Physical Agents Range of Energy Sources

Question: Discuss about the Physical Agents for Range of Energy Sources. Answer: Physical agents are described as the wide range of energy sources in an industrial area, which can cause several kinds of illness, injury or disease. These include vibration, noise, unfavorable thermal environment, radiations and lighting (Nanda Pring, 2012). Unsatisfactory level of this physical agent is considered as the physical hazards in workplace. In this essay, the main concern is to consider the effects of these physical agents in the industrial work area and the control measures that are developed and implemented in state, national and international level. It has been revealed that, the physical agents are associated with the workplace, but their level of exposure is mainly responsible for the negative effects of the physical agents (Deakin Morris, 2012). Therefore, managing the exposure of these physical agents in the organization can help to reduce the harmful effects of these physical agents in the workplace (Nanda Pring, 2012). Thus, this essay will consider the regul ations and legislations provided in the national and international level to control the exposure of the physical agents. In this essay, noise has been selected as the physical agent, which will be discussed in the following paragraphs. The effect of noise pollution on health capabilities has been recognized for centuries. The industrial noise pollution is also not uncommon (Nlisse et al., 2012). The high level of noise induces hearing loss, which worsens more, if appropriate protections are not used. It has been estimated that in USA, about 10 million people are suffering from hearing impairment, fully or partly due to the high level of noise exposure in their workplace pollution (Dolzer Schreuer, 2012). In UK, 170, 000 people are experiencing deafness, tinnitus or other hearing impairments, which have been worsened by work related noise pollution. The risk of noise induced hearing loss enhances greatly at noise levels more than 90 dB (A) (Sands Peel, 2012). However, according to the WHOs Regional Strategy for health and environment 2014-2019 for eastern Mediterranean reported that UAE has a very low mortality resulted from environmental or work place related noise pollution, in comparison to the other nations st atus of workplace related noise pollution (Dolzer Schreuer, 2012). In United Kingdom, noise at work is the common cause of hearing loss. The nation has undertaken several initiatives for improving the ambient air quality and noise pollution. The social level of noise has been set for less than or equals to 55 decibels between 7 am to 8 pm and 45 decibels between 8 pm to 7 am should be provided to the employees, in order to make give them a hazard free environment (Brammer et al., 2012). Noise regulation includes guidelines regarding the sound transmission established by the national, state or municipal/ local level of government. The UK government has influenced the government and public sectors to address the noise pollution related issues while emphasizing upon the implementation of noise control technology for improving peoples living quality and performance standards in their workplace (Sliwinska-Kowalska Davis, 2012). Exposure to high level of noise at work place damages the cells inside the ear, which can lead to temporary or permanent hearing loss. The control of Noise at work regulations 2005 needs employers to stop or decrease the risk of health and safety from exposure to noise in workplace. This regulation requires that the employers undertake the following steps: Reduce the exposure of noise by assessing the risks to employees Ensuring the legal limits of the exposure of noise is not exceeding Informing the employees about the risks and providing required training for their safety concern Carrying out the health surveillance at the risky area Providing protecting measures like ear protections, where the noise exposure cannot be reduced, for instance in manufacturing or mining industry The aim of the control of noise at work regulation 2005 is to ensure that employees hearing capability is protected from the exposure of excessive noise at the workplace, which may lead to permanent or complete hearing loss or impairment. The regulation defines the exposure action values, which is the levels of noise exposure, if exceeded, require you to take specific action. The lower action value is 80dBA and upper action value is 85 dBA. The peak sound pressure has been limited by 140 dBA (Nlisse et al., 2012). The employers and employees should comply with the exposure limits, which is one aspect of the legal duties under the noise regulations. The international standard ISO 4869-1:1990, Acoustics Hearing protectors Part 1: Subjective method for the measurement of sound attenuation provides the assessment techniques for protecting from noise at workplace. ISO/TS 4869-5: 2006 Acoustics -- Hearing protectors -- Part 5: Method for estimation of noise reduction using fitting by inexperienced test subjects also provides the assessment methods for noise reduction (Barlow Castilla-Sanchez, 2012). The regulations and legislations provides the responsibilities to both the employees and employers for safe practice in the workplace by managing the noise exposure at workplace. In this context, the Health and Safety in Employment Act, 1992 includes the following: Section 6: Employers should be responsible to ensure the safety of employees at work Section 7: Employers should be accountable for identifying the hazards and determine their significance Section 8: Employers should tale all required steps to avoid excessive noise at workplace Section 9: If the excessive noise cannot be removed, the employer should isolate the employees from it Section 10: Employers should accountable for minimizing the excessive exposure of noise through administrative/engineering mean and should ensure that employers are protected from the exposure of noise by the appropriate hearing protectors (Brammer et al., 2012). They are also accountable for monitoring the noise exposure and hearing capabilities Section 13: Employers are responsible for ensuring the provision of appropriate noise protecting measures with noise reducing training, from which employees would be able to understand the appropriate way of using those protecting measures Section 19: Employees are responsible for ensuring their own safety at work, by using correct noise control measures or protector equipments for noise protection The international labor law included the responsibilities of employees and employers to protect against the noise exposure in the workplace, which is beyond the tolerance level. According to the international labor law, it is the duty of the employers to provide the required protection equipments to the employees, to keep them safe. The personal protective equipment and limitations of noise exposure time should be provided to the employees, in order to make give them a hazard free environment (Brammer et al., 2012). There are several ear protection instruments, provided to the employees to keep risks away temporarily. These standards also depicts that the employer should give effort to ensure that the employees are using the personal protective equipment that are provided to them at workplace. There are different types of personal protective equipments including earplug, ear muffs, helmet, disposable earplug or specialized ear protector. These protective equipments should be monitore d for measuring their functionality (Slowther et al., 2012). The international labor organization provided standards to control noise in the work environment. These ILO standards mainly include the measurement of risk, personal protective equipments, time of exposure, monitoring and health supervision (Barlow Castilla-Sanchez, 2012). The ILO principles set for workplaces, should be followed by the employers and employees worldwide, because it helps in the establishment of control programs for individual plants. In addition to the national and international perspectives related to the noise pollution and control measures, the federal government in London introduced the Noise-by-law. The enforcement of noise by-law is the split between the London police service and London city (Preston-Shoot McKimm, 2012). The federal govt. also provided the opportunity to grant other noise-related complaints. Even if in the workplace, the noise is related to the work activities, employees are free to express and inform their concern with significant considera tion. In this context, a co-operative behavior is also expected from the groups (Sliwinska-Kowalska Davis, 2012). In conclusion, it has been revealed that noise is a significant physical agent that causes health hazards at its overexposure at workplace. National, international and federal government have undertaken several initiatives for controlling workplace related noise exposure for ensuring employees health and safety at workplace. In this context, it has been revealed that the rate of workplace noise related health hazards is significantly affecting employees health in UK. For this, UK government has undertaken several steps including the development and implementation of legislations and noise regulations, which highlighted the limitation of noise level and the responsibilities of employers, employees and other stakeholders in reducing noise-exposure. In addition, several ear protection measures have been highlighted in the national and international standards along with their usage. Therefore, it can be concluded that UK government has provided significant effort for protecting health an d safety of the employees at work. Reference List Barlow, C., Castilla-Sanchez, F. (2012). 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