TABLE OF CONTENTS The majority of injuries or deaths on process plants are the result not of high technology but of quite simple situations. The number of people involved in a single accident is usually only one or two. Thus, although loss prevention is particularly concerned with technical aspects, it is appropriate nevertheless to devote some consideration to hazards to the person and to their control.
Moreover, the loss prevention approach has a contribution to make in this area also. The same management discipline is required to deliver good performance in the personal safety area as in that of high technology. Three aspects appear particularly relevant: formal systems and procedures, hazard identification and hazard assessment.
In addition to injuries from accidents, workers may also suffer impairment of health which sometimes becomes apparent only over a long period. It is necessary, therefore, to make some mention of this type of hazard and its control by occupational health measures.
Personal safety is dealt with in a large number of texts, which include Safety and Management by the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers (ABCM) (1964/3), Industrial Safety Handbook (Handley, 1969, 1977), Industrial Hazard and Safety Handbook (R. King and Magid, 1979), Safety and Accident Prevention in Chemical Operations (H.H. Fawcett and Wood, 1982), and Safety at Work (Ridley, 1993 ) and Safety in the Process Industries (R. King, 1990). Selected references on personal health and safety are given in Table 25.1.
