Safety abbreviations list

Safety abbreviations list is the representation of a word or the words of a phrase by one or more of the letters from them, the first of which must be the initial. In the world of the occupational health and safety management system, some technical works can be found in standards, program explanations and reports. This is why this time we will share some of the most used Occupational Health and Safety abbreviations.

In this blog, we will also cover “what is the abbreviation for safety” because I am not the only one who gets confused when it comes to referring to the Safety abbreviations list related to risk prevention. You know H&S, OSH, OHS, EHS, HSE, OH&S, EH&S …..STOP! End of the blog a brief history of occupational health and safety.

Workplace health and safety abbreviations list

Occupational health and safety (OSH) is a broad field, and there are many different terms and concepts associated with it. Using abbreviations can help to make communication about OSH more concise and efficient.

ACM	Asbestos-containing material
ACOP	Approved Code of Practice
AED	Automated External Defibrillator
AIHA	American Industrial Hygiene Association
ALARP	As low as reasonably practicable
ANSI	American National Standards Institute
APHA	American Public Health Association
APR	Air-Purifying Respirator
ARCA	Asbestos Removal Contractors Association
ASP	Associate Safety Professional
ASSE	American Society of Safety Engineers
ASTM	American Society for Testing Materials
ATC	Automatic Temperature Compensation
BA	Breathing apparatus
BBP	Bloodborne Pathogens
IDIP	INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMA
BBS	Behaviour-Based Safety
BCSP	Board of Certified Safety Professionals
BS	British Standards
BSI	British Standards Institute
CAS	Chemical Abstracts Service (Number)
CDM	Construction (Design and Management) Regulations
CE	Conformance European
cfm	Cubic feet per minute
CFR	Code of Federal Regulations
CGA	Compressed Gas Association
CIH	Certified Industrial Hygienist
COSHH	Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health
CSA	Canadian Standards Association
CSP	Certified Safety Professional
dB	Decibels
dB(A)	Decibels A-Scale
DOE	Department of Energy
DOL	Department of Labor
DOT	Department of Transportation
DSE	Display screen equipment
DSEAR	Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations
EHS	Environmental Health and Safety
ELV	Exposure limit value
EN	European Norms
EPA	Environmental Protection Act 1990
ESCBA	Escape Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus
FDA	Food and Drug Administration
FID	Flame Ionization Detector
FR	Flame Resistant
FRC	Fire resistance clothing
FIFRA	Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
FM	Factory Mutual
FR	Flame Resistant
GFCI	Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter
GHS	Globally Harmonized System
GPM	Gallons per minute
GSA	General Service Administration
HAZWOPER	Hazardous Waste Operation and Emergency Response
HAZID	Hazard identificationHazard Recognition
HAZMAT	Hazardous materials
HAV	Hand-arm vibration
HCA	Hazardous Communication ActHazard communication program
HDPE	High-Density Polyethylene
HEPA	High-efficiency particulate Air (filtration)
Hg	Mercury
HGV	Heavy goods vehicle
HMIG	Hazardous Materials Identification Guide
HMIS	Hazardous Materials Information System
HMTA	Hazardous Materials Transportation Act
hp	Horsepower
HSE	Health and Safety Executive
HSW	Act Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
HVAC	Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
IAQ	Indoor Air Quality
IARC	International Agency for Research on Cancer
IATA	International Air Transportation Association
HVAC	Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
IDLH	Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health
IR	Infrared
ISEA	Industrial Safety Equipment Association
ISO	International Organization for Standardization
JSA	Job Safety AnalysisSafety Job Analysis
LCD	Liquid Crystal Display
LDPE	Low-Density Polyethylene
LED	Light-Emitting Diode
LEL	Lower Explosive Limit
LLDPE	Linear Low-Density Polyethylene
LOTO	Lockout Tagout
LPG	Liquefied petroleum gas
MEL	Maximum exposure limit
mg/m3	Milligrams per meter cubed
mil	1 mil equals 1/1000 of an inch
mppcf	Million particles per cubic foot
MSA	Mine Safety Appliances
