Occupational Safety and Health training curriculum:
Observing the rules and regulations governing Health and Occupational Safety is considered one of the basic duties of all employees, students and all other persons who enter the premises with the prior consent of the employer, and those who have already been trained. The knowledge of Health and Occupational Safety regulations forms an integral and permanent part of qualification requirements.
Basic Training Guidelines
- Legal Basis for Health and Occupational Safety
- Duties of the Employer
- Duties of the Employee
- Decree of the Czech Occupational Safety Office
- Safety of work with electrical equipment. Decree
- Accident at work, recording and registration
- Working condition of women and juveniles
- Security of work with computers
- First Aid – traumatological plan
- Emergency calls
- Laboratory rules
1. Legal Basis for Health and Occupational Safety
Documents for introductory and periodic training at securing Health and Occupational Safety (HOS):
- Constitution of the Czech Republic – Charter of Rights and Liberties
- Instruction of the European Community Council ”On taking measures to increase health and occupational safety of employees on thepremises”
- Civil Code
- Labour Code
- Decrees embedded in Codes of Law issued by the Czech Office of Occupational Safety
- Czech standards
2. Duties of the Employer
Everyone is obliged to proceed with caution so as not to cause damage to health, property, nature, and the environment.
Anyone breaking the law will be held responsible for any caused.
Duties arising from regular employment
When entering any profession, before starting any activity related to the work process, the employee must be acquainted with the premises´ labour laws and other regulations governing Health and Occupational Safety.
Basic knowledge of fundamental local conditions of the workplace, opening a record file on Health and Occupational Safety, the first record being made by the head of the department or workplace, then signed by the employee thus confirming validity and understanding of the training, as well as any other relevant explanations. The record is then handed over by the head to a member of staff in charge of safety.
The employer is obliged to provide safe and healthy work conditions in the area under his/her responsibility:
- search for, consider and assess hazards (risks) of a possible danger to workers´ health and safety, keep them informed, and take proper safety precautions;
- operate machines and equipment complying with Health and Occupational Safety regulations;
- introduce, maintain and improve protective devices and equipment;
- acquaint workers with the labour law and other regulations governing Health and Occupational Safety;
- prevent employees from doing activities that are beyond their abilities or health conditions;
- check the quality of state of health and safety regularly;
- immediately determine and do away with causes of accidents at work, and occupational diseases;
- check the quality of state of health and safety on the premises at least once a year.
- employer is obliged to provide the employees with the free use of indispensable personal protective aids and equipment.
- workers´ health must not be endangered by smoking on the premises.
- managers and respective heads at all levels are responsible for performing Health and Occupational Safety tasks of the employer.
- It is the employer´s duty to take care of Health and Occupational Safety of all persons entering the premises with the consent of the employer.
- It is the employer´s duty to take care of Health and Occupational Safety of all persons entering the premises with the consent of the employer.
- In case of more employers and their members of staff performing tasks on the same premises, all these employers are obliged to coordinate and secure Health and Occupational Safety.
3. Duties of the Employee Aimed at Securing Health and Occupational Safety
Everyone is obliged to proceed with caution so as not to cause damage to health, property, nature, and the environment.
Anyone breaking the law will be held responsible for any caused damage.
Fundamental duties of the workers are to observe the safety code and other regulations applied to the work process, in the case of having had prior knowledge and training.
The employees are entitled to the maintaining of Health and Occupational Safety, information on work risks, and information on measures taken to prevent them.
Employees can refuse to perform the work, for which there is good cause to believe it could imminently and seriously threaten their life and health ,or the life and health of other physical persons.
The employee is obliged to care, according to his or her capacity, of his/her own safety and health and those of other people namely :
- to stick to legal and other regulations relating to the Health and Occupational Safety, to principles of safe behavior, and prescribed working procedures with which s/he has been properly acquainted
- to use, when working, personal protective working tools and protective equipment
- to participate at instructive workshops for Health and Occupational Safety, to undergo tests, and medical check ups
- not to use alcoholic drinks and misuse other drugs at the workplace, and during working hours outside the workplace, not to start work under the influence of drugs, stick to ban on smoking at the workplace
- to notify the supervisors and other supervising bodies of the shortcomings and defects of Health and Safety principles, and participate in their disposal
- to undergo the medical tests to determine whether s/he is not under the influence of drugs
4. Decree of the Czech Occupational Safety Office
Basic regulations:
- technical documentation for production , assembly, operation, maintenance and repair of machines, facilities and technology must contain requirements for ensuring the safety of labour, principles for control, tests and revisions
- on machinery, technical facilities and technologies there must be kept the prescribed operational technical documentation into which all the changes must be recorded
- machines and technical equipment can start their operation only if they correspond to pertaining regulations and after the prescribed tests, controls and revisions have been performed
- machines and technical equipment must be submitted during their operation to regular prescribed checks, test revisions, maintenance and repairs
- workplaces, machinery and technical equipment which can endanger people must have safety designation (colors, signs, tables, light and acoustic signals)
- production and the operation of buildings must be kept in such a state so that they would not threaten the safety of people
- floors must be kept flat and resistant against damage
- doors must be safe and easy to operate at all positions. Open wings of the doors must be ensured against closure
- communications must be free at all the times, and must have flat and non-slippery surface
- all-glass wings of doors in frames must be visibly marked
- communications for pedestrians must be at a minimum of 1.1m wide
This regulation further contains basic requirements to ensure work safety and safety of the technical facilities during the work and services on the premises.
