Target Organ: The primary site of attack in the human body of a particular chemical or substance.
		Task Culture: A style of organisational behaviour offered by Charles Handy which describes a lively, ad-hoc, versatile approach oriented to the task.
		Taylor (Frederick W): Management guru of the early 1900’s who was a proponent of the school of scientific management.
		Technical File: A collection of specified information and documentation listed in a product directive which includes: drawings, test results, calculations, a list of the relevant essential health and safety requirements and EU standards. The technical file need not exist per se, but must be capable of being assembled at the request of the enforcement authority.
		Technique of Operations Review (TOR): Analytical failure tracing technique based upon key phrases which, when identified as relevant, direct the user to other relevant causal factors for consideration. Its main strength is that it always directs the user away from ‘fault of person’ and considers management system failures instead.
		Temporary Threshold Shift: A temporary condition of hearing loss occurring immediately after exposure to high noise levels. See Permanent Threshold Shift.
		Teratogen: A substance which if inhaled, ingested or penetrates the skin, may involve a risk of subsequent non-hereditable birth defects in offspring.
		Terminal Velocity: The constant velocity of a particle falling freely in still air achieved when the force exerted by gravity is equal to the resistance imposed by the air.
		Thermal Conductivity Detector: In sample analysis, uses a hot wire or a thermistor as the sensing device. The readout is based upon the heat transfer from the hot filament to a cooler surface as the gas conducts heat from the filament to the wall. The amount of electrical energy supplied to the filament remains constant so any change in temperature (of the filament) will be a function of the thermal conductivity of the gas and its concentration.
		Thermal Runaway: Heat production at a rate which exceeds the ability to provide cooling. It can occur in a reaction because: as the temperature increases, the rate at which heat is removed increases linearly, but the rate at which heat is produced increases exponentially. Temperature can rise rapidly with little time for correction.
		Thermoluminescent Material: Irradiated material which releases light in proportion to the ionising radiation absorbed when it is subsequently heated.
		THERP: Techniques for Human Error Rate Prediction – the objective is to predict human error probabilities in order to evaluate their effect on the operating system as a whole.
		Third Party: A person not employed by an organisation but who interacts with it in some way, eg a contractor, member of the public, lawful visitor or even trespasser.
		Thoracic Dust: Dust of less than 10 microns in diameter which will escape the filtering effects of the nose and mouth and reach into the lungs. See Total Inhalable Dust and Respirable Dust.
		Threshold Limit Value: USA equivalent to our occupational exposure limits often referred to in hazard or chemical data sheets, (especially imports from USA). Warning not UK currency.
		Through Tie: A method of fixing a scaffold to a permanent or existing structure which relies on a tube placed vertically inside a window opening and fixed to the scaffold outside by means of a tie tube.
		Time Weighted Average: The average concentration of airborne contaminant measured over a normal 8 hour workday and 40 hour work week to which nearly all workers may be repeatedly exposed, day after day, without adverse effect.
		Tinnitus: Involuntary sensation of noises in the ear such as buzzing or ringing, often associated with exposure to high noise levels.
		TLV: Threshold Limit Value.
		Toe Board: A board fixed at the lip of a working platform intended to prevent the falls of materials over the edge of the platform.
		Tolerable Risk: A level of risk which is deliberately run for the benefit which is gained from running it. See also Acceptable Risk and Unacceptable Risk.
		TOR: Technique of Operations Review.
		Tort: A civil wrong for which the remedy is a common law action for unliquidated damages, and which is not exclusively the breach of a contract or the breach of a trust or other merely equitable obligation.
		Tortfeasor: The person responsible for committing the tort.
		Total Inhalable Dust: Dust of less than 100 microns diameter capable of entering the nose and mouth during normal breathing, (Source BSEN 481). See Thoracic Dust and Respirable Dust.
		Tour: See Safety Tour.
		Tower Crane: These feature heavily on the skylines of most cities and are constructed in situ from prefabricated sections. The long jib is counterbalanced by cantilevers or concrete blocks.
		Toxic: A designation given to a substance which presents a serious hazard to health which is able to produce injury at a site in or on the body.
		Toxicology: The study of the nature and action of poisons.
		Training: A planned systematic process designed to modify attitude, knowledge, skill or behaviour through learning. See On the Job and Off the Job Training.
		Transom: The metal pole set between the outer ledger and the inner ledger of a scaffold which supports the working platform.
		Transport Velocity: The velocity of air flowing through a local exhaust ventilation system required to keep an airborne contaminant in suspension until it reaches the air cleaning device.
		Transposed Harmonised Standards: A EU standard which has been agreed by CEN and identically worded throughout the member states in order to ensure that no state can block the importation of products meeting that standard.
		Travel Distance: The actual distance a person must travel between any point in a building and the nearest door to a protected route or a final exit in the event of fire.
		Trend Analysis: Visual representation of accident performance over a period of time, typically over monthly, quarterly and yearly periods. Conclusions drawn from the patterns illustrated should take account of any variables during the period under review such as number of hours worked, changes in staffing levels, production levels etc.
		Trespass: A type of tort. See Trespass to Land, Trespass to Goods and Trespass to Person.
		Trespass to Goods: The unlawful physical interference with another person’s goods.
		Trespass to Land: The unlawful entry, remaining, or deposit of a material object(s) on another person’s land.
		Trespass to Person: The assault, battery or false imprisonment of a person.
		Trespasser: A person who has no lawful right to be in the place they are.
		Tribunal: See Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal.
		Trip Device: A protective device which detects the presence or entry of a person into the danger zone and cuts power to the machine eg antenna, pressure sensitive mat, photo-electric beam etc.
		Turnbull Report: Report of a working party led by Nigel Turnbull giving guidance on risk management, internal control and corporate governance for companies listed in the Stock Exchange. Now considered universally applicable (in principle) to any company seeking to improve its risk management.
		TWA: Time Weighted Average.
		Two Handed Control: A protective device which requires a machine operator to activate two start controls simultaneously before the machine will operate, the object being to keep the operator’s hands out of the danger zone.
		Tyndall Beam: A very strong light source which presents an effective method of showing up the dispersion in atmosphere of respirable dust or fume not normally visible to the naked eye.
		Type Approval: Examination of a product by an EU approved body which confirms that the product type conforms fully with transposed harmonised standards.

Disclaimer:
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this book opinions may vary regarding some concepts. The Key Consultancy Ltd and Safety and Health Practitioner accept no responsibility for any loss arising from reliance on this content and readers should take steps to verify interpretations to their own satisfaction if there is doubt.