Occupational Risk Analysis Research Articles

A Fuzzy Decision Support System for Risk Prioritization in Fine Kinney-based Occupational Risk Analysis

Analyzing Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) risks requires prioritizing risk, a vital step in hazard and effect analysis (HEA). Currently, there is no existing approach to determine the priority of risk in HEA-based occupational risk analysis that incorporates interactive risk factors and spherical fuzzy risk information. This paper presents a novel approach to address the constraints by introducing a fresh framework for evaluating job-related hazards using HEA by combining the spherical fuzzy set (SFS), the multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) technique, and the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) operator, a more sophisticated approach is achieved within this framework. The SFS is utilized in this framework to depict the more ambiguous and unsure data given by specialists, offering a more efficient approach to handling the fuzzy risk information, encompassing the non-membership degree and hesitation. In addition, an advanced MABAC method is used to prioritize occupational risk. Afterward, we provide a practical instance of utilizing the MABAC technical-oriented risk prioritization approach for evaluating potential occupational dangers in risk analysis.

ANALYSIS OF RISK MANAGEMENT TERMINOLOGY IN EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

An analysis of the main provisions and terms in accordance with domestic and international standards in the field of occupational health and safety of employees (hereinafter referred to as OSH) and risk management was carried out in order to avoid different interpretations in the draft Law on Occupational Safety and Health of Employees. To achieve this goal, the continuous sampling method, the descriptive method, the method of analyzing dictionary definitions, the method of word formation analysis, and the comparative method of component analysis were used. The study was conducted in four stages: analysis of the literature on occupational safety and health protection of workers; selection of terms for analysis; analysis of approaches to defining the concepts of "term", "terminology", analysis of lexical-semantic and structural features of terms; formation of general conclusions and prospects for further research. The justification of the change in the definitions of the main terms in OSH was carried out. It is proposed to present OSH at work as a part of the overall management system of the employer's activities, which is aimed at creating safe working conditions for employees and preserving their health by managing occupational risks. We recommend adding the concept of accident to the terms in the draft Law of Ukraine on occupational safety and health of workers, since the Procedure for Investigations and The Civil Protection Code of Ukraine defines the specified term. It is proposed to define occupational risk as a combination of the probability of occurrence of a work-related hazardous event(s) or exposure(s) and the severity of injury and health impairment that may be caused by this event(s) or exposure(s); occupational risk assessment as a process of comparing the results of occupational risk analysis with risk criteria to determine whether the occupational risk and/or its magnitude is acceptable (acceptable); occupational risk management is preventive and protective measures that reduce and/or modify (change) occupational risk to an acceptable (acceptable) level. The justification of the semantic load of the most used terms in the field of occupational safety and health protection of workers: risk, risk management, acceptable risk, dangerous event, incident was carried out for their qualitative use in the draft Law on Occupational Safety and Health of Workers. Recommendations for the description of terms and definitions for the draft Law of Ukraine on occupational safety and health of workers have been developed.

Analysis of occupational risks in dental technicians

Introduction: Dental technicians are exposed to various occupational risks that can seriously affect their health. These risks include ergonomic, physical, chemical and biological factors, which can cause significant health problems and affect the quality of work life. Therefore, this study seeks to evaluate the risks to which dental technicians are exposed in their work environment and propose preventive and control measures to mitigate the negative effects on their health.Method: A systematic review of the available literature on occupational risks in dental technicians was carried out. Additionally, Saaty's AHP method was applied to determine the relative prevalence of risks and their impact on occupational health.Results: The review revealed that dental technicians face significant exposure to ergonomic (musculoskeletal pain), physical (noise, vibrations, thermal radiation), chemical (exposure to toxic substances) and biological (infections from poorly disinfected prostheses) risks. While analysis using Saaty's AHP method has identified that musculoskeletal disorders, particularly neck, shoulder and back pain, have a higher prevalence compared to other risks.Conclusions: It is essential to adopt a comprehensive approach to occupational risk management in the dental field. It has been recommended to improve ergonomic practices, increase training in occupational safety and strengthen prevention and control policies. Additionally, continued research should be encouraged to adapt and improve preventive strategies based on emerging data, with particular attention to musculoskeletal disorders

