The benefits of occupational health and safety standards

• From Introduction: In this chapter, occupational health and safety is approached from the viewpoints of both Human Factors and Ergonomics and standardization, including management systems standards. The field of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is summarily characterized, and a historical perspective of its evolution is given, in relationship to Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE). While several components of what makes the field of OHS up today pre-existed as specialized fields before, the foundation of the discipline of HFE (following World War II)—and some of the genesis of HFE, OHS, and HFE—have developed as two distinct, although somewhat overlapping, areas of ac-tivity. Links and commonalities can be found today between the two. Environmental conditions (such as noise, climate, or lighting) are an example of an area that is dealt with within the discipline of HFE and is also a central concern of OHS. While inadequate postures and movements at work and psychosocial factors impinge on OHS, HFE is equipped with knowledge and methods to perform the design of work and to deal with these work design factors. Regarding legislation, regulations, and standardization, OHS has gained a head start compared to HFE (the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 in the U.S.A., the ILO R164 recommendation of 1981 at an in-ternational level, and the directive 89/391 on safety and health at work of 1989 in the EU), which supports the inclusion of this discussion on OHS standards within the realm of HFE standards, given the intersecting interests of the two disciplines. Regarding economic considerations, some HFE interventions have been the object of cost-benefit analyses reported in the literature. In what concerns OHS, the literature has focused on the cost of occupational accidents, injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Estimates of costs and benefits of complying with (or adopting) OHS standards are also available in the form of literature dealing with the mandatory U.S. OSHA standards.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Arbetsterapi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Occupational Therapy (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kap (subject category)