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RISK ASSESSMENT AND WORKERS PARTICIPATION

IPA Programme 2010 on HRD

20-22 June 2012

Tirana, Albania Workshop Modern OSH legislation
 HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
IPA National Programme for Albania
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Overall objective

 To identify the main tools for implementation of the obligations set by the EU directives
 To explain what are the main steps of risk management and how they can help to
implement the principles set by the EU framework directive

Specific objectives
 Use the general principles of prevention as a milestone for producing quality OSH legislation
 Describe the main tools provided by the Framework Directive, particularly risk assessment and the role of
workers and their representatives in OSH management
 Principles underlying risk management
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 Most hazardous conditions at work are preventable

 Occupational accidents and diseases can be managed
 Prevention is preferred to protection
 Proactive approaches are preferred to reactive approaches
 Actions on the working environment are preferred to actions on individuals
 Main duties and rights of stakeholders
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 Employers are the main duty-holders under OSH legislation

 Their duty of care and liability for their employees is overriding duties,
which means that they should take reasonable care for their worker’s safety
and health in all circumstances
 Main duties and rights of stakeholders
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 Workers are required to cooperate with their employer in protecting their own
and third parties’ safety and health especially:
 Making correct use of machinery, apparatus, tools, etc. and personal
protective equipment
 Following the safety procedures
 Refraining from disconnecting, changing or removing arbitrarily safety
devices
 Informing on hazards and risks
 Provisions of the EU framework Directive

 The employer shall have a duty to ensure the safety and health of workers
in every aspect related to the work. (Art. 5.1)

 The workers' obligations in the field of safety and health at work shall not
affect the principle of the responsibility of the employer. (Art. 5.3)
 Tools provided by the EU framework Directive

 Hierarchy of prevention principles

 Organization of protective and preventive services
 Emergency services/ designated workers
 Risk assessment
 Mandatory documents
 Information, consultation and participation of workers and their representatives
 Training
 Health surveillance
 Risk management

Risk management is the sequence of sequential steps

 Concepts

 A hazard is an agent, condition or

activity with potential to cause harm that,
if left uncontrolled, may adversely affect
the well-being or health of exposed
people

 A risk is a combination of the likely

severity and probability that somebody
will actually be harmed by a specific
hazard
 1. HAZARD IDENTIFICATION
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 The process of finding and identifying hazardous agents/situations/products that could

contribute to provoking an occupational accident or/and disease as well as the groups
of workers potentially exposed to these hazards

MAIN OBJECTIVES

1. To establish what dangerous situations exist within a plant or a process operation

2. To establish how these dangerous situations may come about
3. To assist in the risk assessment and to make decisions on hazard control
 SOURCES FOR HAZARD IDENTIFICATION

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 OSH legislation, codes of practice, guidance documents provided by national

and international institutions and organizations
 Information from national, sectoral or enterprises statistics on the prevalent
occupational accident or/and diseases and the hazards involved
 Information or safety data sheets provided by manufacturers and suppliers of
machinery, equipment, tools, products and substances
 Information from the workers, workers’ representatives and joint OSH
committee through consultations, observations, complaints, etc
 SOURCES FOR HAZARD IDENTIFICATION

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 Workplace and job inspections and analysis

 Review of history of accidents (including incidents and “near misses”) and
occupational illnesses, accident/disease investigations and data from workers'
health surveillance, undertaken in the enterprise or in other enterprises
 Advice, opinions and judgment of competent internal and external OSH
professionals
 STEPS FOR HAZARD IDENTIFICATION
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 When possible, hazards should be identified in the planning or design

of new plants or processes
 Hazard identification should be documented in a consistent manner,
providing useful info on:
 where it is happening (environment)
 who or what it is happening to (exposure)
 what precipitates the hazard (trigger)
 the outcome that would occur should it happen (consequence); and,
 any other contributing factors
 2. RISK ASSESSMENT
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 Risk assessment is the process of estimation and evaluation of all the risks associated
with each hazard identified

 The risk associated with a hazard is a combination of:

 the severity of the harm (CONSEQUENCES) and
 the probability (LIKELIHOOD) that the event will occur.
 Risk assessment: an example of how to do it (i)

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A possible technique includes 5 steps:

1st step: Estimate the probability of each hazard – previously identified – according to its
likelihood of occurrence (very likely; likely; quite possible; possible; not likely) and assign the
quantitative value accordingly.

