Safety is all about the recognition and prevention of harmful environment or situation. It is applicable in various area ranging from Personal Safety, Home Safety, Industrial Safety, etc. Often times the word “Safety” is used with “Health“; this is why you mostly see and hear Health and Safety as they go together.
The primary objective of Health and Safety is to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths, as well as the suffering and financial hardship these events can cause for workers, their families, and employers.
What is Safety?
This could mean one or more of the following:
- It could mean a state of being safe; freedom from risk of injury, danger, or loss.
- The state after being able to avert, eliminate or replace a probable cause of injury, danger, or loss.
- It could be said to be a concept that includes all measures and practices taken to prevent accident, preserve the life, health, and bodily integrity of individuals.
- It can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk.
- It can also be seen as an outcome of doing many things (Safe actions), or not doing some things (Unsafe actions); it is not a an explicit process.
This is why we talk about it in different areas, like:
- Fire Safety
- Home
- Road
- Industry
- Child
- Hospital
- Patient
- Electrical
- Behaviour, etc.
Basic Safety Rules
- Report all workplace injuries and illnesses immediately
- Avoid unsafe acts
- Report all Unsafe Conditions to your Supervisor
- Use only safe equipment to work
- Use the right tool for the right job
- Do not play with work equipment
- Use equipment when qualified
- Use safe work clothing. Avoid using loose clothing, bangles, rings, etc, when working with a rotating wheel.
- Make sure you off your engine (Generator or car) before refueling them.
- Ensure that you have a workable fire extinguishers in your home and train occupants on how to use them.
- Clean up every spill immediately; Remember – A spill, a slip, a hospital trip.
- Eat safe food – Do not eat indiscriminately; eat balanced diet.
- Avoid excessive alcohol consumption
- Get good sleep
- Never push yourself beyond your limit
- Adopt safe manual lifting technique
- Use your personal protective equipment (PPE) where necessary.
- Arcing kills – Work only in a safe clearance from a high tension line
- Assume that all power lines are energized until ascertained otherwise by a competent person.
Read full article to see other safety rules you must never ignore.
Variations Of Safety
Aside from the English meaning of the word, it often times do not stand alone. In the Occupational Health and Safety professions is used together with other parameters in an acronym; anywhere you see letter “S”, it represents Safety. Where the letter “S” is double, the second “S” represents security.
Here are some acronyms and their meaning:
- HSE – Health, Safety and Environment
- OHS – Occupational health and Safety
- EHS – Environmental Health and Safety
- SHE – Safety, Health and Environment
- QHSE – Quality, Health, Safety and Environment
- HSEQ – Health, Safety, Environment and Quality
- HSSE – Health, Safety, Security and Environment
- HSSEQ – health, Safety, Security, Environment and Quality
- QHSSE, etc. – Quality, Health, Safety, Security and Environment.
In the OHS professions, the acronym could also represent a designation of a person who is saddled with the responsibility of implementing and enforcing it.
You can get more insight in these article:
What Is Health, Safety and Environment (HSE)
Environmental Health And Safety: What Is It And Why Does It Matter?
OHS Meaning – What is Occupational Health And Safety (OHS)?
Enforcing Safety is a law and it is within the field of public health that studies trends in illnesses and injuries in the worker population and proposes and implements strategies and regulations to prevent them. Its scope is broad, encompassing a wide variety of disciplines, from toxicology and epidemiology to ergonomics and violence prevention. This is why we have specialties within the profession, like occupational hygienist, environmental protection officer, Emergency Responders, Fire warden, etc.
In conclusion, I will say that Safety could be an act or a state (state of mind or state of environment).