5.Safety of work with electrical equipment
Threatening danger:
- accident by electric current
- fire
- explosion
Every employee must get at least the lowest qualifications according to Decree no. 50/78 Law code.
Acquainted persons (§3 Decree no.50/78 Law code).
These are the employees (ordinary persons) acquainted with regulations on treatments with electric current and aware of the possible danger of electric current
Allowed activities :
- they can independently manipulate only electrical equipment of a safety low voltage SELV (up to 50V) and low voltage (up to 1000V) but only if they cannot touch the life parts (parts under voltage) during a normal operation
- switching on and off, plugging into the socket, moving connecting cables, exchange of bulbs when switched off and exchange of safety fuses
- they can perform maintenance work without the dismantling with instruments (dry cleaning) when the equipment is switched off
- must be a safe distance from unprotected working parts under voltage up to 1 kV at least 1 meter
Forbidden activities:
(for acquainted persons- according to §3 of Decree no. 50/78 Law Code)
- to repair electrical appliances and distribution
- to work on parts of electrical equipment under voltage
- to use electrical equipment suspected of damage
- to move electrical appliances connected to the network (computers, electrical typewriters, calculators etc.) unless they are intended for such usage - (electrical hand tools) - unplugging of the socket
- to touch electrical equipment by wet parts of the body
- to clean the surface of electrical equipment by wet means
Duties:
When handling the electrical equipment:
- to get acquainted with the documentation of its instructions, regulations and standards
- to follow the instructions for usage, stick to regulations and standards
- be careful about the equipment being excessively overloaded or damaged in any other way
- when suspicious of malfunction or impending malfunction (damage of insulation, burning smell, unusual running - noise, shocks, hum, jerky start, excessive warming, sparking, tingling) it is necessary to SWITCH OFF THE EQUIPMENT IMMEDIATELY and report the fault to the serviceman of the equipment, or to the supervisor.
- when spotting STATICAL ELECRICITY immediately notify the person responsible (operational electrician, supervisor).
6. Accident at work, recording and registration
Specification of work accident (injury) and occupational disease
Definitions
Any harm to health or death inflicted upon the employee independently of his will by temporary, sudden and violent incidents of external circumstances when fulfilling his or her working tasks or in direct connection with them, if the incapacity of work lasts at least one day, except the day of injury, is considered to be work accident.
Occupational diseases are illnesses stated in legal regulations on social security if they occurred on conditions specified there.
Direct connection with fulfilling working tasks
- work resulting from the job, from prescribed tasks during the work, tasks necessary for starting and finishing work and for performance of the work
- medical examination on the employer 's order, first aid treatment including the journey there and back to workplace
- training organized by the employer
- activity stimulated by the trade unions, other employees, or on one's own initiative if there is not required any special authorization for it, or if it is not directly forbidden by the employer.
However connection with fulfillment of working tasks is not considered:
- journey to work and back
- meals, medical treatment or check ups in medical centres, including the journey there and back, if they are not performed on the premises.
Recording and registration of work accidents
Report the accident immediately to the closest supervisor
Recording of accidents where there was no resulting incapacity of work it lasted less than one day it is necessary to record the accident into the book of accidents for future recording of protocol on the accident if need be.
Registration
The supervisor is obliged:
- to ensure responsible and reliable investigation of causes as well as other circumstances of work accident occurrence
- to make report on work accidents according to investigation findings - up to 2 days- the supervisor is obliged to immediately sent the report to the health safety official in charge of the faculty of electrical engineering
- to formulate the necessary regulations to prevent similar accidents
Safety official in charge of Faculty of electrical engineering sends the record to:
- Rector's office
- IBP (Safety Labour Inspection Office)
- medical insurance company
- insurance company
- in case of severe and mass accidents to police
- supervising trade union body
7.Working condition of women and juveniles
Women
The role of women as mothers and physiological specifities of their physical characteristics do not allow the employer to give the women all types of work as are given to men.