An integrated interval-valued spherical fuzzy Choquet integral based decision making model for prioritizing risk in Fine-Kinney

The Fine-Kinney model has been expanded to serve as a tool for analyzing systemic risk in different industries, including occupational hazards. However, existing models for prioritizing risk in Fine-Kinney fail to account for the interconnectedness of experts’ cognitive information in interval-valued spherical fuzzy situations. This paper creates a new fuzzy compromise ranking of alternatives from distance to ideal solution (CRADIS) method to address the limitations of the Fine-Kinney model in occupational risk analysis. The interval-valued spherical fuzzy numbers are extended into the conventional risk scales in the Fine-Kinney model to generate a processing method for uncertain risk rating data. Then, the weighted averaging operator is developed based on the Choquet integral and interval-valued spherical fuzzy sets to construct the collective risk assessment matrix. This developed operator can capture inter-dependencies among risk data. Next, an enhanced CRADIS method with interval-valued spherical fuzzy sets and entropy measures is presented to address the risk ranking issue in the application of Fine-Kinney. To demonstrate the implementation of the synthesized occupational risk framework, a case study analyzing the occupational hazards in the metro construction process uses numerical methods. The proposed framework undergoes parameter sensitivity analysis to test its rationality. An evaluation compares the enhanced framework with the risk-prioritizing methods used in F–K to assess its advantages. The outcome suggests that the framework offers an appropriate and dependable approach to prioritizing occupational risks in a subjective and ambiguous scenario.

Comparative assessment of the professional health of workers in the main types of economic activity and mining of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Bashkortostan

An analysis of occupational risks to the health of workers, the fundamental components of which are injuries and occupational morbidity, is extremely relevant, primarily for those industries where working conditions remain difficult and harmful and there are restrictions on hiring for health reasons, including at mining enterprises mineral. The purpose of the work is to study the consequences of exposure to harmful and (or) dangerous working conditions for employees of the main types of economic activity and mining of the Republic of Bashkortostan for the period 2011–2020. and comparing them with similar data for the Russian Federation. Sources of information — statistical reports, reports and materials published on the official websites rosstat.gov.ru, rospotrebnadzor.ru, 02.rospotrebnadzor.ru, bashstat.gks.ru, mintrud.gov.ru, mintrud.bashkortostan.ru. The average long-term level of occupational morbidity in Russia for the study period was 1.45 per 10 thousand workers, in the Republic of Bashkortostan — 0.910/000. A steady decrease in intensive indicators of occupational morbidity in dynamics by 2.5 times in Russia and almost 3 times in the republic was noted. The average annual rates of occupational morbidity in the production of minerals in the country ranged from 21.2 in 2019 to 32.75 in 2013 per 10 thousand employees (average 29.04 0/000), in the republic — 6.0 per 10 thousand employees, which is 7.3 times higher than the national average. The average number of victims with disability for all types of economic activity in Russia was 1.2 times higher than the national indicator, the average injury severity indicator in the region exceeded the same value in the country by 11.4 %. An excess of the average long-term indicator of the frequency and severity of injuries at the country's mining enterprises in comparison with the indicators of general injuries was noted. The data convincingly testify to the existing problems in the production of minerals, causing increased rates of occupational morbidity and occupational injuries with severe outcomes.

Literature Review: Using HIRADC Method Analyzing the Risk of Work Accidents in The Manufacturing Sector in Indonesia

Introduction: The development of industrialization in Indonesia has a fairly high level of development. These developments can give rise to new industry challenges and problems. One of them is the risk of work accidents in the work environment. Objective: This study aims to describe the risk of work accidents based on the HIRADC method in the manufacturing sector in Indonesia. Method: This study is a literature review. The data sources obtained come from various databases, namely Google Scholar and the Garuda Portal in the 2017-2021 period. Result and Discussion: The results of the literature review show that physical hazards that are found in various industries such as, industries such as slipping, noise, falls and chemical hazards are hazards that are often found in basic and chemical industries. Conclusion: The conclusion of this literature review describes the process of occupational risk analysis based on OHSAS 18001:2007. There are 5 types of hazards in the manufacturing sector. The classification of risks with high or extreme risks is the top priority to be given control. The use of HIRADC based on OHSAS 18001:2007 in the manufacturing sector shows that there are conditions that are not optimally carried out.

