Citation

Gauthier F, Lambert S, Chinniah Y. Int. J. Occup. Safety Ergonomics 2012; 18(2): 245-265.

Affiliation

Industrial Engineering Department, Université du Québec a Trois-Rivieres, Trois-Rivieres, QC, Canada. E-mail: francois.gauthier@uqtr.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

22721542

Abstract

This article studies differences in the results of using different risk estimation tools in the same hazardous situations involving dangerous machinery. We investigated how (a) types of risk estimation parameters and methods of constructing tools, (b) the number of levels of each parameter, and (c) the number of risk levels influence the results. Consequently, 31 risk estimation tools were compared by using them to estimate risk levels associated with 20 hazardous situations. Risk estimation appears to be tool-dependent, as different tools give different results with identical hazardous situations. The scope of the tool, its use, and construction could explain these differences. This article also proposes a series of rules for constructing tools to alleviate many problems associated with the variability of risk estimations.

Language: en