The Law Code solves specifications of types of work which are prohibited for women:
- special breaks
- night labour
- working conditions of pregnant women and mothers
- maternity leave etc.
The work forbidden to all women:
Lifting and transporting the loads
- over 15 kg in manual lifting and carrying
- over 50 kg in transporting the load on a wheel-barrow and box cart
Juveniles
The employers are allowed to give the juveniles only such types of work which are adequate to their physical and mental degree of development and do not interfere with the development of their physical and mental abilities.
Important limitations:
- the cooperation with the legal guardian
- the prohibition of night labour and work overtime etc.
8. Security of work with computers
Risks of common users regarding Health and Occupational Safety and occupational disease occurrence:
- increasing eye-strain (brightness ,blinking)
- electromagnetic radiation
- strain to the neck-spine
ad a)
- the worker at the screen shall have neither the light source nor its reflection (a window, lamp etc.) in the range of view
- the brightness of the objects in the neighbourhood of the screen shall be balanced so as not to produce big contrasts
- the artificial enlighting of the room shall not form dark nooks and overlighted places -- the upper margin of the active area of the screen shall be on the eye level at maximum.
- the distance of the screen shall be at least 40 cm
ad b)
- If possible, place a monitor in such a way as to prevent the people from having access from its sides
ad c)
- the placement of the keyboard : if sitting straight, the arms, placed with their palms on the keyboard, shall be perpendicular at the elbows
- the height of the seat : if the soles are fully tread-down on the floor, the legs shall be perpendicular at the knees
9. First Aid – traumatological plan
The most important thing is to provide an immediate aid to injured people to minimize harm to health.
Duties of employer:
Threatening danger:
- the organization is obliged to ensure that the equipment of the first-aid kits is being maintained and restocked.
- each employee must have an access to any of the kits during all working hours
- the contents of the first-aid kit correspond to medical standard
Directions for the first aid after an electrical shock:
Proceeding of the rescue of afflicted person:
- to set afflicted person from the range of electric current
- to start artificial respiration immediately in case when afflicted person does not breathe
- to start indirect heart massage if the pulse is not palpable
- to call for a doctor
- to inform the person responsible for a workplace(supervisor)
Disengagement the affected person from the electric circuit under voltage by:
- switching off the current ( in laboratories use a push-button switch )
- replacing the conductors (wires) with an appropriate non-conductive object
- pulling away the affected person
- breaking the conductor
First aid treatment
- do not move him/her
- do not leave the person alone
It is necessary to find out whether the afflicted person:
- is in the conscious state
- is breathing
- has tangible heartbeat
- is injured (bleeding, burns, fractured bones etc.)
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation contains:
- Artificial respiration (by mouth – to - mouth method, by T-tube)
- Indirect heart massage
Indirect heart massage
- put the person onto a hard mat
- the rescuer puts his/her left hand across his/her right hand and by the weight of the whole body with great force, he/she compresses rhytmically the rib bones of the affected person in the direction to the spine to the depth of 4-5 cm, approximately 60 times a minute.
- after every five compressions one inhalation by mouth-to-mouth method follows
First aid in case of burns
- maintain absolute cleanness, do not touch the wound
- do not remove the rest of clothes or other objects from the wound
- cool the 1st and 2nd stage burns of minor extent by means of clean water, e.g. under the waterpipe (for 15-20 minutes)
- cover the burns with a sterile operating mask or ironed piece of cloth
- take anti-shock measures ( silence, warmth, liquids, pain-tranquilization, transport)
- ensure that the injured person is always accompanied on the way to the doctor
First aid in case of bleeding
- immediately press a bleeding vein directly in the wound or at a pressure point
- put the pressure bandage or rubber bandage (from time to time release the pressure cca for 10-15 minutes to prevent the limb or tissue to mortify from the lack of blood circulation)
- immobilize the afflicted area as it is possible
- take anti-shock measures (silence, warmth, liquids, pain-tranquilization, transport)
- check the wound and the whole state of the injured person continually
- ensure that the injured person is always accompanied on the way to the physician
10. Emergency calls
|
Emergency (universal) |
112 |
|
Ambulance |
155 |
|
Fire Brigade |
150 |
|
Police – emergency |
158 |
|
Municipal Police |
156 |
11. Laboratory rules