Workplace Hazards and Exposure Limits: Hearing Loss and Respiratory Illness

Overview

This assignment gives you the opportunity to reflect on a current health and safety topic and then express your thoughts and opinions. The goal is to connect the theory you are learning to your personal experience. Your viewpoints will be insightful, clearly presented, and well supported by theory and experience.

Criteria

Your assignment is to write a reflection paper based on ONE of the topic options provided in the Reflection Paper section below.

The assignment will be submitted:

• In Microsoft Word format so your instructor can insert review comments.
• Within a 1 – 2 page length, single spaced, 12 font.
• Using the Assignments link above (In the top navigation bar, click the Assignments menu, then click the 'Assignments' link, and then find the "Add a file" button on the page that loads)

The assignment should take between 6 to 8 hours to complete.

The assignment will be graded by the criteria detailed in the Reflection Paper Rubric section below.

The assignment is worth 10% of your final mark.

Hearing loss and respiratory illness are two examples of workplace injuries or illnesses workers may encounter when exposed to noise or airborne hazards that have minimum exposure limits before an employer is required to implement appropriate controls.
However, workers in workplaces were the minimum exposure limit is never exceeded may never wear or use hearing protection devices or respiratory protection because the regulations don’t require those controls to be in place if workers are never exposed to noise or respiratory hazards above the minimum limits.
Do you feel that minimum exposure limits for noise and respiratory protection are set low enough for the hazards that workers may be exposed to before they are required to wear appropriate PPE?
Possible Questions to Consider:
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1. What is the process that is used to set the levels that the regulators use? You will need to research this process.
2. Is there sufficient science and research behind the setting of the minimum limits?
3. Are the individuals making the decisions about threshold limits the right individuals to be making the decisions?
4. Should there be mandatory threshold levels that require implementation of optional programs if the workers want to wear them. At this threshold, companies must supply appropriate PPE if employees want to use the PPE.
5. How would you know if workers are being affected by exposure to noise and respiratory hazards that are below exposure limits?
6. What it the impact of the employer WCB liability long term?
Your employer is a company where workers are exposed to noise and respiratory hazards. The exposure to these hazards do not exceed minimum threshold limits and the employer is not required to implement PPE controls for the hazards your workers are exposed to. Your employer feels that if it isn’t required by legislation, why do it. You feel that workers should have access to the PPE. Provide a case for your employer to justify the program despite not being required.