POHS Information Sheet

Information Sheet 1.1

Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment, and Risk Control

Occupational Safety and Health (OHS) is a working systematized plan in order to prevent illness and injury in your workplace by recognizing and identifying hazards and risks. Health and safety procedure is the responsibility of all persons in any field of expertise and industry. You must identify the hazards in the work area and determine how dangerous they are. Eliminate the hazard or modify the risk that it shows. This Module is intended to give you some guidelines and advice on common areas of health and safety problems in the computer industry and to help you gain a general knowledge and awareness of your responsibilities as user and technician in a safe environment.

Three Steps in Managing Health and Safety:

1. Spot the Hazard (Hazard Identification)
2. Assess the Risk (Risk Assessment)
3. Make the Changes (Risk Control) 

SPOT THE HAZARD

Hazard is something that has the potential of harming someone or adverse health in the work area.

Examples of workplace hazards:

• A knife in a work area could accidentally cut someone's body parts.
• Someone may slip on a wet floor and can cause fractures.
• Frayed electrical cord could result in electrical shock.

During work experience, you must remain alert to anything that may be dangerous. If yousee, hear or smell anything odd, take note. If you think it could be a hazard, tell someone.

ASSESS THE RISK

 

Assessing the risk is like investigating it if how bad is the impact on someone in the workplace. Assessing the risk includes investigation, taking notes, and informing the right personnel.

Questions that may help in assessing risk:

• How likely is it that the hazard could harm you or someone in the workplace?
• How badly could it hurt someone in the workplace?

For example:

• Ask the right personnel on how to operate and equipment or machine.
• Ask someone to lift heavy objects that is not possible for a single individual to carry.
• Inform the right personnel or your immediate supervisor regarding a risky work practice. 

If you are not sure of the safest way to do something during work experience, always ask
someone who is more experienced and knowledgeable about the work experience or your immediate supervisor.

MAKE CHANGES

It is your employer's responsibility to fix hazards. Sometimes you may be able to fix simple hazards yourself, as long as you don't put yourself or others at risk. For example, you can pick up things from the floor and put them away to eliminate a trip hazard.

Physical Hazards

One of the most common physical hazards involving computer technicians is cables running across the floor. If someone trips, falls, and hurts himself because of a cable you ran across the floor, someone (you, your employer, or your customer) has a serious legal negligence problem.

If you need to temporarily run a cable across the floor, place a Danger sign similar to those "wet floor" signs used by cleaning services.

For cables that are temporary but will need to run across the floor for a longer period of time, use "gaffers tape". Gaffers tape is a heavy tape with strong adhesive to stick to the floor. It comes in a wide range of colors, from unintrusive matte black to hazard warning red. Although it has strong adhesive, it can be removed easily and cleanly.

For long term cable routing there is a wide variety of cable organizing devices like cable ties, cable wraps, and cable raceways which can be used to run cable safely along the wall or ceiling.

Other common physical hazards include leaving tools on top of ladders and placing electronic equipment in precarious positions or on support that is not sturdy enough or not designed for holding electronic equipment.

Mechanical Hazards

 

When working on electronic equipment, ask yourself "Is there any way this equipment could hurt me?. You might stick your hand in a printer and suddenly the paper feed arm moves, feeding not only paper through the printer, but a piece of your finger too.

You might move your hand past a computer chassis and lose a chunk of flesh because it is razor sharp. When working on electronic equipment always be alert to any possibility of being hurt by moving parts, hot components, or sharp edges.

Chemical Hazards

There is a wide array of chemicals used with electronic equipment. There are display cleaning chemicals, keyboard cleaning chemicals, compressed gas dirt and dust removers, and many cleaning solvents. Some of these chemicals can be harmful if accidentally swallowed, get on bare skin, or get in eyes. Before using any chemicals for electronic equipment always read the warnings and instructions on the label.

Also be very careful when dealing with inkjet printer cartridges, or laser printer toner cartridges. Ink and toner can stain skin, clothing, and carpet.

Electric Shock Hazard

Inside computers and electronic equipment, there is a range of voltages from 3.3 volts to 25 volts, most of these are harmless. But at the power supply, you'll find line voltage, which is a lethal 220 volts.

Most of the time while working inside computers and electronic equipment, you'll want them unplugged from the wall socket. If you need to work on equipment while it is still plugged in or powered up, remove all jewelry and wrist watches.

If you must work inside a line power distribution box, wear an electrician’s rubber insulated gloves and safety glasses. You might think you don't need these safety devices because you are going to be extra careful, but one little slip could cause a flaming explosion that could take off your hand, embed shrapnel in your eyes, or conduct electricity through your heart, where it takes only 10 milliamps (0.01) to kill a human.

CRT Monitor High-Voltage Hazard

CRT monitors are becoming less common nowadays, but should you run into one, it is best NOT to open it up. Instead, outsource any CRT repair job to a qualified CRT repair service. A CRT monitor has a high-voltage anode inside it, which can carry a charge of up to 25,000 volts, and it can still be holding a high charge days after the power is removed. If you must open a CRT monitor case for some reason, be sure to study the proper way to discharge a CRT before you proceed. It involves using a jumper wire and a flat blade screwdriver to shorten the anode to ground. After being discharged, even with no power connection, the anode voltage will actually build up again. So you have to repeatedly discharge it.