Physical hazard
[3] They are perhaps unavoidable in certain industries, such as construction and mining, but over time people have developed safety methods and procedures to manage the risks of physical danger in the workplace.
Another physical hazard, X-rays, naturally occur from solar radiation, but have also been utilized by humans for medical purposes; however, overexposure can lead to cancer, skin burns, and tissue damage.
[6] Falls are a common cause of occupational injuries and fatalities, especially in construction, extraction, transportation, healthcare, and building cleaning and maintenance.
[9] For carpenters, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, tree trimmers and pruners, and roofers, fall injuries increased by more than 25 percent in 2016.
[10] In the United States, fall-related fatalities result in a significant financial burden of estimated $70 billion annually in the form of worker's compensation and occupational fall incident related medical costs.
Many machines involve moving parts, sharp edges, hot surfaces and other hazards with the potential to crush, burn, cut, shear, stab or otherwise strike or wound workers if used unsafely.
[12] Various safety measures exist to minimize these hazards, including lockout-tagout procedures for machine maintenance and roll over protection systems for vehicles.
Power tools, used in many industries, present a number of hazards due to sharp moving parts, vibrations, or noise.
The transportation sector bears many risks for the health of commercial drivers, for example from vibration, long periods of sitting, work stress and exhaustion.
Long waiting times at borders cause that drivers are away from home and family much longer and even increase the risk of HIV infections.
[16] Hazards like entrapment and drowning to asphyxiation and toxic chemical exposure results in the deaths and injuries that occur in these confined spaces.
[17] Noise presents a fairly common workplace hazard: occupational hearing loss is the most common work-related injury in the United States, with 22 million workers exposed to hazardous noise levels at work and an estimated $242 million spent annually on worker's compensation for hearing loss disability.
It can be fatal and can result in serious and permanent burn injuries to the skin, internal tissues and damage to the heart depending on the length and severity of the shock.
Some commonly used medicines such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), antihistamines, tetracyclines, thiazides, sulfa antibiotics, and diuretics increase sensitivity to sunlight and result in skin rashes and sunburn.
UV rays directly from sunlight and indirect sun exposure, such as light reflected by snow and light-shaded sand can penetrate workers' uncovered skin.
[41] Personal protective equipment, engineering, and administrative controls such as the provision of shade cover, and rotating job shifts can minimize the risk of sun exposure for outdoor workers.
[43] Whole-body vibration injuries associated with off-road vehicles in industries such as agriculture, forestry, mining, quarrying and with small-fast boats used off-shore.
Ionizing (alpha, beta, gamma, X-ray, neutron), and non-ionizing radiation (microwave, intense infrared, radio frequency, ultraviolet, laser at visible and non-visible wavelengths), can also be a potent hazard.
