Analysis of Risk Management Terminology in Employee Health and Safety Management Systems

Abstract

An analysis of the main provisions and terms in accordance with domestic and international standards in the field of occupational health and safety of employees (hereinafter referred to as OSH) and risk management was carried out in order to avoid different interpretations in the draft Law on Occupational Safety and Health of Employees. To achieve this goal, the continuous sampling method, the descriptive method, the method of analyzing dictionary definitions, the method of word formation analysis, and the comparative method of component analysis were used. The study was conducted in four stages: analysis of the literature on occupational safety and health protection of workers; selection of terms for analysis; analysis of approaches to defining the concepts of "term", "terminology", analysis of lexical-semantic and structural features of terms; formation of general conclusions and prospects for further research. The justification of the change in the definitions of the main terms in OSH was carried out. It is proposed to present OSH at work as a part of the overall management system of the employer's activities, which is aimed at creating safe working conditions for employees and preserving their health by managing occupational risks. We recommend adding the concept of accident to the terms in the draft Law of Ukraine on occupational safety and health of workers, since the Procedure for Investigations and The Civil Protection Code of Ukraine defines the specified term. It is proposed to define occupational risk as a combination of the probability of occurrence of a work-related hazardous event(s) or exposure(s) and the severity of injury and health impairment that may be caused by this event(s) or exposure(s); occupational risk assessment as a process of comparing the results of occupational risk analysis with risk criteria to determine whether the occupational risk and/or its magnitude is acceptable (acceptable); occupational risk management is preventive and protective measures that reduce and/or modify (change) occupational risk to an acceptable (acceptable) level. The justification of the semantic load of the most used terms in the field of occupational safety and health protection of workers: risk, risk management, acceptable risk, dangerous event, incident was carried out for their qualitative use in the draft Law on Occupational Safety and Health of Workers. Recommendations for the description of terms and definitions for the draft Law of Ukraine on occupational safety and health of workers have been developed.