As a Health and Safety professional, you must familiarize yourself with the numerous Health and Safety abbreviations and their meanings which you may come across in practice.
We will be highlighting some Health and Safety abbreviations and their meanings with brief explanations where necessary.
At the end of this article, you will get to understand some Health and Safety abbreviations that you may not have known.
NOTE: Some of the abbreviations organization specific.
Let us start:
Health And Safety Abbreviations And Their Meanings
HEMP – Hazard and Effect management process
The Hazards and Effects Management Process (HEMP) is developed to identify the HSE hazards and assess the hazards for adequate management.
LTI – Lost Time Injury
Lost Time Injury (LTI) is an injury sustained by an employee that will ultimately lead to the loss of productive work time in the form of worker delays or absenteeism. i.e: The worker not returning to work within 24hours.
FAT – Fatality
A fatality is the death of human caused by an accident, or is the quality of the disaster being able to cause the death of a human.
HSE-MS – Health and Safety Management System
The HSE-MS is a management tool to achieve the Company’s commitment to conduct its business in a way that protects the health and safety of its employees, contractors and the public and is environmentally responsible.
SWL – Safe Working Load
Safe Working Load (SWL) sometimes stated as the Normal Working Load (NWL) is the maximum safe force that a piece of lifting equipment, lifting device or accessory can exert to lift, suspend, or lower, a given mass without fear of breaking.
AFI – Area for Improvement
ALARP – As Low as Reasonable practicable
ALARA – As Low as Reasonable Achievable
RR – Risk Reduction
RTA – Road Traffic Accident
A Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is when a road vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal or geographical or architectural obstacle.
LTIFR – Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate
It is the number of lost time injuries occurring in a workplace per 1 million man-hours worked.
LOTO – Log Out Tag Out
Lockout-tagout (LOTO) or lock and tag is a safety procedure which is used in industry and research settings to ensure that dangerous machines are properly shut off and not able to be started up again prior to the completion of maintenance or servicing work.
FAC – First Aid Case
This is a kind of injury which could allow the worker to get back to work within 24 hours after being injured.
PTW – Permit to Work
The permit-to-work is a documented procedure that authorizes certain people to carry out specific work within a specified time frame. It sets out the precautions required to complete the work safely, based on a risk assessment. It describes what work will be done and how it will be done.
CPR – Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure that combines chest compressions often with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function and other essential organs until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest.
HAZID – Hazard Identification
It is a qualitative technique for the early identification of potential hazards and threats effecting people, the environment, assets or reputation.
HAZOP – Hazard Operability
It is a structured and systematic examination of a complex planned or existing process or operation in order to identify and evaluate problems that may represent risks to personnel or equipment.
SSoW – Safe System of Work
A formal procedure which results from systematic examination of a task in order to identify all the hazards. It defines safe methods to ensure that hazards are eliminated or risks minimised.
PPE – Personal Protective Equipment
PPE is equipment that will protect the user against health or safety risks at work. It can include items such as safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear and safety harnesses. It also includes respiratory protective equipment (RPE).
RIDDOR – Reporting of Injuries, Disease and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, often known by the acronym RIDDOR, is a 2013 Statutory Instrument of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It regulates the statutory obligation to report deaths, injuries, diseases and “dangerous occurrences”, including near misses, that take place at work or in connection with work.
PEL – Permissible Exposure Limit
The permissible exposure limit (PEL or OSHA PEL) is a legal limit for exposure of an employee to a chemical substance or physical agent such as loud noise. Permissible exposure limits are established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
TWA – Time Weighted Average
A time-weighted average is used to calculate a workers daily exposure to a hazardous substance (such as chemicals, dusts, fumes, mists, gases, or vapors) or agent (such as occupational noise), averaged to an 8-hour workday, taking into account the average levels of the substance or agent and the time spent in the area.