2nd step: Estimate the severity of each hazard according to its potential of the harm (very high,
high; moderate; slight; nil) and assign the quantitative value accordingly.
 3rd step: Once the probability and the severity of the hazard is
determined, by multiplying these two factors, a range of risk ratings
between 1 and 25 will be obtained
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IIDD Severity
GGRR
Very high High Moderate Slight Nil
TT
EENN

5 4 3 2 1
MM

Very likely
25 20 15 10 5
SSSS

Probability

5
SSEE

Likely
20 16 12 8 4
AASS

4
SSKK

Quite possible
3 15 12 9 5 3
RRII

Possible
2 10 8 6 4 2
Not likely
1 5 4 3 2 1
 Risk assessment: an example of how to do it (iii)

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4th step: Risk evaluation, criterion of actions:

 Urgent situation (20 to 25) requires action immediately
 High-risk situations (10 to 16) require action in the short and medium-term
 Medium-risk situations (5 to 9) require action or further evaluation within an appropriate period
 Low-risk situations (less than 5) may require relatively little or no action

5th step: After the comparison with the criterion for action, the risks are assigned a priority for risk control
through the use of a risk rating
 3. RISK PREVENTION AND CONTROL

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 Risk control is the process of implementing measures to reduce the risk associated
with a hazard. It includes three operations:

 Decision-making
 Implementation
 Monitoring
 3. RISK PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Control hierarchy
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International standards Framework EU Directive

 Elimination or substitution of
hazards  Avoid risks
 Evaluate risks which cannot be avoided
 Reducing hazards through  Combat risks at source
good design
 Adapt work to the worker
 Adapt to technical progress
 Technical and engineering
controls  Replace dangerous by non or less dangerous
 Develop coherent and systemic prevention policy
 Administrative controls  Preference to collective protection
 Inform workers
 Personal Protective
Equipment
 3. RISK PREVENTION AND CONTROL

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COLECTIVE PROTECTION
ELIMINATION

PPE
SUBSTITUTION
ORGANIZATION
 3. RISK PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Implementation
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 Implementation should be nominated providing adequate resources and a

reasonable timeframe

 Information to the workforce on:

 Information on any new control measures implemented and how to use
them
 Any emergency procedures developed
 The employees duties
 RISK PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Implementation
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 Monitoring: Ensures that measures are being implemented. Specially

important when:

 personal protective equipment

 administrative or technical and engineering controls

 Review: Ensures that the assessment is still effective in reducing risk.

 RISK MANAGEMENT FLOW

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1. Assemble
assessment
team
2. Visit site,
and identify
hazards
3. Evaluate
severity of
hazard (1 - 5)
4. Evaluate
likelihood of
occurrence (1 - 5)
5. Combine severity
+ likelihood values to
express RISK (1 - 25)
 RISK MANAGEMENT FLOW

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6. Compare
rating with a
criterion 7. Assign
priorities
8. Implement
Controls.
Control
Hierarchy.
9. Information
to the workers

10. Monitoring
and review
 EXAMPLE No. 1
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 EXAMPLE No. 2
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A company in Denmark specializes in the manufacture of off-site bathroom units for hotels. The units
are absolutely complete when they leave the factory, and are transported by road to the site.
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WORKERS PARTICIPATIOn

Articles 10 to 12 Framework Directive

 DIFFERENT LEVELS
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INFORMATION
Involvement of
workers and workers
TRAINING
representatives
CONSULTATION
 DIFFERENT TARGET GROUPS (ART. 10 Directive 89/391)
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a) Workers/ representatives

• Obligation of the employer to provide to workers and their representatives

information on:

 risks, preventive and protective measures in respect of the workplace

and each type of occupation and workstation
 Measures for first aid, fire-fighting, evacuation of workers and workers
designated to implement it

Includes persons working for other employers in the same workplace

 DIFFERENT TARGET GROUPS (ART. 10 Directive 89/391)
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b) Workers/ representatives with specific OSH functions

• For workers with specific functions on OSH or workers’ representatives with

OSH responsabilities:

 Risk assessment results

 Protective measures implemented or to implement
 List of occupational accidents
 Reports on occupational accidents
 CONSULTATION AND PARTICIPATION (ART. 10 Directive 89/391)
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Principle: workers and representatives shall be consulted and have the right to make proposals

Workers and workers representatives with specific OSH responsibilities will take part or be
consulted in advance and in good time with regard to:

• any measure which may substantially affect safety and health

• the designation of workers to carry out OSH activities and emergency actions
• information on risk assessment and other to be provided to workers
• enlistment of external services or persons to conduct OSH activities
• planning and organization of OSH training for workers

Workers representatives with specific OSH responsibilities can ask for/ suggest appropriate
measures

These representatives are to be given time off work, without loss of pay and receive from the employer
means to enable them to fulfill their mandate. They can submit observations during inspection visits
and appeal to the authorities
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OSH management systems: a tool

A tool for implementation of OSH provisions

 ILO Guidelines on OSH Management Systems (2001)
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CHARACTERISTICS
 Voluntary
 Management tool
 Aims to provide
guidance at national
level and company
level\
 Specific for the
organization
 ILO Guidelines on OSH Management Systems (2001)
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A progressive and continual process of:

Developing OS&H policy

Organizing to implement the policy

Planning and taking OS&H actions

Monitoring and evaluating the results

Taking further action for continual improvement