MSHA	Mine Safety and Health Administration
NEBOSH	National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health
NEC	National Electric Code
NEMA	National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association
NEPA	National Environmental Policy Act
NESHAP	National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
NFC	National Fire Code
NFPA	National Fire Protection Association
NFR	National Fire Rating
NIOSH	National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
NIST	National Institute of Standards and Technology
NPDES	National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
NRC	Nuclear Regulatory Commission
NRR	Noise Reduction Rating
NSC	National Safety Council
NSF	National Sanitation Federation
NTP	National Toxicology Program;
NVQ	National Vocational Qualification
OHSAS	Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series
OSH	Occupational Safety and Health
OSHA	Occupational Safety and Health Administration
PAPR	Powered Air-Purifying Respirator
PEL	Permissible Exposure Limit
PFAS	Personal Fall Arrest System
pH	Hydrogen ion concentration
PPE	Personal Protective Equipment
ppm	Parts per million, 1 x 10-6
ppb	Parts per billion, 1 x 10-9
psi	Pounds per square inch
psig	Pounds per square inch gauge
PSM	Process Safety Management
PUWER	The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations
RA	Risk assessment
RCD	Residual current device
RCRA	Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
REL	Recommended Exposure Limit
RIDDOR	The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
RoSPA	Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
RPE	Respiratory protective equipment
SCBA	Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus
SDS	Safety Data Sheet
S.E.T.R.A.F.	Safety of Enclosures for Toxics Using Recirculating Air Filtration
SRL	Self-Retracting Lifeline
STEL	Short-Term Exposure Limit
TDS	Totally Dissolved Solids
TLV	Threshold Limit Value
TSCA	Toxic Substance Control Act
TWA	Time-Weighted Average
UEL	Upper Explosive Limit
UFC	Uniform Fire Code
UL	Underwriter’s Laboratory
ULC	Underwriters Laboratories of Canada
UN	United Nations
USFDA	United States Food and Drug Administration
UV	Ultraviolet
VDT	Video Display Terminal
VOC	Volatile Organic Compound
WBGT	Wet Bulb Glove Temperature
WBV	Whole body vibration
WEL	Workplace exposure limit
WEEL	Workplace Environmental Exposure Limit
WHMIS	Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System
WHO	World Health Organization
WRULD	Work-related upper limb disorder
SHEMs	SAFETY HEALTH ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
SMP	STANDARD MAINTENANCE PROCEDURE
SOP	STANDARD OPERATION PROCEDURE
JHA	JOB HAZARD ANALYSIS
JLA	JOB LOSS ANALYSIS
HIRA	HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND RISK ANALYSIS
ASAP	AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
HPJ	HIGH PRESSURE JETTING
REL	RECOMMENDED EXPOSURE LIMIT
OMS	OPERATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
PTW	PERMIT TO WORK
MSD	MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDER
ERT	EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM
LMRA	LAST-MINUTE RISK ASSESSMENT
CS	CONFINED SPACE
RT	RADIOGRAPHY TEST
H2S	HYDROGEN SULFIDE
CO	CARBON MONOXIDE
CO2	CARBON DIOXIDE
IGC	INTERNATIONAL GENERAL CERTIFICATE
CSM	CONSTRUCTION SAFETY MANUAL
MEWP	MOBILE ELEVATED WORKING PLATFORMS
WAT	WORK AT HEIGHT
WPR	WORK PERMIT RECEIVER
RSO	RADIATION SAFETY OFFICER
PASS	P - PULL THE PIN, A - AIM AT THE BASE, S - SQUEEZE THE LEVER, S - SWEEP SIDE TO SIDE
SABIC	SAUDI ARABIAN BASIC INDUSTRIAL COMPANY
TBT	TOOLBOX TALK
TBM	TOOLBOX MEETING
LSR	LIFE-SAVING RULES
SLR	SELF RETRACTING LIFELINE
O2	OXYGEN
ELCB	EARTH LEAKAGE CIRCUIT BREAKER
EOLB	EQUIPMENT OPENING/LINE BREAK
ALARP	AS LOW AS REASONABLY PRACTICABLE
COMAH	CONTROL OF MAJOR ACCIDENT HAZARD
NIOSH	NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH
HASWA	THE HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK ACT 1974
OHSAS	OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT SERIES
HS	HEALTH AND SAFETY
OHS	OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
QHSE	QUALITY HEALTH SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT
HSEQ	HEALTH SAFETY ENVIRONMENT AND QUALITY
HSSE	HEALTH SAFETY SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT
EHSS	ENVIRONMENT HEALTH SAFETY AND SECURITY