OTHERS INCLUDES:
- HSE – Health Safety Environment
- ANST – American National Standard Institute
- NFPA – National Fire Protection Association
- OSHA – Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- IOSH – Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
- NEBOSH – National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health
- ISO – International Standard Organization
- PM – Particulate Matter
- AIES – All Institute of Engineering and Safety
- AISE – Advance Institute of Safety Engineering
- OSHAS – Occupational Safety and Health Assessment Series
- OH & SMS – Occupational Health and Safety Management System
- CFR – Code of Federal Regulation
- APR – Air Purifying Respirator
- ASR – Air Supplying Respirator
- SCBA – Self Contained Breathing Apparatus
- SCUBA – Self Contained Under Water Breathing the Apparatus
- PFAS – Personal Fall Arrest System
- DCP – Dry Chemical Powder
- CO2 – Carbon Dioxide
- LPG – Liquid Petroleum Gas
- LNG – Liquidfied Natural Gas
- FFE – Fire Fighting Equipment
- WSC – World Safety Council
- FEE – Fire Extinguisher Equipment
- CNG – Compressed Natural Gas
- AFFF – Aqueous Film Forming Foam
- GFCI – Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter
- CS – Confined Space
- ELCB – Earth Licase Circuit Breaker
- MCB – Minimise Circuit Breaker
- NSC – National Safety Council
- NACO – National AIDS Control Organization
- SOP – Safe Operating Procedure
- HAZCOM – Hazardous Communication
- RPE – Respiratory Protective Equipment
- FSC – Fire Safety Co-ordination
- H2S – Hydrogen Sulphide
- SO2 – Sulphur Dioxide
- IDLH – Immediately Danger to Life and Health
- STEL – Short Term Exposure Limit
- LEL – Lower Exposure Limit
- UEL – Upper Exposure Limit
- OEL – Occupational Exposure Limit
- HAZWOPER – Hazardous Waste Operability and Emergency Recovery
- PPM – Part Per Million
- TLV – Threshold Limit Value
- SWP – Safety Work Permit
- ECO – Echo Control Officer
- WDO – Waste Disposal Officer
- HWP – Hot Work Permit
- CWP – Cold Work Permit
- VEWP – Vehicle Entry Work Permit
- EIWP – Electrical Isolation Work Permit
- BP – Blanket Permit
- EMS – Emergency Management System
- EP – Excavation Permit
- LWP – Lifting Work Permit
- SWP – Safety Working Process
- EHO – Environment Health Officer
- FPS – Fall protection System
- FPR – Fall Protection Required
- WRS – Wire Rope Sling
- SWS – Synthetic Web Sling
- SLC – Sling Load Capacity
- SLI – Safe Load Indicator
- HIRA – Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment
- JSA – Job Safety Analysis
- JHA – Job Hazard Analysis
- JRA – Job Risk Analysis
- WPA – Work Permit Authorization
- WPC – Work Permit Control
- GK – Gas Kit
- GM – Gas Monitor
- PH – Potential Hazard
- TPI – Third Party Inspection
- ACB – Air Circuit Breaker
- ZAP – Zero Accident Performance
- WMITAB – Waste Management Industry Training Advisory Board
- MSDS – Material Safety Data Sheet
- AEP – Authorized Electrical Person
- STP – Sewage Treatment Plant
- WPA – Work Permit Application
- NBC – National Building Code
- PRC – Preparation Reinstatement Certificate
- BLEVE – Boiling Liquid Expending Vapour Explosion
- COSHH – Control of Substance Hazardous to Health
- LMRA – Last Minute Risk Assessment
- CAZ – Control Access Zone
- WPV – Work Permit Validity
- EWO – Engineering Work Order
- PPD – Partial Permanent Disability
- LOAC – Limitation of Excess Certificate
- ERP – Emergency Rescue Plan
- TBT – Tool Box Talk
- ABC – Airways Breathing Circulation
- AED – Automated External Defibrillator
- MOC – Mode of Change
- AGT – Authorized Gas Tester
- LTA – Lost Time Accident
- UA – Unsafe Act
- UC – Unsafe Condition
- IGC – International General Certification
- SSP – Site Safety Plan
- STA – Safety Task Assignment
- TSTI – Total Safety Task Instruction
Above are some of the common Health and Safety abbreviations and their meaning with brief explanation for some, you can see more here.
Do you have what to add to this?
Use the comment box to do so.
Thank you.
Related Posts
What Is Health and Safety Policy Statement; Steps to Prepare it & Sample
How Often Should Health And Safety Policy Be Reviewed?
How to Understand OSH (Occupational Safety & Health)
What is HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment and Quality)
What Is HSE (Health, Safety and Environment)
What KPI stands for in Health and Safety (HSE)