Labour Safety and Health

Advisory Services

 

Assessment of Risks Related to Occupational Accidents and Diseases

The social welfare also includes the protection in the domain of labour safety and health.

The expenses related to labour accidents and occupational diseases are very high.

To this effect, a technical ad economical indicator is required– which should establish the level of expenses necessary in a company in order to maintain the existent risks at an acceptable level so that safe conditions of work can be provided to workers, for their life and health.

 

The employers are bound by law to organize the labour safety and health activity in order to prevent unfortunate events during the working schedule of each place of work and to insure the protection of employees’ health against occupational diseases.

 

The risk assessment is the starting point in the prevention and protection activity.

The risk assessment is an institutionalized activity by which the risk factors in a labour system are identified and their amplitude is quantified through a combination between the severity and frequency of the consequences over the human factor.

 

The risk assessment principle is already included in the European standards CEI 812/85, respectively EN 292-1/1991, EN 1050/96 and forms the basis of various methods with practical applicability. Therefore, SR EN 292-1/1996, taken over in Romania in accordance with the above mentioned European standard stipulates that the „factors that must be taken into account when assessing the risk are:

a) the likelihood  of occurrence of injuries or diseases;

b) the maximum predictable severity of injury or disease.”

 

The legal basis for risk assessment is Law no. 319/2006 – art. 12, paragraph 1, letter ”a” as well as Outline Directive no. 391/89/CEE – art.7, paragraph 2, letter ”b” – European Union legislation.

 

Our organization is entitled and has qualified personnel to elaborate works on the assessment of occupational accident and disease risks using the assessment method of the National Research and Development Institute for Labour Safety "Alexandru Darabont".

 

Short presentation of the method

Phase I. DELIMITING THE ANALYSED LABOUR SYSTEM

The method operates at the level of the place of work defined as the smaller area characterized by common risks. A place of work can have several work centres.

 

Phase II. SETTING UP ASSESSMENT TEAMS

This team is coordinated by the authorized assessor of our organization, familiar with the method. In conformity with the indicators used by the method, the risk assessment team has the following composition in addition to the coordinating assessor:

a. the technologist from the analysed place of work;

b. the labour medicine physician;

c. the representative of the employees.

 

Phase III. IDENTIFICATION OF THE RISK FACTORS WITHIN THE ANALYSED SYSTEM

This is the most important phase of the method, by which all the risk factors related to the elements forming a labours system are outlined in their concrete form of manifestation: production means, work environment, work task, performer.

 

Phase IV. ESTABLISHING THE CONSEQUENCES OVER THE HUMAN BODY

It is the privilege of the labour medicine physician.

 

Phase V. CLASSIFICATION OF CONSEQUENCES WITHIN SEVERITY CLASSES

 

Phase VI. CLASSIFICATION OF CONSEQUENCES WITHIN FREQUENCES CLASSES

The frequency or event occurrence likelihood classes amount to 6, taking into account the manifestation manner of the risk factors (STATES or VARIATIONS).

Within this phase, the method indicates the use of statistics (internal or national) for the last 10 years.

 

Phase VII. CLASSIFICATION WITH THYE RISK LEVEL

Within this phase, the partial level of risk (or safety) related to each risk factor identified in the labour system, is determined through analytical and graphic methods, resulting in a graphic scale following these calculations.

Then, the GLOBAL RISK LEVEL of the respective place of work is determined mathematically, as the weighted average of the partial risk levels previously determined.

 

Phase VIII. RANKING THE RISK FACTORS IN DESCENDING SORT OF THE RISK LEVELS (ASCENDING SORT OF THE SAFETY LEVELS)

Within this phase the acceptability limits of the analysed labour system are clearly delimited, resulting in a separation of the risk factors with a computed partial risk level which is part of the severity classes over 3.5 level.

They shall be analysed with priority, their elimination, isolation, avoidance or at least mitigation taking place in the subsequent phase.

 

Phase IX. SET UP OF LABOUR ACCIDENTS AND OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE PREVENTION MEASURES

This phase establishes the precise prevention and protection measures (technical and organizational) which must be fulfilled in the analysed labour system in order to eliminate the potential effects of the risk factors which have been classified within the unacceptability area of the determined global risk level.

 

The method can be completed by a an economic computation which estimates the necessary costs in order to eliminate the influence of the risk factors which have determined an unacceptable global risk level.

 

Implementation of a Labour Safety and Health Management System

Occupational Health and Safety Audit