A fuzzy multi-attribute model for risk evaluation in workplaces

Risk assessment constitutes a critical phase of the safety management process. It basically consists of evaluating the risks involved in the execution of working activities, so as to provide the managers with information suitable to address intervention measures. The most important activity in risk assessment is the risk evaluation task but, despite its importance, national and international regulations have never formalized a standard methodology for addressing it, leaving companies complete freedom to adopt the approach they consider appropriate. As a consequence, companies generally settle on the use of simple methodologies which frequently are not able to emphasize all the main aspects affecting risk in the workplace and to produce a precise ranking of hazardous activities. In this paper, a new methodology for risk evaluation is then proposed with the aim to overcome limitations of the classical approaches. In particular, new factors are introduced to take into account effects of human behavior and environment on risk level, other than the classical injury magnitude and occurrence probability of an accident. The proposed methodology also integrates an estimative approach based on the fuzzy logic theory, which permits more coherence in the evaluation process, producing a very suitable final rank of hazardous activities. Finally, an actual case study is reported to show the capabilities of the new risk evaluation model.