Going to work is an everyday thing. The large majority of adults go to work and spend a large portion of each day at work. At work, it’s Important to stay safe. As a young person that is joining the workforce, it’s important that I’m properly trained and know what I’m doing. That’s why in Maker I have been looking at workplace safety.
Surprisingly, a ton of injuries happen at work and even more injuries happen to those who are young or untrained. A surprising fact about about work injuries is that at least one young worker Is injured every hour. Another fact is that one of every twenty four men get an injury at work. These injuries can be caused by a number of hazards but most of these injury causing hazards can fall into one of four categories. First is ‘biological” this includes blood, waste and anything from the body these types of hazards cause infections or diseases. Next is “chemical” these are caused by acidic, caustic or cancerous substances. chemical hazards can cause burns, allergic reactions or long term illnesses. There are also MSI’s. MSI’s are things that can cause any type of physical injury so a lot of different things can be MSI’s. An often forgotten hazard is noise. If you work long shifts in loud environments you can easily get hearing damage or even hearing loss. Lastly, environmental hazards can pose a risk. Things that fall under environmental hazards include sunburns, extreme cold and extreme heat. All of these things can be fatal if not addressed safely so it’s important in any job to make sure you’re properly trained for your jobs risks and that the practices are safe.
In the last few weeks with this unit I learned a lot of information that will really come in handy when it comes to my long term wellbeing. Once I finish all my schooling I assume il be working so it makes sense to learn it now and prepare for my future. I think one of the most interesting things I learned is about noise hazards. If you are around 80-85 decibels of noise unprotected you can actually sustain bad hearing damage. It sounds like that’s a lot of noise but someone talking close to you can actually be that loud so it’s surprising how easy it is to injure your hearing.
My classmates and I learned all this from the actual worksafe BC forms and were all going to take the test soon to prove we know. As another way of showing my learning I also made a little picture that shows four of the five different hazards. Can you see them all? Comment below what you think they are!
