Towards the Application of a Simplified Approach for OSH Risk Assessment Through a User-Friendly and Expedite Computational Tool

Objective: This study describes a simplified computational tool to provide a simple initial diagnostic of occupational hazards and risks and help companies to implement innovative management practices in terms of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) to prevent work accidents. Background: The enterprises of the non-financial business sector in the EU-28 are mostly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Portugal follows this trend, where the largest industry sector is the agri-food. Generally, the companies of this sector have reduced financial, technical and human resources, thus jeopardizing the quality and accuracy of risks evaluation and the implementation of protective measures. Method: This study explains a simplified approach for occupational safety and health risk assessment through a user-friendly and expedite computational tool and its in-field application. Data from sixty OSH audits executed in dairy, meat processing, bakery and horticultural food processing companies in Portugal was analysed. Results: The spreadsheet software, Excel, usually used by the managers of this sector was used to implement the computational tool. It is divided into three “Sheets”: Risk assessment, Results summary and Report with solutions. Conclusion: Thus, it is important to develop OSH simplified risk assessment tools that helps Agri-food MSME to improve their OSH management and ultimately contribute to the productivity and competitiveness of this sector.