M. Rantala, Maria Lindholm, Sari Tappura, J. Kivistö-Rahnasto
{"title":"Identifying occupational health and safety risk assessment development\u0000 needs in Finnish case companies","authors":"M. Rantala, Maria Lindholm, Sari Tappura, J. Kivistö-Rahnasto","doi":"10.54941/ahfe1004141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1004141","url":null,"abstract":"Risk assessment is a key tool in occupational safety work at workplaces.\u0000 A systematic risk assessment can be used to meet the statutory obligation to\u0000 determine and assess the hazard and risk factors for the safety and health\u0000 of employees in companies of all sizes. Furthermore, by developing risk\u0000 assessments, workplaces can reduce accidents and improve the safety and\u0000 healthiness of working conditions. Since a lot of time and resources are\u0000 used for risk assessment at workplaces, the assessment should be efficient\u0000 and successful. With risk assessment, companies can simultaneously improve\u0000 job productivity and competitiveness and support the preservation of\u0000 workers' ability to work. Previous studies have suggested that risk\u0000 assessment development needs include, for example, the development of\u0000 resourcing and improvement of communication, competence and knowledge. This\u0000 study aims to produce knowledge of Finnish workplaces' risk assessment\u0000 development needs related to safety and health at work in order to better\u0000 meet the company's own needs. The material was acquired with a new\u0000 questionnaire that aids organizations in finding out personnel's perceptions\u0000 of the practices and development needs of occupational safety risk\u0000 assessment. Based on the responses, development targets can be identified,\u0000 and risk assessment skills in different parts of an organization can be\u0000 compared. The questionnaire can be used to determine, for example, whether\u0000 the objectives of risk assessment have been understood within an\u0000 organization. The questionnaire includes both closed and open-ended\u0000 questions. The open-ended questions clarify previous selections and for\u0000 example, suggest ways to arrange training to an organization. The\u0000 questionnaire was part of a larger project, and the questions were based on\u0000 previous phases of the project. Four companies piloted the questionnaire.\u0000 After receiving feedback, a few modifications were made. The process and\u0000 methods of creating the questionnaire will be described in more detail in\u0000 the article. The final questionnaire was sent to three organizations. The\u0000 first is a part of a public organization, the second is a private company in\u0000 the transport sector, and the third organization provides maintenance\u0000 services for industrial companies. The companies' contact persons forwarded\u0000 the link to the questionnaire respondents, and 348 responses were received.\u0000 The results were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The\u0000 revealed development needs generally concerned, among others, the planning\u0000 of risk assessment, which includes for instance risk assessment goals and\u0000 frameworks planned by the organizations. Regarding the definition of\u0000 measures, the determination of risk assessment and management was raised. In\u0000 addition, communication about the progress of the determined measures, going\u0000 through the risk assessment with the employees, giving feedback to those\u0000 conducting the assessment, and clearly documenting t","PeriodicalId":231376,"journal":{"name":"Human Systems Engineering and Design (IHSED 2023): Future Trends\n and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129862077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}