Health and Safety

Health and Safety. There are so many different topics. Where does health end and safety begin?  The article provides a list of topics and draws a line between these two complimentary fields.

Safety is often associated with the prevention of physical harm: falls, amputations, electrical shock, etc. Health (or Occupational Hygiene) is associated with the prevention of sickness: cancer, reproductive effects, liver disease, etc. However, some safety and health issues incorporate a combination of safety and health issues. Confined spaces are one such example. Entrapment is a safety issue while oxygen deficiency is more of a health issue. It may be interesting to look at what topics fall under safety, which topics fall strictly under health and which topics are a combined effort.

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While the majority of topics fall under safety, you may be surprised to know that most fatalities are health-related. Ontario’s annual report identified 233 total workplace fatalities. 81 of these workplace fatalities were traumatic fatalities (falls, crushed, etc) and 152 occupational disease fatalities. Thus, health-related fatalities outnumber safety related fatalities almost 2 to 1.