Emphasizing on the Neglected Parts of Risk Management Process in Occupational Health and Safety Management, Using the European Statistics for Accidents at Work Codification, Communication – Human Information Processing Model and Management Standards

Abstract

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management has been one of the first areas of implementation of Risk Management process. However, due to the extended application of OHS management in all organization and the requirements for compliance with relevant legislation, focus for standardization was set mostly on the technical aspects (risk identification and risk evaluation), whereas other aspects (risk treatment, risk communication, monitoring and reporting) were left to be treated ad hoc, intuitively or following regulated requirements. According to the Risk Management process, as described by the standard ISO 31000:2018, these aspects are equally important for effective management of risks. This paper aims to present the whole Risk Management process for OHS risks, emphasizing on these neglected aspects and presenting documented tools to effectively incorporate them in the structured application of OHS management. The importance of defining the scope, context and criteria of OHS management, as well as the selection of certain risk treatment strategy for each risk is emphasized. Use of ESAW (European Statistics for Accidents at Work) taxonomy for risk identification is proposed, an evaluation scheme for measures is presented, the C-HIP model is proposed to be integrated for communication, recording registry information is discussed and ISO 45001:2018 PDCA structure is proposed for continuous monitoring and review.