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Understanding occupational hazards isn't just about memorizing a list of workplace dangers—it's about recognizing the mechanisms of harm and the hierarchy of controls that form the foundation of environmental and occupational health practice. You're being tested on your ability to identify exposure pathways, dose-response relationships, and prevention strategies that protect worker populations. These concepts connect directly to broader public health principles like risk assessment, epidemiological surveillance, and health policy development.
Each hazard category demonstrates different principles: some operate through direct tissue damage, others through cumulative exposure, and still others through systemic physiological stress. When you encounter exam questions, don't just recall that "chemicals are dangerous"—know why certain exposures cause specific health outcomes and how the hierarchy of controls (elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, PPE) applies differently to each hazard type. This conceptual understanding will serve you far better than rote memorization.
These hazards involve exposure to specific harmful agents—chemical, biological, or radiological—that enter the body through defined routes and cause predictable health effects. The key principle here is the exposure pathway: inhalation, ingestion, dermal contact, or injection.
Compare: Chemical hazards vs. biological hazards—both involve agent exposure and similar routes of entry, but biological agents can replicate and spread person-to-person while chemical exposures are dose-dependent without transmission. FRQs often ask you to design control strategies for each; remember that biological hazards uniquely benefit from vaccination programs.
These hazards cause harm through the transfer of physical energy to the body—whether mechanical, electrical, thermal, or acoustic. The underlying principle is that uncontrolled energy release causes acute traumatic injury.
Compare: Mechanical hazards vs. electrical hazards—both involve energy transfer causing acute injury, but mechanical hazards are visible and can be physically guarded while electrical hazards are invisible and require specialized detection equipment. If asked about hierarchy of controls, mechanical hazards are more amenable to engineering solutions.
These hazards arise from the physical work environment itself rather than specific agents or energy sources. The principle here is that ambient conditions outside physiological tolerance ranges cause cumulative harm.
Compare: Physical hazards vs. confined space hazards—both involve environmental conditions, but physical hazards typically cause gradual cumulative damage while confined spaces can cause immediate fatalities. Confined space entry requires specific permit procedures that don't apply to general physical hazard controls.
These hazards cause harm through repeated exposure or sustained strain over time rather than single acute events. The mechanism involves tissue microtrauma, physiological adaptation failure, or psychological stress accumulation.
Compare: Ergonomic hazards vs. psychosocial hazards—both involve cumulative exposure and chronic health outcomes, but ergonomic hazards have clearer dose-response relationships and more established engineering controls. Psychosocial hazards require organizational-level interventions that are harder to implement and evaluate. Both are increasingly recognized as major contributors to occupational disease burden.
| Concept | Best Examples |
|---|---|
| Agent-based exposure pathways | Chemical hazards, biological hazards, radiation hazards |
| Acute traumatic injury | Mechanical hazards, electrical hazards, fire/explosion hazards |
| Cumulative/chronic exposure | Noise (physical), ergonomic hazards, radiation hazards |
| Hierarchy of controls application | Mechanical (guarding), chemical (substitution), ergonomic (workstation design) |
| Permit-required procedures | Confined spaces, lockout/tagout for mechanical/electrical |
| Organizational-level interventions | Psychosocial hazards, ergonomic hazards |
| Legally mandated documentation | SDS for chemicals, permits for confined spaces, OSHA logs for injuries |
| Irreversible health outcomes | NIHL, occupational cancers, amputations |
Which two hazard categories share the characteristic of causing harm through cumulative microtrauma rather than single acute events, and how do their control strategies differ?
A worker develops chronic kidney disease after years of occupational exposure. Which hazard category is most likely responsible, and what exposure pathway would you investigate first?
Compare and contrast the control strategies for biological hazards versus chemical hazards—what unique prevention measure applies to biological hazards that has no equivalent for chemical exposures?
An FRQ asks you to design a safety program for a manufacturing facility. Using the hierarchy of controls, explain why machine guarding (for mechanical hazards) is preferred over training workers to stay away from moving parts.
Which three hazard categories can cause immediate fatalities from a single exposure event, and what common principle connects their emergency response procedures?