INTRODUCTION
Ensuring safety and security in the workplace is crucial for maintaining an effective and efficient business. Companies prioritize safeguarding their operations to prevent harm to anyone involved, implementing various health and safety strategies to protect people from potential hazards. This report focuses on the health and safety practices at Buncefield Oil Terminal, one of the largest oil and fuel suppliers in the UK. The report delves into the health and safety challenges faced by Buncefield, exploring relevant theories and practices in health, safety, and environmental management. It also examines the successful management of safety and risk within the UK’s downstream gas and oil sector. The Buncefield incident of 2005, one of the most significant explosions in UK history, is analyzed in detail, highlighting the safety and health issues it caused. Additionally, the report evaluates the broader impact of this accident on the UK’s oil and gas sector, noting common health problems such as exacerbation of asthma, sore throat, cough, and shortness of breath resulting from such incidents.
MAIN BODY
Evidence and effects of tobacco smoking in UK
It has been observed that people become addicted to the smoking very quickly due to the presence of nicotine. The nicotine is a kind of drug that is present in tobacco items and primarily cause addiction. During the teen age, such practice majorly becomes more static and habitual. Nicotine once getting into human system can result in causing pleasant feelings and deflect the smoker from unhappy situations, due to which individual gets attracted more. Because of such relief the person tends to increase the dose of tobacco and the health status of such people starts deteriorating. It has been evidenced that due to high smoking, lung cancer is majorly caused and around 85% of the people living in United Kingdom died due to such cancer.
From the prior studies, it has been derived that not only the lungs which are affected by constant smoking but many organs of human body gets compromised (Cahill and et.al., 2016). From the smoke, the harmful substance from the tar enters inside the blood of a person, due to this the blood becomes viscous which eventually enhances the probability of clot building. Such activity further leads in high blood pressure followed by narrowing of veins and arteries, which consequences in lower quantity of oxygen in blood due to which whole body gets less oxygen. Once the blood circulation gets hampered, it influences the heart rate and functioning. Smoking maximises the risk of heart attack, cardiovascular disorders, strokes, cerebrovascular disease or coronary heart problems. The carbon monoxide which is released from the smoke in blood system put pressure on the heart and force it to run more faster and quicker than normal, thus affecting its processing and leading to high mortality rate in the respective country. At most cases type 2 diabetes is more common than type 1, smoking has being directly blamed for causing diabetes (Eysenck, 2018).
High tobacco smoking in UK have the potential to cause stomach ulcers. Such ill habit can diminish the muscle strength which actually control the major end of oesophagus and lead in back flow of acid from the stomach. Due to the process of reflux, the acid flows in inaccurate direction, causing ulcers and as per recorded, 14.4% of adults in UK are categorised as current smokers. Constant smokers have a major risk of damaging kidney and later developing kidney cancer. As evidenced earlier that high smoking can reduce the amount of oxygen in the body, such process reduces the level the oxygen from the skin which make the part dull and aged. The toxins released from tobacco causes cellulite and the skin prematurely start looking grey with facial wrinkles. The complexion of a person gets hollow and an individual looks twice their age.
Brain, which is considered as most vital part of a human body also get highly affected due to tobacco smoking. The chance of having stroke is increased by 50% due to smoking, which have the ability to cause severe damage to the brain and eventual death in UK. The risk of getting brain aneurysm is increased which later exponentially enhance the chance of stroke. The bulging out of blood vessel in the brain known as brain aneurysm (Taylor and et.al., 2017). Such bulge is caused by the weakening of walls of blood vessel in brain, the ballooned blood vessel may get ruptured and lead to subarachnoid haemorrhages, which is also a kind of stroke and ultimately result in brain damage. Lungs are adversely affected by smoking and its tar, the start of damage is marked by high coughing, cold and asthma which take a shape of lung cancer, pneumonia and emphysema. As per the record, around 83% of mortality is caused by Chronic Obstructive pulmonaria disease (COPD) in UK and 84% approximately die due to lung cancers by constant smoking habit. COPD is a deadly disease cause due to accumulated effect of emphysema and bronchitis, where the person face trouble in breathing. Major symptoms of COPD is often chest infections, cough and high breathlessness.
Excessive smoking lead to cause issues like stained teeth, stinky breath and may diminish the sense of taste. Most of the harm is being caused in the mouth and throat, which can consequence in occurring cancers in voice box, lips, oesophagus, tongue and throat. It has been evidenced that 93% of oropharyngeal cancer are caused by high smoking. It is being found that one of the reason of male impotency is smoking, due to the damage of blood veins that are responsible in delivering blood to male reproductive part the body gets impaired. Such habit may also lower the count of sperm or may harm the quality of sperms forever and later cause testicular cancer. Chances of acquiring cervical cancer are also high while smoking (Maziak and et.al., 2015). The ability to reproduce is lost in women and their fertility is greatly attenuated that adversely affects the chance of getting pregnant and if by any chance they get pregnant there is a high probability that the child may be impaired either physically or mentally. It has been evidenced that in UK, 10.6% of mothers were found to smoke heavily at their pregnancy time and during delivery. The effects of smoking while pregnancy exceeds the chance of getting large number of health issues in the babies involving low birth weight, high defects or still birth. Sudden infant death syndrome is also common in those infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy.
