The growing performance of organizations in promoting occupational risk management as a sign of their commitment to improve working conditions and control of all risks, constituting the same investment and not a cost that facilitates management towards risk prevention associated with the business.
This includes defining the organization's responsibilities and structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, and resources to develop, implement, achieve, review, and maintain the organization's occupational risk prevention policy. ” The improvement of working conditions and environment must be considered as an important and practical objective, which can be achieved with actions such as the control of risk factors; the adaptation of machines and work tools to human capacities; changes in the organization, content and control of work; environmental monitoring and education.
Risk assessment must be a dynamic process, for this, every company in accordance with the Law, must develop an Occupational Risk Prevention System that aims to promote the improvement of the safety and health of workers through the application of appropriate measures and procedures. necessary for the continuous identification of hazards, risk assessment and implementation of the necessary control measures.
1. Labor Risks
“Risk is a permanent variable in all the activities of the organization that influences its development opportunities, but it also affects the results and can jeopardize its stability. Under the premise that "it is not possible to totally eliminate the risks in a system" (Principle of Risk Permanence), it is required to "manage" them in an adequate, coherent and consistent way, by implementing an effective procedure for the GRL ”.
This procedure for the GRL must guarantee the safety of the human factor and the equipment, as well as its well-being, and therefore achieve high levels of quality and productivity with the consequent obtaining of substantial economic benefits.
Risks are one of the contemporary problems of greatest connotation in the world, causing effects on the health of workers, productivity and the consequent economic implications it represents.
2. Definitions of Occupational Risk
NC 18000: 2005 defines risk as: “a combination of the probability of damage occurring and the severity of the consequences thereof”.
It is also understood as:
"The measure of the possibility and magnitude of the adverse impacts, being the consequence of the danger, and is related to the frequency with which the event occurs".
These definitions of risk commonly refer to the risk being present when exposed to a source of danger in combination with a particular activity where harm is likely to occur.
Here is a term of great importance in the topic: danger.
NC 18000: 2005 defines hazard as "a potential source of harm in terms of injury or illness to persons, damage to property, damage to the workplace environment, or a combination of these."
On the other hand, Resolution 39 of the Cuban Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) defines the danger as “an inherent or intrinsic situation with the capacity to cause injury or damage to the health of people, facilities or the environment, also defined as a risk factor ”.
3. Definitions of Occupational Risk Management (GRL)
To arrive at the definition of GRL, we will begin by analyzing the concept of management. NC 18000: 2005 defines management as: “coordinated activities to direct and control an activity or organization”; then, following this approach and relating it to Occupational Risks, the same standard defines risk management as: “systematic application of management policies, procedures and practices to analyze, assess and evaluate risks”.
As can be seen, these definitions frame the GRL as a process that, using the application of related procedures, policies and practices, will allow the identification, evaluation, control and monitoring of Occupational Risks.
4. Elements of Occupational Risk Management (GRL)
For the GRL, it is necessary to take into account the following aspects:
- Hazard and risk identification Risk assessment Risk control Risk monitoring and control.
The OHSAS 18001 Standard, allow to implement, maintain and improve the elimination or reduction of risks and is designed to be integrated into other management systems. Due to its simplicity, it is one of the most widespread occupational safety practices in Europe. In many countries it has been established as a national standard. The basic aspect of this standard is planning of control and risk assessment. All activities must be thoroughly examined and evaluated to discover their dangers, both high and moderate. Once the risks are hierarchized, they are subject to their possibilities of control and corrective actions.
All interlocutors are involved in prevention tasks, establishing a flow of information between them that, duly documented, minimizes bureaucracy. Its premise is to define the objectives of a risk prevention management system, to avoid or minimize workplace accidents, improve the functioning of organizations and help continual improvement in prevention. Based on these principles, it develops the four fundamental pillars on which a prevention system is based: management's responsibility, establishing its extensive priority commitment to all company workers; the implementation of the processes necessary to carry out each activity; risk prevention, such as systematic active behavior, and the cycle of continuous improvement.
5. Identification of hazards and risks
It is the activity carried out to recognize the existing dangers and risks and to be able to subsequently determine the magnitude of affectation that these may present.
NC 18000: 2005 defines the identification of hazards as: “a process that consists of recognizing that a hazard exists and defining its characteristics”.
Identifying hazards and risks is the most important activity within organizations, in terms of Occupational Safety and Health, since it is the most complex and the one that requires the highest level of attention when it comes to prevention.
A correct identification of danger and risks associated with it will decrease the probability of occurrences of accidents and work incidents, as well as the appearance of occupational diseases.
The organization must establish and maintain procedures for the continuous identification of hazards, risk assessment and implementation of the necessary control measures.
These procedures should include:
- Routine and non-routine activities; Activities of all staff with access to the workplace (including subcontractors and visitors); Services or infrastructure in the workplace, provided by the organization or by others.
The organization must ensure that the results of these evaluations and the effects of these controls are taken into account when establishing its OH&S objectives. The organization must document and keep this information updated.