A complex spherical fuzzy CRADIS method based Fine-Kinney framework for occupational risk evaluation in natural gas pipeline construction

Occupational risk evaluation is one of the most indispensable issues in the risk prevention and control process for the natural gas pipeline construction (NGPC) project. The Fine-Kinney model, recognized as an effective occupational risk evaluation technique, has limited capability to handle the occupational risk analysis problem under the complex spherical fuzzy (CSF) environment. Accordingly, a synthetical Fine-Kinney framework based on the compromise ranking of alternatives from distance to ideal solution (CRADIS) method is developed to overcome these downsides of occupation risk analysis in the NGPC project within the CSF context. A prioritized weighted average (PWA) operator for complex spherical fuzzy numbers (CSFNs) is incorporated into the group risk evaluation matrix generation process, which can take the priority degrees of experts into account. Then, the extended CRADIS method-based Fine-Kinney framework is generated, in which the Choquet integral for CSFNs is incorporated to reflect the impact of interactive risk factors. Next, the detailed solution procedures of the framework for handling the occupational risk evaluation problem are presented. Finally, the described framework is employed as an empirical example of occupational risk analysis for the NGPC project to demonstrate its feasibility in practice. After that, a sensitivity analysis of the parameter is investigated to testify to the stability and rationality of the reported synthetical Fine-Kinney framework. Subsequently, to further display the advantages of the developed Fine-Kinney framework, a comparative study is implemented to discuss the evaluation result of occupational risk derived from the proposed framework and those of the existing similar Fine-Kinney frameworks. The analysis results indicate that the occupational risk (attack by human or animal) with the maximum risk priority value (1.000) using the framework is identified as the most serious risk for the NGPC project.

A Fermatean fuzzy Fine–Kinney for occupational risk evaluation using extensible MARCOS with prospect theory

The extant Fine–Kinney frameworks are insufficient to tackle the risk evaluation problem with Fermatean fuzzy information, in which the prioritization degrees and psychological characteristics of decision-makers are considered. Hence, this study develops a hybrid Fine–Kinney-based occupational risk evaluation framework with an extended Fermatean fuzzy MARCOS method (measurement of alternatives and ranking to Compromise solution). Such a MARCOS method improves conventional MARCOS by integrating Fermatean fuzzy prioritized weighted average operator and prospect theory. This improved method has the capability to handle the occupational risk analysis problem with Fermatean fuzzy data in the risk ranking procedure considering the prioritization degrees and bounded rational behavior of decision-makers. In addition, the Fermatean fuzzy numbers-based risk rating scales are established to transform the linguistic risk scores from decision-makers, it allows for handling uncertain risk rating information from decision-makers more effectively. Further, the improved MARCOS method is incorporated into the occupational risk ranking procedure, as it considers the decision-maker’s prioritization relationships among decision-makers and their reference point effect in occupational risk priority calculation. After that, an occupational risk analysis case for construction operations is selected to test the applicability and validity of the proposed framework. The result indicates that the occupational risk OR6 (Back injury) is the most serious risk with the lowest utility function value (-0.324), and OR7 (Tendinitis) is the least severe risk with the highest utility function value (0.682). Finally, sensitivity exploration and comparative study are implemented to further test the advantages of the developed framework.

