Office: Common Hazards
Chemical Agents
Risk of:
- Health effects such as dermatitis.
 
Possible causes:
- Exposure to cleaning chemicals and toners.
 
Electricity
Risk of:
- Burns.
 - Electric shock.
 - Death.
 - Fire.
 
Possible causes:
- Faulty or poorly maintained equipment.
 
Equipment
Risk of:
Possible causes:
- Faulty equipment.
 - No or poor maintenance of equipment.
 - User inattention.
 
Ergonomic Hazards
Risk of:
- Pains in back, neck or arms.
 
Possible causes:
- Poorly set up computer or office workstations.
 - Over reaching or stretching.
 - Repetitive tasks such as data entry.
 - Poor ergonomics of software.
 
Fire
Risk of:
- Smoke inhalation.
 - Burns.
 - Death.
 
Possible causes:
- Overloaded sockets or extension leads.
 - Faulty equipment.
 - Unmaintained equipment.
 
Manual Handling
Risk of:
- Musculoskeletal disorders.
 
Possible causes:
- Lifting heavy items such as boxes of photocopy paper.
 - Lack of physical activity.
 
Noise
Risk of:
- Fatigue and inefficiency.
 - Impaired concentration.
 - Increased mental and emotional strain.
 
Possible causes:
- Exposure to low level noise (ringing phones, equipment generated noise, non-relevant conversations of colleagues in open plan offices).
 
Slips, Trips and Falls
Risk of:
- Minor injuries such as cuts to major injuries such as broken bones, concussion and even death.
 
Possible causes:
- Uneven surfaces.
 - Worn or torn carpets.
 - Badly placed mats.
 - Loose phone cords or computer cables.
 - Trailing cables.
 
 
Working at Height
Risk of:
- Fall resulting in minor injuries such as bruises and cuts to major injuries such as concussion or broken limbs.
 
Possible causes:
- Lack of access equipment such as footstools to access material stored at height.
 
 
Further Information
For further information on related controls click here.
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of hazards and risks.