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OHS Sources of Information

 Occupational Health and Safety sources of information are subdivided into two main categories that includes;

  1. External Information Sources
  2. Internal Information Sources
These sources are defined below

  1. External Information Sources
These Sources Includes'

  • National governmental enforcement agencies such as the USA's OSHA (www.osha.gov), Western Australia's Worksafe ( www.commerce.wa.gov.au/worksafe) and UK's HSE ( www.hse.govuk). These all produce legal and best practice guidance and statistics. Even if you are not under their regulatory control, their guidance can still be a valuable source of advice, especially where little or none exists in your region.

  • International bodies such as the European Safety Agency ( osha.europa.eu); the international labor Organization and their " safework" site ( www.ilo.org); and the World Health Organization (www.who.int)

  • Professional bodies such as IOSH (www.iosh.co.uk) and IIRSM (www.iirsm.org)

  • Trade unions a number of whom produce information on safety and matters. the trade union interest here may be in making members aware of the possible compensation areas.

  • Insurance companies, who set the levels of premiums and need data to calculate the probable risks of any venture. The average risks involved in most activities can be found in insurance tables. Since, the risk manager is involved in managing risks, these tables will be extremely useful, although getting hold of them may not be so easy.

  • Trade associations.

        2. Internal Information Sources

Internal information is the most relevant data for inorganization, but other sources will be needed for comparisons, unless the organist ion is large enough to give statistical significance.

There should be a source of accident and ill-health data, as well as near -miss information, within the company.
  • Accident reports will be the most obvious source. It is important that the information recorded is adequate for risk assessments. We need to be able to investigate factors which contributed to the accident which means making a clear distinction between "cause of accident" and "cause of injury".
  • Absence records may be another indication of problems. Health problems may not always be reported, so condition which are made worse by the work situation, rather than being caused by it, are not so easy to spot.
  • Maintenance records will usually show damage incidents. 

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