Новые подходы к выбору средств индивидуальной защиты от воздействия виброакустических факторов на рабочем месте

An assessment of the experts of the World Health Organization on the main groups of occupational diseases associated with the impact of industrial physical factors is presented in the article. The analysis was carried out related to the influence of vibroacoustic factors on the health and working capacity of industrial enterprise employees. The importance is substantiated concerning the choice of the personal protective equipment and the development of the activities that can increase the level of safety and harmlessness to the employee health under the influence of vibroacoustic factors at the workplaces. It is emphasized that an important step towards prevention of accidents at work and the development of occupational diseases among the employees associated with the impact of vibroacoustic factors is the occupational risk management system. A list of personal protective equipment for employees against noise and vibration was defined, and an approach was proposed for choosing protective equipment and reducing the negative impact of noise, vibration, infrasound, and ultrasound, based on an analysis of occupational risks. The procedure for determining personal protective equipment against the action of vibroacoustic factors should be included in the occupational risk management system to increase the efficiency of annual activities on protecting the life and health of the enterprise employees. To identify hazards and assess the levels of occupational risks, it is required to recommend the creation at the enterprise by a local regulatory act of commissions, or groups on assessing occupational risks at the workplaces, as well as a unified system for collecting and analyzing data on hazardous and harmful production factors, violations of labor discipline, deviations from the requirements of instructions on occupational safety, microtrauma, technical incidents, accidental events and emergency situations. It is required to introduce into the occupational safety management system the proposals for the organization of activities for the periodic review of occupational risk levels at the workplaces and units based on the application of a unified methodology and principles for identifying hazards.

Correction to: An integrated approach using growing self-organizing map-based genetic K-means clustering and tolerance rough set in occupational risk analysis

Correction to: An integrated approach using growing self-organizing map-based genetic K-means clustering and tolerance rough set in occupational risk analysis

The Age Factor in the Analysis of Occupational Risks in the Wood Industry.

Workers in the wood industry are continually exposed to a wide range of risks. Some risks are potentially high and may lead to serious work-related accidents or occupational diseases. It is a sector where physical work is predominant and where high-risk machinery is used. There is also the age factor, as the age of the workforce increases the risks of loss of skills, particularly physical skills. This study analyses the impact of age on the occupational safety and health management in the wood industry. To this end, a qualitative analysis was carried out through semi-structured in-depth interviews. A total of 52 interviews were conducted with wood-based entrepreneurs, occupational safety technicians and experts from Galicia (Spain). The results show that there is a growing concern to integrate the older group in occupational safety and health management due to the increasing work life. The older group is not the one with the greatest number of occupational accidents (8.3%), but rather the one that needs better working conditions in the face of physical deterioration, considering that a large proportion of senior workers is transferred to administrative tasks. Consequently, the proportion of older workers performing physical tasks, which are the tasks with the highest associated risk, is lower.

Occupational Safety Analysis for COVID-Instigated Repurposed Manufacturing Lines: Use of Nanomaterials in Injection Moulding.

The COVID-19 pandemic instigated massive production of critical medical supplies and personal protective equipment. Injection moulding (IM) is considered the most prominent thermoplastic part manufacturing technique, offering the use of a large variety of feedstocks and rapid production capacity. Within the context of the European Commission-funded imPURE project, the benefits of IM have been exploited in repurposed IM lines to accommodate the use of nanocomposites and introduce the unique properties of nanomaterials. However, these amendments in the manufacturing lines highlighted the need for targeted and thorough occupational risk analysis due to the potential exposure of workers to airborne nanomaterials and fumes, as well as the introduction of additional occupational hazards. In this work, a safety-oriented failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) was implemented to evaluate the main hazards in repurposed IM lines using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) matrix and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as additives. Twenty-eight failure modes were identified, with the upper quartile including the seven failure modes presenting the highest risk priority numbers (RPN), signifying a need for immediate control action. Additionally, a nanosafety control-banding tool allowed hazard classification and the identification of control actions required for mitigation of occupation risks due to the released airborne silver nanoparticles.