What is the abbreviation for Safety?

If you are not familiar with the international field of prevention, many times they lead to confusion when doing related searches on the internet. This blog is a simple but necessary exercise that consists of clarifying the Safety abbreviations list used internationally. Started with the simplest…

• ‘HS’ stands for “Health and Safety”, it is the simplest and most ambiguous way of referring to “health and safety”. It can also be found as SH, “Safety and Health”.
• OSH is the occupational HS, that is, health and safety at work. As in the previous case, their terms can be interchanged and appear as OHS.
• This is not the same as OSHA, which stands for the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration. More entities in the world use this acronym with some variation: EU-OSHA for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.
• Take care of the order in which you write the “H” and the “S”, since the term OHSA could lead you to the Canadian regulations on occupational safety, specifically its Occupational Health and Safety Act.
• Adding one more letter, there is OHSAS, which stands for the OHSAS 18001 series of standards, the recognized standard for occupational risk prevention management systems.
• When health and safety are performed in a company along with environmental functions, the proper term is EHS (Environment, Health and Safety).
• HSE is the official name of the British government’s independent supervisory body, the Health and Safety Executive.

Finally, there are formal variations such as H&S (Health and Safety), OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety) or EH&S (Environment, Health and Safety) which are the same as the basic HS, OHS and EHS but with a fancy twist. The latest trend (added in February 2017) is that of EHS&S.

In other words, be careful when you see a job offer where they are looking for an “EH&S supervisor” for England with solid knowledge of OHSAS regulations, it is not going to be that your OSH master’s degree is insufficient for the HSE…

From a professional perspective, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS, EH&S, HSE, ESH, or SHE) is the group or organization responsible for environmental protection, workplace safety, occupational health and safety and compliance, and best practices. Other Safety abbreviations list are:

• SHE: Safety, Health and Environment
• QHSE: Quality, Health, Safety and Environment
• HSEQ: Health, Safety, Environment and Quality
• HSSE: Health, safety, security and environment
• QHSSE: Quality, Health, Safety, Security and Environment
• HSSEQ: Health, safety, security, environment and quality

Below is a Safety abbreviations list that mostly covers the same areas of responsibility:

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Nuclear
• Regulatory Commission (NRC)
• Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA),
• European Union (EU standards)
• Health and Safety at Work Act (EU-OSHA)
• The United States Chemical Safety Board (CSB)
• Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
• Comprehensive Environmental Liability,
• Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• The United States Department of Transportation (DOT)
• More recently, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (with the acronym GHS, thank goodness!) was added.

Conclusion

Here are some of the reasons why OSH requires abbreviation:

• To save space: When writing or speaking about HSE, it can be helpful to use abbreviations to save space. This is especially true in technical documents or presentations, where there is often limited space to write.
• To improve clarity: Abbreviations can also help to improve clarity in communication about OSH. This is because they can be used to represent complex terms or concepts more concisely. For example, the abbreviation “OSHA” can be used to refer to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a government agency that enforces workplace safety regulations in the United States.
• To promote consistency: The use of abbreviations can help to promote consistency in communication about OSH. This is because it ensures that everyone is using the same terms and concepts. This can be especially important when communicating with people from different countries or cultures, who may not be familiar with all of the same terms.

WBGT VS Heat Index