Machinery Safety Risk Assessment of a Metal Packaging Company (original) (raw)
The occupational health and safety legislation of the EU and Finland require employers to assess work environment risks in order to secure and maintain the employees’ working capacity. Although the requirement comes through the use of legislation, it is not fulfilled by every entrepreneur in Finland. Especially the small and middle-sized companies have had a problem with the lack of resources and of easily applicable and productive methodology. The aim of this study is to find out what kind of concepts are generally related to safety and risk assessments, and what kind of methods are used to assess risk and human error. In addition, risks in a packaging materials factory were assessed by using a certain method, and the results and factors generally affecting the risk assessment process were analysed in this thesis. The probability of hazard realisation is included in the concept of risk. The method used to assess the risks at the site is based on expert judgement, which implies that the assessment results are subjective in nature. The method can produce very different results depending on the assessor. Great variation in results lead to uncertainty in hazard ranking, and it has an effect on the subsequent – possibly costly – decisions that have not been made based on the most accurate information about the safety situation of work environment. This uncertainty can be reduced by clarifying operational modes and by improving method documentation. It is possible to control risks in many different ways. Regulational controls aim at reducing existing risks and preventing new ones. Physical controls directly protect the operator during the operation. Due to the subjective nature of risk and safety, the most clear and cost-effective way of reducing risk is improving safety climate through affecting employee actions by changing his or her behaviour patterns. Various behavioural safety programs are a central part of safety culture in large organisations.
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