An integrated approach using growing self-organizing map-based genetic K-means clustering and tolerance rough set in occupational risk analysis

An integrated approach using growing self-organizing map-based genetic K-means clustering and tolerance rough set in occupational risk analysis

Development of Measures to Amend the Labour Protection Regulations of the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry of Kazakhstan

The chemicals and petrochemicals industry is currently one of the world's leading international economies. But at the same time it also remains an industry where harmful, difficult and hazardous working conditions for workers are present. All occupational safety and health protection measures must be aimed at achieving the main objective of reducing the level of occupational diseases on the basis of, first and foremost, preventive work on risk factors. Professional activity at chemical and petrochemical enterprises reveals the necessity to develop a clear algorithm of occupational risk analysis, which has a common basis with assessment of other technical risks. The chemical and petrochemical industry is an industry with a large number of risks: risk of fire, risk of explosion, risk of leakage of harmful chemicals, risk of evaporation of harmful chemicals. All these risks entail risks of getting sick: respiratory tract cancer, etc. and the resulting disability or disablement.
 This article examines some methods of occupational risk assessment in the chemical and petrochemical industry. Analysis of methodologies such as the ranking of occupational hazards, the Kwij Al-Dalemi occupational risk assessment, as well as the French experience of the Laboratory Laboratory Network-Prevention Network-National Surveillance for Occupational Diseases (Research National de Vigilance et de Prevention des Pathologies Professionneles, RNV3P) and the US experience of LHAT-Laboratory for Hazardous Substances Assessment in Iowa State in the USA. The article details the methodology for ranking occupational hazards in chemical plants and shows the ranking of occupational hazards by priority and their short- and long-term exposure.

Predicting first-order evaporation rate constant alpha (α) from small spills of organic solvents in a controlled environment

Exposures to vapors generated by small spills of organic solvents are common in the occupational hygiene practice. In these scenarios, contaminant mass release is exponentially decreasing, driven by an evaporation rate constant alpha (α). Knowing α is fundamental for adequately modeling peak concentrations and/or short-term exposures that occur and for achieving efficient occupational risk analysis and management. The purpose of this study was to measure alpha experimentally using a gravimetric approach in a controlled environment during solvent evaporation tests designed to simulate small spills of solvents. The effects of several factors on α were evaluated. Equations based on regression models derived from the experimental data were proposed for predicting α. Predictions were externally validated against experimental data. A total of 183 tests was performed. Data analyses found that alpha (α) values increased with vapor pressure, spill surface area-to-spill volume ratio, and air speed across the spill. Larger α were associated with petri dish containers compared to watch glasses. Three regression models were created for predicting α. They had four variables in common, namely vapor pressure, molecular weight, air speed above the liquid, and surface tension of the liquid. The fifth variable was either spill volume, spill surface area, or spill surface area-to-spill volume ratio. The R2 of the regression models were equal to 0.98. External validation showed mean relative errors of −32.9, −32.0, and −25.5%, respectively, with associated standard deviations of the relative errors of 17.7, 33.3, and 26.0%, respectively, and associated R2 of 0.92, 0.65, and 0.87, respectively. The proposed equations can be used for estimating α in exposure scenarios similar to those evaluated in this study. Moreover, these models constitute a step further in the improvement of knowledge on estimating evaporation rates for small spills of organic solvents.

An extended gained and lost dominance score method based risk prioritization for Fine-Kinney model with interval type-2 fuzzy information

The Fine-Kinney model is one of the most extensively adopted classical occupational risk analysis techniques which has been regarded as a helpful means for addressing the risk identification and evaluation problems in various fields. However, current extended Fine-Kinney models have limited capacity to cope with occupational risk evaluation and prioritization problems considering interactive relationships among multi-risk parameters under inter-uncertain and intra-uncertain environments. To overcome the limitations, this paper proposes a hybrid risk prioritization approach for the Fine-Kinney model by integrating GLDS (gained and lost dominance score) method, interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2FSs), and Maclaurin symmetric mean (MSM) operator. First, the trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy numbers (TrIT2FNs) are introduced to depict the inter-uncertain and intra-uncertain risk evaluation information. Then, an ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator is constructed to aggregate the complex and uncertain risk evaluation information from heterogeneous decision-makers in which the similarity-measure-based weighting method is incorporated. Next, the GLDS method combined with the weighted MSM operator is developed to address the risk prioritization problem in the Fine-Kinney model by considering the inter-dependencies among multi-risk parameters. Finally, a numerical example of occupational risk evaluation for potential hazards in construction excavation is presented within IT2FSs to demonstrate the application and availability of the extended Fine-Kinney model. After that, the comparison and sensitivity analyses are conducted to further illustrate the superiority and rationality of the proposed approach.

