Abstract
Financial burden due to poor occupational safety practices remains high although occupational health and safety (OHS) have improved in recent years. Conducting risk assessment is one way to improve OHS. Workplaces may not have sufficient expertise in risk assessment. The aim of this study was to identify the needed OHS risk assessment skills, current support in the workplaces and the ways to improve risk assessment skills. This study was conducted with the Delphi survey for OHS experts (n = 13) and with interviews (n = 41) in the case companies. OHS experts agreed that the most significant skills were for employees to identify hazards and minimize risks in one’s work; for supervisors to influence others with a good example; and for OHS experts to understand and manage the wholeness of safety practices and understand and manage the meaning, concepts, and criteria of risk assessment. The current main support methods were learning at work, training and written instructions. However, many of the interviewees felt that they had not received risk assessment training and that the support depended on their activity. Finally, the OHS experts determined that the most feasible ways to improve risk assessment skills were training, coaching and giving clear instructions. Likewise, the interviewees suggested various training methods. Based on these results, concrete development plans to improve risk assessment skills can be made.
Highlights
Even though occupational health and safety (OHS) have been developed and improved in recent years, almost two million employees die each year because of exposure to workrelated risks [1]
Using the Occupational Health and Safety Act as framework, the aim of this study was to recognize what are the risk assessment skills of persons who carry out risk assessment related to OHS; how the skills are currently supported in the workplaces; and how the risk assessment skills can be improved
The composition of the risk assessment team varied considerably depending on the company but usually comprised of the immediate supervisor and the employee(s), the OHS representative, and in some cases, safety/quality manager as well as the work experts
Summary
Even though occupational health and safety (OHS) have been developed and improved in recent years, almost two million employees die each year because of exposure to workrelated risks [1]. The OHS risk management process involves different concepts (e.g., hazard, hazardous events, consequences and risk) which can be defined in different ways, affecting the results of the risk assessment [8,9]. How risk assessors understand these concepts, the differences between them, and the process of risk assessment has a remarkable effect on the results and the success of the risk assessment [10,11,12]. The specific knowledge, experience, abilities, skills, attributes, values, attitudes, understanding and behaviors of the risk assessor may affect the OHS risk assessment results [13,14,15].
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