Glossary of OHS Terms

Accident: An unplanned, undesirable energy release which may result in injury to people and/or damage to property.

Acute: Involving a short time.

Chronic: Involving a long time.

Disease: Damage to the body which shows up only after a period of time from first exposure to a hazard.

Dose: Quantity of an environmental agent absorbed by a person.

Emergency:    An event that will produce or exacerbate injury to people and/or damage to property unless immediate intervention occurs.

Environmental Agent:    A chemical, physical (e.g. noise, heat, radiation), biological, mechanical/ergonomic or psychosocial factor present in the work environment.

Error:    An inappropriate or missing action by a person, or failure by equipment. An error is unintentional.

Error Agency:    Factors facilitating an error. These include human behaviour, environment, equipment, design, and  the work system.

Exposure:    Quantity of an environmental agent impinging on a person.

Hazard:    An energy or environmental agent which could produce injury or disease.

Health:    Freedom from the presence of disease in the body.

Injury:    Immediate damage to the body caused by exposure to a hazard.

Management:    The organisation and facilitation of material and human resources to achieve optimum benefit for the business enterprise and society.

Near Miss:    An accident that does not produce an injury or disease.

Occupation:    One’s habitual employment, business, trade, profession, or calling.

Occupational Health and Safety  -  OHS: Prevention of disease and injury caused by workplace influences.

Occupational Hygiene:    Control of exposure from environmental agents as far as is reasonably practicable and the assessment of (and consideration of the acceptability of) the risk to health posed by the controlled agent.

Occupational Safety:    Accident prevention through work systems which are aimed at minimising the risk of injury.

OHS Management:    The design, implementation and maintenance of work activities to minimise, as far as is reasonably practicable, the occurrence of injury and disease.

Personal Protective Equipment  -  PPE:    Equipment worn by workers to reduce risk from occupational safety and occupational health hazards.

Risk:    The chance of the hazard actually causing an injury or a disease.

Risk Assessment:    Judgement as to the likelihood of an agent producing harm to persons under the circumstances of its use.

Risk Management:    The identification and assessment of the risks to which an organisation is exposed and the selection of the most effective way to protect assets and minimise potential losses.

Safety:    Freedom from the danger of injury.

Acknowledgment:  Much of the material contained above is taken from copy previously written by Stephen Altree-Williams and published by Standards Australia in Australian Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety, CB 014 – 1998.