Occupational risk analysis in a fish warehouse: a comparative study between GUT matrix and preliminary risk analysis

Occupational risk analysis in a fish warehouse: a comparative study between GUT matrix and preliminary risk analysis

STUDY OF OCCUPATIONAL RISK ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY

In the course of work it was demonstrated that occupational risk is considered to be the probability of harm to health as a result of exposure to harmful and / or dangerous production factors during the labor process. A prerequisite for occupational safety in production activities is knowledge and assessment of the activities of sources of danger, risk assessment tools, the degree of impact of hazards on people and taking the necessary measures. Risk management is carried out in the performance of each production operation performed by employees of the enterprise, and is aimed at eliminating or reducing unacceptable risks through the implementation of appropriate protective measures. Without the analysis and management of occupational risks, it is impossible to create safe conditions, as well as reduce injuries and reduce occupational diseases. One of the main methods of occupational risk analysis that gives the best results is the method of analysis of causation using a dynamic model. In order to identify hazards, assess risks and implement protective measures that can ensure the acceptable level of risks of future work, it is necessary to consider the production task and visit the work site. Work is allowed if there are no additional hazards and protective measures of the Risk Assessment Map are actually implemented. It is forbidden to perform the work when identifying additional hazards that require reducing the risks of additional resources and the decision of management. It is strictly forbidden to perform the work until the rapid reduction of the level of risk to an acceptable level begins − with the identification of additional hazards that require the development and implementation of protective measures at the expense of personal resources.

Exposure of community pharmacists to COVID-19: A multinational cross-sectional study

ObjectivesCommunity pharmacists (CPs) are among the frontline healthcare providers who have been exposed to a high risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic. Unfortunately, there have been limited studies in the Middle East that provide an occupational risk analysis among CPs. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the risk of COVID-19 exposure among Middle Eastern CPs and to identify the infection predictors. MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted using an online, self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to CPs across KSA, Lebanon, and Jordan between November and December 2020. The bivariate logistic regression test was used to analyse the predictors associated with COVID-19. ResultsCPs were more susceptible to acquiring SARS-CoV-2 than the general public (12.9% vs. 1.5%). The significant predictors of infection included a family member with confirmed COVID-19 infection, age <40 years, encountering patients in pharmacy without a protective glass-barrier, and contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients or colleagues with confirmed COVID-19 during practice. Additionally, the mean level of the respondents’ expected rate of infection was 3.27 ± 1.04 (out of 5). This level was significantly higher among female pharmacists and Lebanese pharmacists. ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that CPs are at a higher risk of acquiring COVID-19 compared with the general public. This is attributed to several occupational factors that increase the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Therefore, healthcare authorities are advised to enforce strict occupational guidelines for CPs.

Management of Occupational Risk Analysis of Employees Recovered from COVID-19 Pandemic – An Individual Case Analysis

Abstract In accordance with the applicable law, an employer cares for safe and hygienic working conditions. An occupational risk analysis isone of the elements determining the level of safety. The risks that may significantly contribute to the damage are identified through the activities related to the risk assessment. The role of an employer is to counteract these threats. The COVID-19 pandemic has had many negative consequences for the functioning of enterprises and the health and safety at work. The subject of the paper is to update the occupational risk among selected employees after the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on the work environment, an employee is exposed to various types of risks that significantly affect not only health and safety, but also comfort, quality and work efficiency. COVID-19 causes various negative consequences, so it is important for the employer to monitor the employee’s return process after the infection for a long time (approximately 2 months). Adjusting working conditions and temporarily reducing work intensity (expectations and work results) relatively increase the possibility of recovery and a faster return to full productivity.