHazard, Risk & Safety – Understanding Risk Assessment, Management and Perception
(5:31) User: GreenFacts.org – Added: 11/24/14YouTube URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZmNZi8bon8 In learning to identify hazards and risks, we need to know what these terms mean. This video describes these concepts well and also how our idea of risk plays into our response or worry. 
Watch VideoFinding Hazards in the Workplace
(1:29) User: n/a – Added:12/22/15YouTube URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6_6N0m9H1IThis video will help you begin to identigy hazards around you.
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Solution Preview
Hazard Identification
Hazard identification is the process in which a given situation, thing or item is evaluated to determine what harm it can cause within a workplace or to individuals. Hazard identification is essential in any workplace as it guarantees the safety of the people and reduces the chances of disruption that may affect various processes within an organization. Hazard identification is not an easy process and often depends on the experience of the people who are conducting the assessment or evaluation. The term is also used to refer to the various processes that are employed in risk assessment. These processes include hazard identification, evaluation of the risk, and determining the various strategies that can be implemented to eliminate the hazard within a given workplace.
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