Features of the assessment of occupational risks under hazardous working conditions

Purpose. To improve the process of assessing occupational risks caused by hazardous working conditions, taking into account the exposure of hazardous factors, as a quantitative characteristic of the intensity and duration of the hazardous factor, and the available results of certification of workplaces in terms of working conditions. Methodology. Theoretical studies are based on the use of the basic provisions of probability theory, methods of mathematical modeling, statistical processing of indicators of occupational morbidity and methods of risk assessment by constructing a matrix of consequences/likelihood according to the ISO 31010:2013 standard. Findings. A matrix of consequences/likelihood for assessing the overall occupational risk to the health of employees caused by hazardous working conditions is proposed, which includes five indicators characterizing the severity of the consequences, and five indicators characterizing the probability of an event (qualitative and score ones). The peculiarity of the matrix is that the probability score directly reflects the multiplicity of exceeding the permissible values of hazardous production factors established by regulatory legal acts which characterize working conditions. Originality. A new approach to determining the seriousness of the consequences of hazardous production factors has been proposed, which consists in taking into account the regularities of occurrence of occupational and work-caused morbidity of workers and the existing mechanisms for its prevention. The relationship between the prevalence of certain types of occupational morbidity of workers and specific working conditions (exposure to factors of the production environment) has been established. Practical value. The results of the study allow employees of safety departments to assess the overall occupational risk to the health of employees, caused by hazardous working conditions, directly on the basis of the available cards of working conditions obtained as a result of certification of workplaces on working condition. Based on the results of the assessment, it is possible to determine the permissible time of the employee’s work in hazardous working conditions, for which the permissible value of the risk of occupational disease is not exceeded.