Dangers to humans can be everywhere. Negative factors affect employees even at normal workplaces, for example, when working at a computer or sitting for long periods. What is a harmful production factor? These are the negative consequences faced by workers in enterprises.
Definition
In most plants and factories, work involves exposure to negative conditions for employees. Harmful and dangerous moments are always interconnected. What is a hazardous production factor? These are the factors due to which a person's health worsens or injury occurs. In the manufacturing sector, such conditions are often encountered.
What is a harmful production factor? It includes negative effects leading to various diseases. They are called occupational diseases. Harmful work and hazardous production factors are similar. It should be remembered that the boundaries between these concepts are conditional. In a special environment, harmful factors turn into dangerous ones. For example, high humidity is considered an unfavorable condition, it becomes the cause of various respiratory diseases. If a person in such conditions works with electric current, then this is dangerous.
Classification
There is a classification of harmful production factors, since they differ in origin. It happens that in enterprises unfavorable working conditions appear due to management. This area needs special attention from the inspection bodies. If the company has dangerous factors, it is imperative to take measures to minimize their impact on people.
There is a classification of harmful production factors. It allows you to distribute them on:
- physical;
- chemical;
- biological;
- psychophysiological.
This list of harmful and dangerous production factors is valid at many enterprises. All this negatively affects people, which affects their well-being. What is a harmful production factor given these concepts? These are effects that harm the physical and psychological health of people. There is no clear distinction between dangerous and harmful factors. It is conditional.
Harmful chemical factors
What is a harmful production factor in production? These are negative consequences arising from technological processes. Often this is encountered when:
- chemical processing of parts;
- equipment painting;
- welding works;
- anti-corrosion coating processes;
- metal processing.
If these types of work are carried out, then the appearance of harmful components cannot be avoided. But their intensive education is the reason for non-compliance with technology or improper use of equipment.
Physical factors
In factories, it is practically impossible to avoid the influence of many factors. Special ones include:
- temperature, humidity, radiation;
- electromagnetic fields;
- laser and ultrasonic radiation;
- vibration
- loud noises;
- lighting;
- exposure to dust and aerosols;
- charged air;
- working parts of devices.
The impact of harmful production factors individually is not dangerous to humans if this does not occur for long. But usually employees are under their influence for a long time, besides they are usually of several types, because of this the consequences are tangible.
The effect of noise on humans
What harmful manufacturing factors are in production? There are many of them, one of the main ones is noise. He is in all workshops where the equipment works. Due to the constantly functioning technology, the room is very noisy. If a person is constantly affected by such factors, then this will adversely affect his health. Loud noise causes headaches, increased pressure, and hearing loss.
Such factors affect a decrease in working capacity, attention, and the appearance of fatigue. And this becomes the cause of accidents. It is important for managers to monitor an acceptable level of noise so that it does not adversely affect the health of employees.
To do this, apply:
- silencers;
- personal protective equipment;
- sound insulation of noisy rooms;
- sound absorbing finish.
Thanks to such measures in the workplace, workers will have a more comfortable environment. This reduces the risk of accidents as well as other adverse effects.
The effect of vibration and its elimination
The list of harmful production factors includes vibration. It is divided into several categories:
- transmission method - general and local;
- direction - vertical and horizontal;
- period of exposure - temporary and permanent.
Due to the constant influence of this factor, not only the nervous system worsens, but also the musculoskeletal system, analyzers. Employees who have to constantly work in such an environment complain of headaches, dizziness, and motion sickness. And if humidity, elevated temperature and noise are still affected, then the negative impact of vibration is amplified.
To eliminate these harmful production factors in the workplace, you can use:
- replacement of equipment with technological;
- the use of soft coatings on vibrating parts;
- installation of devices on a solid foundation.
Chemical exposure
Components of this type are divided into several categories.