The organization's methodology for hazard identification and risk assessment should:
- Be defined with respect to its scope, nature and time planning to ensure that it is proactive rather than reactive; Provide what is necessary for the classification of risks and the identification of those that must be eliminated or controlled; Be consistent with the operational experience and the capabilities of the risk control measures used; Provide input data in the determination of service or infrastructure requirements, identification of training needs and / or development of operational controls. Provide what is necessary to monitor the actions required with in order to ensure the effectiveness and timeliness of its implementation.
6. Risk assessment
Once the hazards present in the area have been identified, they will be evaluated. For risk assessment, not a few specialist authors on the subject have defined a number of methods that yield both qualitative and quantitative results. There are also specific methods for evaluating a particular risk.
The method shown below falls within the group of qualitative ones, through the analysis of two indicators for its determination:
- Probability of occurrence of damage Consequences of damage
The following phases are developed within the risk assessment stage:
Risk estimation:
NC 18000: 2005 has defined risk estimation as “a process by which the frequency or probability and the consequences that may derive from the materialization of a hazard are determined”.
For each detected hazard, the risk must be estimated. Here the probability and the potential severity (consequences) of the danger materializing are jointly assessed. The risk estimate will provide the information necessary to determine what order of magnitude this is.
Despite the existence of various risk assessment methods, in all cases two key concepts have to be defined: probability and consequence.
Probability: which is the possibility of the occurrence of the risk, which can be measured with frequency criteria or taking into account the presence of internal and external factors that may lead to the risk, although it has never occurred.
Consequence: which is the materialization of a risk can generate different consequences, each with its corresponding probability.
The greater the severity of the foreseeable consequences, the greater the rigor in determining the probability, taking into account that the consequences of the accident must be considered both from the aspect of material damage and physical injury, analyzing both separately.
Probability of damage occurring
The probability of damage occurring can be determined using the following criteria:
- High probability: damage will always or almost always occur Medium probability: damage will sometimes occur Low probability: damage will occur rarely.
Consequences of damage
To determine the consequences of damage, the following should be considered:
- Parts of the body that will be affected Nature of the damage, classifying them in:
- Slightly harmful Harmful Extremely harmful
7. Risk assessment
Risk assessment has been defined by NC 18000: 2005 as: “procedure based on risk analysis to determine if tolerable risk has been reached”, specifying by the same standard the term tolerable risk as: “risk that is accepted in a given context, based on the current values of society and predetermined criteria ”.
Taking into account the level of each risk and the existing controls, it will be possible to decide whether the risk is controlled or not, whether it can be minimized or not.
In this step, by estimating the identified risk and comparing it with the defined tolerable risk value or with results from previous periods, a judgment is made on the tolerability of the risk in question.
If there is a risk determined as moderate, significant or intolerable, it must be controlled with the application of corrective measures and followed up on.
If the need to take preventive measures is deduced from the risk assessment, you should:
- Eliminate or reduce the risk, through preventive measures at the source, organizational, collective protection, individual protection or training and information for workers, and Periodically control the conditions, organization and working methods and the health status of Workers.
8. Control and monitoring of Occupational Risks
NC 18000: 2005 defines risk control as: “a decision-making process to treat and / or reduce risks, based on the information obtained in the risk assessment, to implement corrective actions, demand compliance, and periodic evaluation of its effectiveness ”.
Risk control methods should be chosen taking into account the following principles:
- Combat the risks at their origin Adapt the work to the person, particularly with regard to the conception of jobs, as well as the choice of equipment and methods of work and production, with a view, in particular, to mitigate monotonous and repetitive work and to reduce its health effects Take into account the evolution of the technique Substitute what is dangerous for what entails little or no danger Adopt the measures that put collective protection before the individual Give due instructions to workers.
For the risk control stage, it is required to be systematic in the implementation of measures for the prevention, reduction and eradication of these; it must also be periodically checked and checked that the implanted system is effective and the required practices and procedures are followed.
The result of a risk assessment should be used to make an inventory of actions, in order to design, maintain or improve risk controls.
A good procedure is needed to plan the implementation of the necessary control measures after the risk assessment.
9. Methods used for the analysis of Occupational Risks
In the risk assessment process, different risk analysis methods can be applied, and depending on the results they can provide, they can be:
- Qualitative methods Quantitative methods
These methods allow the risk factors to be determined and the consequences to be estimated, allowing preventive measures to be taken taking into account "experience, good judgment, good practices, specifications and standards".
The most widely used methods in the modern business environment are:
Qualitative methods of risk analysis:
The most widely used qualitative methods are:
- Check lists or check lists Fault tree analysis Task safety analysis Hazard operability analysis (HAZOP) Ishikawa diagram General risk assessment, according to the National Institute Occupational Safety and Hygiene and MUPRESPA, from Spain General risk assessment, according to INSHT and Muprespa Fraternity Modified by Portuondo and Col. de Cuba
Quantitative risk analysis methods:
- Among the most widely used quantitative methods are: Event tree analysis Risk assessment method, by Welberg Anders, Risk assessment method, by William Fine Risk assessment method, by R. Pickers
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