MEASURING OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY RISKS IN TOURISM COMPANIES

Abstract

The present paper focuses on a particular methodology for measuring the occupational health and safety risks in tourism companies by numerical risk coefficients. The methodology is based on the achievements of several US and international research and innovation development programs, such as: “SSP”, “ISSP”, “F/A-18” and “AFMC”. Under this methodology, the occupational health and safety risks are regarded as a function of three variable factors: the likelihood of occurrence of a negative, risk event; the consequences from the realization of this very same risk event and the immediacy of occurrence of the risk event in respect of time. The values of each of these three variables are being measured by the help of score card estimation tables and are being presented as per a zero-referent scale of 1 to 10 or of 1 to 100. Thus a final estimation of the value of a certain occupational health and safety risk can be achieved. The advantages and the opportunities for improving of this methodology on an enterprise level are reviewed as well. The main advantage which is pointed out is that the methodology could by used even by inexperienced tourism company which has small or small or no past record of health and safety risk measurement In the addition to the risk measurement and quantification methodology, a set of criteria for acceptance of the occupational health and safety risks are also presented. This includes: the usage of risk matrixes, the “f-N” curves and the “ALARP” principle.