Some Aspects of Hazards Analysis and Assessment of the Degree of Occupational Risk Based on a Risk-Based Approach

Abstract

Occupational safety is a priority direction in the policy of modern companies in the world. The fundamental category of the occupational safety is a risk-oriented approach. The purpose of the study is to select a methodological approach to assessing occupational risks in the workplaces with identified prerequisites for the realization of hazards and realized hazardous events. The object of the study is a service company that provides services for the maintenance of engineering life support systems of buildings and vehicle management. Over the past 10 years, 6 minor injuries were registered at the enterprise. The realization of 86 % of minor injuries was facilitated by conscious dangerous actions of the employees. It is worth noting that 67 % of minor injuries occurred with employees over the age of 56 years. The identified hazards are ranked according to two classifications: for reasons of hazards arising at the workplaces (work zones) during the performance of work, in case of an unexpected (emergency) situation; based on the nature of action and mechanism of action. The assessment of occupational risks was carried out using the matrix method and the Fine-Kinney method, as they are the easiest to use and widely used in domestic and foreign practice. The linear and quadratic interpolations usage for intermediate values of the likelihood of occurrence of a hazardous event and the exposure to a potentially dangerous situation in the classical Fine-Kinney method allows to determine more adequate levels of occupational risks in the workplaces and put emphasis on the hazards that are implemented due to the employee psycho-emotional characteristics (manifestation of a person character). For the workplaces where, as part of operational monitoring of the state of occupational safety, the prerequisites for the occurrence of a hazardous event were identified, it is proposed to use linear interpolation of the values of the probability of occurrence of a hazardous event and exposure to a hazardous event using the classical Fine-Kinney method; for the workplaces in which employees over the age of 56 years work at a certain period of time — quadratic interpolation. Aposteriori, i.e. determined through the conducted empirical study, increasing the levels of occupational risks when applying linear and quadratic interpolations in the classical Fine-Kinney method is a preventive measure aimed at fostering a conscious attitude towards compliance with the occupational safety requirements and improving the implementation of a risk-oriented approach.