Document bBL6Oq6YnpLrn9LwLvKNaroBZ

FILE NAME: Oil Industry and American Petroleum Institute (API) DATE: 1950 DOC#: API064 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Book Excerpt - Industrial Accident Prevention I Industrial Accident Prevention A Scientific Approach BY H. W. HEINEICH Assistant Superintendent, Engineering and Loss Control Division The Travelers Insurance Company T hird E dition n. McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, Inc. NEW YORK,TORONTO, AND LONDON 1950 <5 SAFE AND EFFICIENT PRODUCTION G0238o de regarding illumination industry: .'xpensive cause of defective ecognized and in most cases usually not only practically about 40 per cent of our e to ocular defects, v unhygienic lighting condi: ocular deficiencies already )us situations by producing :iing to give adequate 'am id it. 'ance to fatigue and disturb which are essential to safe oth central and peripheral, iltisions, etc., handicap the CHAPTER 12 OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE In the prevention of occupational diseases there is the same need for (1) a degree of interest on the part of executive; and workers sufficient to initiate and maintain preventive and control methods, (2) the determination of necessary facts, and (31 cor rective action based on the facts, as in the case of traumatic injury prevention. This is to say that the foundation and the five steps in the ladder of accident prevention apply without change to occupational disease. The relative importance of man failure as compared to mechanical and physical causes has not been established so definitely in the causation of occupational disease as in the occurrence of accidents that result in traumatic injury. Also there is considerable difference in types of accident and injury, unsafe agencies, and kinds of protective devices. In short, there is variation in detail and technique but none in prin ciple or method. ` Recognition of Hazards. The relation of a traumatic injury to the accident that causes it is obvious inasmuch as the interval of time between the accident and the injury is short. Occupa tional disease, on the other hand, does not so frequently follow immediately the exposure that is its cause. For these reasons much emphasis is placed upon the necessity for cooperation be tween physicians and engineers when occupational-disease prob lems arise. For the same reasons there is great need also for the recognition of specific materials, processes, equipment, and per sonal performance, one or all of which may bear materially on the incidence of occupational disease. The problem is further complicated by such factors as the susceptibility of the individual and his physical resistance or immunity, lack of complete knowledge relating to the results of exposure to certain substances, slow development of disease in some cases, and nonstandardization of methods for determining the degree of hazard, the threshold danger limits, and often too 305 00233J ION. , addition, there is con311 and legal point of ion of an occupational mphasize rather than approach to the prob- Typical indu5trial operations or uses jAcid manufacturing, chemical I processing, etc. ^Tunneling 'Caustic manufacturing. lime bumina. cement making, etc. Insecticide manufacture, etc. Ashostos mining and milling, manufacture of asbestos products, etc. Care and handling of animals Handling of hides, wool, hair, or Kristies Manufacture and use of sol vents Hayon industry, rubber, insec ticides Garages, water-gas manufac turing, etc. Electroplating, paint manufac turing. tanning Plastic ond disinfectant manu facturing Metal degreasing, dry clean ing, refrigerants, fiameproofing a Rayon industry, metallurgy, ewers handling and use of lead com^DS>unds, storage-battery ami ' t manufacturing, mining smelting of lead acture of glass, illuraina- .lanufacture of alloy steels, in glass industry lanufacture of felt hats, thermometers, germicides, etc. .ntifreeze solutions, varnish making, solvents ntiknock in motor fuel, pro duction of metallic nickel anufacture of nitrates, weld* nc, handling nitric acid Iveats. dry cleaners, paints nnd varnishes, fuels, lubri cants anufacture and use of disin fectants and preservatives anufacture of phosphorus and phosphoric acid otine. roadmaking, water proofing adium-<lial painting, radio isotopes, cyclotrons, beta trons, etc. ranne quarrying, foundries, ore milling, sandblasting, grinding, rock drilling nc smelting, brass foundries OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE 307 Industry is making amazing progress in the development of new products and new methods. These create new exposures and require new methods of control. Progress is so rapid that at any given time no list of diseases caused by or incidental to industrial occupations or processes can be considered complete. For many reasons, therefore, the foregoing table can be consid ered only as illustrative of the general problem. Creating and Maintaining Interest. The methods of creating and maintaining interest described in Chap. 3, Section 3, are as fully applicable to the prevention of occupational disease as to the prevention of traumatic injury resulting from accidents. Facts and Fact Finding. Fact finding in the case of occupa tional-disease prevention is carried on basically in the same way as for traumatic injury. Occupational disease can occur only as the result of the exposure of a person to a mechanical or physical hazard or because of an unsafe personal act. These are the direct and proximate causes of occupational diseases. Other important and useful facts are as follows: The agency, meaning the particular gas, dust, liquid, solid, or other object, material, substance, radiation, etc., that em bodies the hazard. The subcause or reason for the unsafe act, meaning the motive or circumstance that prompted the person committing the unsafe act to expose himself or others to danger. Necessary identification, meaning the particular process or operation involved, the time, place, nature and extent of injury, etc. It is significant that the exact degree of hazard in addition to its identification is in a broad sense considerably more important in occupational-disease prevention than is the case with regard to other industrial hazards. The instruments for determining the degree of contamination in the air are numerous. In the case of dust, such as silica, granite or asbestos, state and Federal codes or other enforcement legisla tion specify the method of the U.S. Public Health Service. The impinger used in this method is designed to draw the air sample through distilled water and impinge it at high velocity against a submerged glass deflecting plate. The movement of the dust