According to the effects on human health, they are:
- toxic, affect the whole body, for example, carbon monoxide, mercury, lead;
- irritating, they affect the mucous membranes (acetone, chlorine, nitrogen oxides);
- carcinogenic, they form cancer cells, this is chromium oxide, beryllium;
- allergenic;
- mutagenic, lead to changes in the DNA of cells;
- affecting reproductive function.
They enter the body through:
- respiratory system;
- Gastrointestinal tract;
- skin and mucous membranes.
Hazardous, harmful workplace factors affect a person in different ways. On this basis are distinguished:
- extremely dangerous;
- highly dangerous;
- moderately dangerous;
- low hazard.
If protective equipment is used in enterprises, then workers will not be affected by negative factors. This reduces the risk of poor health.
Labor factors
Psychophysiological factors are the severity of working conditions and its tension. Hard work involves:
- intensive load on the heart, blood vessels, musculoskeletal and respiratory systems;
- static load size;
- number of uniform movements;
- the amount of cargo to be lifted;
- postures of employees in the performance of duties.
Tension is considered a load on the nervous system, sensory organs. It includes long mental work, monotony of processes, a load on the emotional sphere. All of these factors affect many people, only to varying degrees.
The influence of harmful factors on people
At each enterprise, to ensure a favorable environment for employees, appropriate conditions must be created. First of all, this relates to clean air in the workplace. Sanitary organizations share harmful factors into chemical components and industrial dust.
The first are divided into:
- poisons
- pesticides;
- medicines;
- household chemicals;
- poisonous components.
Dust is a problem in the mining sector, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, and agriculture. Its negative effect is manifested in the fact that it develops pulmonary diseases. At each enterprise, several negative factors affect employees. It is because of this that ensuring protection is important in the manufacturing sector.
How to protect from dangerous factors?
Even with the observance of the necessary requirements, it is still impossible to obtain the necessary working conditions. This cannot be achieved due to technological processes, products and raw materials. Protection from negative factors should be provided by the heads of organizations.
In work you need to use the following rules:
- elimination of hazardous factors or reduction of the risk of its influence;
- use of safe working methods;
- carrying out measures to combat negative factors;
- the use of protective equipment.
It often happens that the measures taken do not fully ensure the safety of working conditions. In these cases, PPE is used. The most popular of them include:
- Means of vibration. Since labor protection is reduced with such protection, regular breaks should be taken.
- Headphones from noise. But they worsen the ability to navigate, contribute to the appearance of headaches.
- Respirators and gas masks. It’s inconvenient to work in them for a long time, so you need to use alternative means.
PPE reduces the impact of negative factors, but they create another danger to humans. Therefore, they should be used only for their intended purpose.
Security
Safety standards are needed to prevent the negative impact of factors on the human condition. Therefore, at the production site, safety training is considered a mandatory event. These procedures should be recorded in the journal with the signatures of the responsible persons and employees.
There are several types of such work:
- Induction training. It is carried out before a person is hired. The event is mandatory for everyone, regardless of position, length of service or age.
- Primary. It is organized at the workplace, the event is held by the master or leader.
- Repeated. It is carried out for each employee every 6 months.
- Unscheduled. It is carried out with changes in the rules, work, when buying equipment, identifying violations, after breaks.
In practice, not all enterprises provide training. Often employees are provided with a magazine for signing what the event was. This is a violation. Safety in the enterprise depends on the work of managers.
Responsibility
Usually in organizations there are persons responsible for labor protection. They control security. If deviations from the norms by which the workplace should be maintained are revealed, then liability is provided. This is fixed in law. Punishment is administrative, criminal, disciplinary.
Management and supervisory authorities impose punishment for the responsible person in the form of dismissal, reprimand, and a fine. If serious violations are found, then a fine is imposed on the person responsible, the inability to engage in activities, correctional labor and imprisonment.
The primary concern of the enterprise should be safety. Only if it is observed can labor efficiency be improved, as well as the smooth operation of employees.