What are Hazards at Workplace? Types of Hazards in Chemical Industry

We have discussed multiple times the importance of Industrial safety and with respect to that, in today’s article, we will discuss types of hazards in chemical industry. As discussed what is a hazard in Safety Hierarchy Of Controls let us know the types of hazards and also have complete knowledge of the hazards.

Hazard identification is the first step in risk assessment but to identify hazards, we need to know and identify hazards in the workplace. As Hazard can’t be put as a generalized category, Hazards are classified into the types so that it becomes easy and segregate according to the types of Hazard in the workplace.

In total, there are 5 types of hazards in the chemical industry. So we are going to learn about types of hazards along with examples. Don’t forget to learn what are the 4 stages of a fire? I work in a chemical plant so I will also show the hazards present in my workplace. Follow the guide completely to know in-depth.

What are Hazards at Workplace ?| Definition

A hazard can be defined as a source or a situation that has the potential to cause harm, injury or ill health to a human, damage to property, or damage to the environment.

What are the types of hazards at workplace?

There are mainly 6 types of hazards in a workplace. It is important to know the types of hazards as this identification is the first step that comes before prevention. Types of hazards are listed below.

1. Chemical Hazard
2. Biological Hazard
3. Physical Hazard
4. Safety Hazard
5. Ergonomic Hazard
6. Psychological Hazard

Now, let us understand different hazards in detail.

6 Types of Hazards in Chemical Industry – Types of hazard in Workplace

1. Chemical Hazard

Chemical hazard – Handling of chemicals job is directly related to the chemical hazard in the industry. Health and physical impact on the human body due to chemicals is categorized as a chemical hazard. Hazardous chemicals can even damage the body severely and can even result in fatality. Individuals must have complete knowledge about the chemical prior to handling that. Hence it is recommended to have a person trained with the job with SOP prior to getting the employee/contract person on the shop floor.

What are the different types of Chemical hazards?

• Irritation in eyes
• burn on body parts
• Skin rashes
• Flammability,
• Corrosion
• Sensitization
• Carcinogenicity

2. Biological Hazard

Biological Hazard includes the harm caused by a virus, bacteria fungi parasites, etc due to the exposure of animals, people, and infection plant material in the workplace or chemical plant. These viruses and bacteria enter the body and harm the human body by causing diseases. These hazards are known as biological hazards. Biological hazards are of three types.

• Infections
• Allergy
• Poisoning
• Diseases due to bacteria and viruses

Here in biological hazard, cleanliness and hygiene are the things that can reduce the biological hazards.

3. Physical Hazard

Physical Hazard is mainly environmental factors that can harm the people working in the plant. These environmental factors don’t mean to have physical touch, factors like noise, temperature radiation, spillage of chemicals on the floor, and pressure at the shop floor can harm the human body and these are considered as physical Hazard.

I work in a caustic soda plant where electrolyzers are used to produce sodium hydroxide. Electrolyzers generate electromagnetic fields as well as release heat. These are the physical hazard identified in my workplace. We had prepared a detailed tutorial on Fundamental of electrolysis process.

Examples of physical Hazards

• Loud noises
• High temperature: skin burns
• Radiations
• Chemical burn
• High pressure
• Slip/trip

4. Safety Hazard

Safety hazard includes any condition or substance/material placed in such a way that creates unsafe conditions and harm caused due to these comes under safety hazards. An unnecessary substance present on the walking way, improper machine guarding, fire, poor lighting, etc.

Examples of Safety hazards

• Poor equipment design result in malfunctioning
• Improper machine and motor guarding
• Tripping and slipping hazards

5. Ergonomic Hazard

Ergonomic hazard includes physical factors such as working condition, posture, and type of work that gives strain to the body. These hazards may cause musculoskeletal injuries. Injurtires from ergonomic hazard give injury can’t be spot immediately as it shows the effect after a couple of hours. These injuries sore-muscle on short exposure time but can also turn into some serious issues on a long exposure. These hazards are very hard to observe and required deep observation

• Improper placement of equipment
• Less available space to work
• Repetitive movements,
• Poor design of equipment, workstation design,
• Manual handling

6. Psychological Hazard

Hazards that had impact on employee and worker’s mental health and well-being comes under psychological hazards. This includes stress, anxiety, and depression and sexual harassment.

Example of Psychological Hazard

• Intense workload and improper shift schedule
• Discrimination
• Harassment
• Threats of danger
• Physical violence

These are the 6 types of hazards that are dangerous and harmful for not only physical health but also mental health. So use these types of occupation hazards to assess different types of hazards in your workplace and type prevent them.

FAQ (Types of hazard at workplace)

Wrapping Up

This was a brief introduction to the types of hazards in chemical industry. Do give stress to your mind and comment down types of occupational hazards in your industry in the comment section and share with others as well. If you can relate to the chemical industry then do check out our article on Industrial safety where we touched on various safety-related articles on our blog. If you are a chemical engineering student do check the chemical engineering apps where we have posted all the useful apps for engineers and students.