PHYSICAL AND EMERGING HAZARDS
In this SLP, you will be a health and safety manager in a company that has a manufacturing facility with multiple occupational hazards. This setting could be a place where you currently work, one that you may be familiar with, or one that you just find interesting.
In your walkthroughs through the facility, you notice that many employees have hearing aids. You also notice that it is hard for people to hear each other because of constantly pounding presses and constantly running conveyor belts. Heavy equipment, cranes, and forklifts are constantly operating in the factory as well. Another concern to address is back injuries in this facility. Many are losing work days due to back injury. Although they routinely perform tasks involving heavy physical labor, during the construction period, you decide to do a study to address noise exposure and back-related ergonomics in this facility:
- Design a plan to evaluate the noise levels to which workers are exposed in this facility.
- Examine the situation to decide if a hearing protection program should be implemented and explain the elements that need to be determined to make a determination.
- Design a plan to reduce the exposure of workers to noise produced by equipment in this facility, particularly the presses and conveyor belts.
- How would you go about assessing the workplace for ergonomics for musculoskeletal disorders, specifically back related disorders?
- Design a program to reduce these back injuries in your workers.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Use information from your module readings/articles as well as appropriate research to support your paper.
Length: The SLP assignment should be 4-5 pages long (double-spaced).
Turnitin: Your assignment will not be graded until you have submitted an Originality Report with a Similarity Index (SI) score <20% (excluding direct quotes, quoted assignment instructions, and references). Papers not meeting this requirement by the end of the session will receive a score of 0 (grade of F). Do keep in mind that papers with a lower SI score may be returned for revisions. For example, if one paragraph accounting for only 10% of a paper is cut and pasted, the paper could be returned for revision, despite the low SI score. Please use the report and your SI score as a guide to improve the originality of your work.
References: At least three references must be included from academic sources (e.g., peer-reviewed journal articles). Required Reading is included. Quoted materials should not exceed 10% of the total paper (since the focus of these assignments is critical thinking). Use your own words and build on the ideas of others. Materials copied verbatim from external sources must be enclosed in quotation marks. In-text citations are required as well as a list of references at the end of the assignment. (APA format is recommended.)
Organization: Subheadings should be used to organize your paper according to the questions.
Format: APA format is recommended for this assignment.
Required Reading
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). Workplace safety & health topics: Noise and hearing loss. Retrieved on 4/17/16 at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/
Ekmekçioğlu, M., Kaya, T., & Kahraman, C. (2010). Fuzzy multicriteria disposal method and site selection for municipal solid waste. Waste Management, 30(8): 1729–1736.
Institute of Medicine. (2000). Chapter 4: The changing workplace. In Safe work in the 21st century: Education and training needs for the next decade’s occupational safety and health personnel. Washington, DC, USA: National Academies Press.
Marshall, R. E., & Farahbakhsh, K. (2013). Systems approaches to integrated solid waste management in developing countries. Waste Management, 33(4): 988-1003.
Occupational Safety and Health. (n.d.). What constitutes an effective hearing conservation program? Retrieved on 4/17/16 at https://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/noise/hcp/index….
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2015). Radiation protection. Retrieved on 4/17/16 at http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/health_eff…
Wada, Y., Okumoto, T., & Wada, N. (2008). Evaluating waste disposal systems. The Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 10(2): 173-187.
Optional Reading
Institute of Medicine. (2000). Chapter 3: The changing workforce. In Safe work in the 21st century: Education and training needs for the next decade’s occupational safety and health personnel. Washington, DC, USA: National Academies Press.
Sliwinska-Kowalska, M., & Davis, A. (2012). Noise-induced hearing loss. Noise & Health, 14(61), 274-80.
Suter, A. H. (2012). Engineering controls for occupational noise exposure: The best way to save hearing. Sound and Vibration, 46(1): 24-32.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2016). Noise pollution. Retrieved on 4/17/16 at https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/title-i…
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2015). Wastes. Retrieved on 4/17/16 at http://www.epa.gov/osw/
Vallee, L., Ruddy, M., & Bota, K. (2010). Can you hear me now? Professional Safety, 55(11), 26-32.