Administrative Controls  Breaks or Changes in Activity Impacts of Behaviour in Occupational Hygiene

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18.8 Administrative Controls  Breaks or Changes in Activity

The daily work routine of users should be broken up by changes in task or by breaks. In most tasks, natural breaks or pauses occur as a consequence of the inherent organisation of the work. Whenever possible, jobs at display screens should be designed to consist of a mix of screen-based and non screen-based work to prevent fatigue and to vary visual and mental demands. Breaks should be short and frequent, rather than occasional and longer, e.g. a 5 minute break every hour. Several researchers also advocate the adoption of a „micro-pause‟ technique, that is, short breaks of 10 – 20 seconds taken every 5 – 10 minutes - this time can be used to quickly stretch and to look into the distance.  Eye and eyesight Testing In some countries DSE users, or employees who are about to become users, can ask their employer to provide and pay for an eye and eyesight test. This test needs to be performed by a doctor or an optometrist.  Information and Training Users can do a great deal to adapt their own workstations to their needs once they are aware of the risks and trained in ways to prevent them. 180 19 BEHAVIOUR AND CULTURE

19.1 Impacts of Behaviour in Occupational Hygiene

Worker behaviour has an important influence on exposure to hazardous agents in the workplace. For example, contact with hazardous materials can occur by:  using contaminated tools e.g. a paint brush with a contaminated handle or by spreading out a chemical paste with the hands;  using soiled personal protective equipment PPE, leading to transfer of contaminant when donning or removing the equipment;  poor housekeeping, working untidily or not cleaning up after work.  failing to use PPE properly when needed, e.g. taking it off halfway through the task, or wearing it ineffectively;  unhygienic behaviour such as failing to remove protective clothing and wash hands before a meal break. These kinds of examples are quite common in occupational hygiene. A “dirty work er” is often encountered who has a much higher level of exposure despite working in what appears to be the same conditions as other workers. Other examples of behavioural issues might include:  failing to switch on a ventilation system, or to position a mobile hood correctly;  handling a material vigorously instead of carefully, generating more airborne vapour or dust;  standing downwind of an exposure source rather than on the opposite side. The impact of behaviour on exposure can be minimised firstly by providing good engineering controls and secondly by having good operating procedures in which workers have been well trained. However, poor behaviour can still lead to elevated exposures on occasions. A useful analogy can be drawn with accident prevention. The Swiss Cheese model see Reason J., Managing the Risks of Organisational Accidents, 1997, Ashgate suggests that there are 181 multiple, but imperfect, layers of defence against accidents, as shown below. Accidents occur when failures occur simultaneously in all the defensive barriers. Hazard Accident Engineering Systems Behaviour Hazard Accident Engineering Engineering Systems Behaviour Behaviour Figure 19.1 - Swiss Cheese model of accident prevention Putting this into hygiene terms, we might have:  an extraction system that is not operating at full capacity because of lack of maintenance;  a non-standard task that isnt fully covered by the normal safe working procedure; and  a worker who is inclined not to wear his PPE. Any one or two of these measures might be sufficient to control exposure, but if all fail at once, over-exposure is likely.

19.2 Motivation and Behaviour Modification