As a Health and Safety professional, you must familiarize yourself with the numerous Health and Safety abbreviations 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:
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 authorises 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:
1 – HSE – Health Safety Environment
2 – ANST – American National Standard Institute
3 – NFPA – National Fire Protection Association
4 – OSHA – Occupational Safety and Health Administration
5 – IOSH – Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
6 – NEBOSH – National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health
7 – ISO – International Standard Organization
8 – PM – Particulate Matter
9 – AIES – All Institute of Engineering and Safety
10 – AISE – Advance Institute of Safety Engineering
11 – OSHAS – Occupational Safety and Health Assessment Series
12 – OH & SMS – Occupational Health and Safety Management System
13 – CFR – Code of Federal Regulation
14 – APR – Air Purifying Respirator
15 – ASR – Air Supplying Respirator
16 – SCBA – Self Contained Breathing Apparatus
17 – SCUBA – Self Contained Under Water Breathing the Apparatus
18 – PFAS – Personal Fall Arrest System
19 – DCP – Dry Chemical Powder
20 – CO2 – Carbon Dioxide
21 – LPG – Liquid Petroleum Gas
22 – LNG – Liquidfied Natural Gas
23 – FFE – Fire Fighting Equipment
24 – WSC – World Safety Council
25 – FEE – Fire Extinguisher Equipment
26 – CNG – Compressed Natural Gas
27 – AFFF – Aqueous Film Forming Foam
28 – GFCI – Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter
29 – CS – Confined Space
30 – ELCB – Earth Licase Circuit Breaker
31 – MCB – Minimise Circuit Breaker
32 – NSC – National Safety Council
33 – NACO – National AIDS Control Organization
34 – SOP – Safe Operating Procedure
35 – HAZCOM – Hazardous Communication
36 – RPE – Respiratory Protective Equipment
37 – FSC – Fire Safety Co-ordination
38 – H2S – Hydrogen Sulphide
39 – SO2 – Sulphur Dioxide
40 – IDLH – Immediately Danger to Life and Health
41 – STEL – Short Term Exposure Limit
42 – LEL – Lower Exposure Limit
43 – UEL – Upper Exposure Limit
44 – OEL – Occupational Exposure Limit
45 – HAZWOPER – Hazardous Waste Operability and Emergency Recovery
46 – PPM – Part Per Million
47 – TLV – Threshold Limit Value
48 – SWP – Safety Work Permit
49 – ECO – Echo Control Officer
50 – WDO – Waste Disposal Officer
51 – HWP – Hot Work Permit
52 – CWP – Cold Work Permit
53 – VEWP – Vehicle Entry Work Permit
54 – EIWP – Electrical Isolation Work Permit
55 – BP – Blanket Permit
56 – EMS – Emergency Management System
57 – EP – Excavation Permit
58 – LWP – Lifting Work Permit
59 – SWP – Safety Working Process
60 – EHO – Environment Health Officer
61 – FPS – Fall protection System
62 – FPR – Fall Protection Required
63 – WRS – Wire Rope Sling
64 – SWS – Synthetic Web Sling
65 – SLC – Sling Load Capacity
66 – SLI – Safe Load Indicator
67 – HIRA – Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment
68 – JSA – Job Safety Analysis
69 – JHA – Job Hazard Analysis
70 – JRA – Job Risk Analysis
71 – WPA – Work Permit Authorization
72 – WPC – Work Permit Control
73 – GK – Gas Kit
74 – GM – Gas Monitor
75 – PH – Potential Hazard
76 – TPI – Third Party Inspection
77 – ACB – Air Circuit Breaker
78 – ZAP – Zero Accident Performance
79 – WMITAB – Waste Management Industry Training Advisory Board
80 – MSDS – Material Safety Data Sheet
81 – AEP – Authorized Electrical Person
82 – STP – Sewage Treatment Plant
83 – WPA – Work Permit Application
84 – NBC – National Building Code
85 – PRC – Preparation Reinstatement Certificate
86 – BLEVE – Boiling Liquid Expending Vapour Explosion
87 – COSHH – Control of Substance Hazardous to Health
88 – LMRA – Last Minute Risk Assessment
89 – CAZ – Control Access Zone
90 – WPV – Work Permit Validity
91 – EWO – Engineering Work Order
92 – PPD – Partial Permanent Disability
93 – LOAC – Limitation of Excess Certificate
94 – ERP – Emergency Rescue Plan
95 – TBT – Tool Box Talk
96 – ABC – Airways Breathing Circulation
97 – AED – Automated External Defibrillator
98 – MOC – Mode of Change
99 – AGT – Authorized Gas Tester
100 – LTA – Lost Time Accident
101 – UA – Unsafe Act
102 – UC – Unsafe Condition
103 – IGC – International General Certification
104 – SSP – Site Safety Plan
105 – STA – Safety Task Assignment
106 – TSTI – Total Safety Task Instruction
Above are some of the common Health and Safety abbreviations and their meaning with brief explanation for some.
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