Possible interventions
All the above discussed evidences and impacts of tobacco smoking can be improved and regulated by adopting all possible interventions in the day to day life of people who are addicted of smoking. Brief advice of physician to the smokers may lessen their pain and full body check up helps in denoting the current status of health, such visits hardly take 5 minutes and during such visit they become acquainted with their recent state and take precautions to cope up with the emerging issues. Another intervention related to smoking in UK is telephonic counselling which comforts the smokers while taking to them and helping them by lowering their depression and eliminating their stress, so that they can give up on such habit. The counselling intervention may be used with other kinds of interventions like advice from doctors or pharmacotherapy.
Nicotine patch are widely used to reduce the level of addiction, this patch releases nicotine inside the human system through skin contact which eventually cease the addiction. Nicotine inhaler and spray are also used which ultimately works in lowering the level of addiction. Pharmacotherapy is a kind of treatment which are being rendered to the addicted people for minimising the symptoms of withdrawals, tobacco craving by providing some medications, radiations, surgery or through some other ways. Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) are utilised for making the smokers quit smoking, such therapies are administered by gums, lozenges, patches or inhalers which demonstrate same effects like tobacco to lower the withdrawals. Varenicline is a medicine that is taken orally to neutralise the nicotine signs in the patients. Buproprion is also a medicine which minimise the symptoms and cravings of smoking, it also has a major role in reducing depression in such victims. The administration of such therapies as well as medications may have a post effects like vomiting, insomnia, weight loss, nervousness, skin irritation, nausea and many (Lindson, Thompson and Begh, 2015). Such effects are usually lowered after some time and then a person leads normal and happy life.
Five prime steps are being taken as a part of possible intervention for those who are willing to lay off such poor habit. 5 A's which are utilised are ask, which determines the amount of tobacco an individual use in a day, the overall health condition of the patients is being analysed and major concern are rendered to those parts which are at risk of getting damaged or retarded. Another step is advise, where the health consultant focus on giving powerful statements in most personal and organised manner to urge the patient to quit such habit. Next step is to assess, which identifies whether the victims wants to quit right now, or they are willing to quit at certain period of time. The urge must be measured on the scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is not ready to quit while 10 is complete willingness state. Assist is an another step, which actually involve in providing pharmacotherapy, medications and counselling to the smokers to making them quit the habit as soon as possible. The local health practitioners provide some cessation programmes and services for comforting the victims of smoking (Babb, 2017). Arrange is the last step of such intervention, which set the date of visit and arrange contact via telephonic interaction to the smokers for making them visit every week for assistance. Follow up is regarded essential in this step, the calls which are made motivate the people to join the programme again and those who have successfully left such habit are congratulated. More suggestions are provided to those individuals who are still in such habit.
Recommendations
Due to high mortality rate in the people living in UK from smoking, few recommendations have been suggested for improving the condition as well as the state of a person so that they lead safe and healthy life. The health practitioners play very vital role in regulating the condition of smokers and making their physical and mental status normal. Such care providers are suggested to make each and every patients more aware about the after effects of the smoking on the body. The nurses who are working in the health care department have the capability to maximise the prevention measures and promote such strategies which clearly cease the habit of smoking in UK. The health providers are always at the place where they can keep the track of smokers and make such high end evidences for promoting the better clinical practices which rely on tobacco dependent consumers which eventually aids in eliminating the chances of making more addiction and render chance to quit smoking. Pregnant women living in the UK, must get aware about the ill effects of smoking on the baby, such women are recommended to regularly get in touch with the health providers for making their condition stable with respect to their health. Free medicines and therapies must be rendered to the underprivileged and poor community in UK so that they can cope up with such habit and make their life free of tobacco and tar.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that being free of illness does not necessarily equate to being healthy. A person must be healthy from mental, social, and physical perspectives. The alarming rate of deaths due to lung cancer in the UK is primarily due to high smoking rates. The adverse effects of this habit damage the heart, brain, skin, blood circulation, lips, mouth, throat, reproduction, fertility, lungs, and more. Potential interventions like NRT, telephonic counseling, nicotine patches, inhalers, and the use of medicines are employed to improve the condition of affected individuals. Health practitioners should make individuals aware of the need to avoid such habits. For those struggling to understand these concepts, seeking assignment help or utilizing an essay typer can provide additional support.
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