Identifying workers’ exposure to health hazards is typically more complex than just identifying safety hazards.

Physical Agents Recognition

Identifying workers’ exposure to health hazards is typically more complex than just identifying safety hazards. In Week 3, we identified chemical hazards found in the chemical products used in the workplacesuch solvents, adhesives, paints, toxic dusts, etc. Week 4 will be dedicated to physical hazards such as noise, radiation, heat, etc., and ergonomic risk factors like heavy lifting, repetitive motions, vibration.

Physical hazards are hazards that can cause harm without the worker coming into direct contact with the hazard. Issues such as high noise levels, extreme temperatures, or radiation fall into this category.  If your workplace is considered “administrative” in nature (i.e. office or retail), then an ergonomic evaluation may be appropriate.

Part A (30 pts):  Students will need to collect information for one physical hazard presented at their workplace.  You will need to provide the following information as a minimum:

•             Category of hazard (noise, thermal stress, radiation, ergonomic, etc)

•             Enter the name of the source presenting the risk in the workplace.  Use specific terms such as “Black and Decker 3/8” drill or AN/TPS-43 Ground Radar”

•             Applicable OSHA regulatory standard

•             Description of work process where the exposure occurs – include a physical description of the physical location (indoors vs outdoors), number of minutes (hours) that the exposure occurs.

•             Existing engineering, administrative or personal protective equipment controls

•             Identify any quantitative measurements taken if applicable.

Part B (50 pts):  Using the UMUC Library, search for relevant and scholarly articles that address health effects of the physical hazard you have identified.  

If you need help using the UMUC Library database, go to http://www.umuc.edu/library/ and click on the Ask a Librarian link, or use our library’s tutorial on obtaining research materials: http://sites.umuc.edu/library/libhow/research_tutorial.cfm

If you are unsure about how tell if an article is scholarly, please review the following information: http://sites.umuc.edu/library/libhow/articles.cfm

Prepare a short essay detailing the following information:

1.            Using a relevant and scholarly article, prepare a concise two- to three-paragraph summary describing the potential physical effectson the human body with supportive detail. (50 points)

2.            Using a relevant and scholarly article,research the controls that are considered “best practices” for their, or a related, industry.  Prepare a one-paragraph discussion of how the information presented in your article relates to observable practices beingused in your workplace. Were the best practice principles being used? What additional recommendations would you make at this point? (30 points).

3.            Clear, concise paragraphs, with transitions between paragraphs and no grammatical or spelling errors (10 points)

4.            Appropriate APA in-text citations and reference list (10 points)