Quantitative assessment of occupational safety and health: Application of a general methodology to an Italian multi-utility company

Abstract

The core of safety practice is the occupational safety risk assessment, which is quite often a complex process since it requires to take into account parameters that are often difficult to quantify. The European Council Directive 89/391/EC is concerned with the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). Among other issues, it deals with risk assessment and preventive measures.In this framework a novel methodology named M.I.M.O.SA. (Methodology for the Implementation and Monitoring of Occupational SAfety) has been developed with the aim of quantify the occupational health and safety level of a company and thus of its OHS Management System (OHSMS). The methodology was born within a project where a multi-disciplinary team discussed the main topics involved in occupational safety and finally a global index, which takes into account, among others, both technical and organizational aspects, was defined.In this work after a brief description of the key concepts of this methodology, it has been applied to one activity of an Italian multiutility company in order to test its applicability to a real case study. Once the performance of the OHSMS was assessed, thanks to the quantification of the different aspects that concur to its global level, it has been possible to identify the priority of interventions for improvements, so that the management process becomes more effective and efficient. In addition, from this first application of the methodology some issues emerged that could be useful for its future improvement.