Home » Guide to working life » Occupational health and safety » Working environment » Hazard identification Last updated: 21.06.2023 Hazard identification and risk assessment Employers are obligated to assess and identify hazards in the workplace, as well as minimise the risk posed by hazards to people’s physical and psychological health. Occupational health and safety Working environment Threat of violence Hazard identification Work clothes and shoes Working alone Workplace temperatures Indoor air quality Noise Chairs at work Ergonomics Health and safety in the workplace Harassment and inappropriate treatment Equality in the workplace Well-being at work Occupational accident The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to systematically assess the hazards posed by work, the working environment, and working conditions. Hazards must be assessed regularly and monitored continuously, and changes in the working conditions must be investigated without delay. If the employer lacks competent hazard assessment personnel, they must use external experts. Hazard assessment (vaarojen arviointi) reports should be made in writing because the occupational health and safety authorities may need to see them. There are three parts to hazard identification: identifying the risk factor posing a hazard identifying who is exposed to the hazard assessing the significance of the hazard. Identifying risk factors Risk factor identification means identifying all the factors in the working environment, stages, and conditions that may pose a risk to the health and safety of workers. This includes identifying hazardous situations that have yet to occur but are still possible. In addition to normal daily operations, risk factor identification must include exceptional situations: maintenance; repairs; the commissioning of new tools and devices; and the use of new workers and substitutes. Hazard assessments should be part of all planning related to work and the working environment, including workspaces, tools, and shifts. Identifying who is exposed to hazards Part of hazard identification is identifying the persons who are exposed to the consequences of risk factors at the workplace. In addition to the immediate workers, this includes customers, nearby workers, and workers who may pass through the area. Investigating chains of events is an essential part of hazard identification. Customer safety must also be considered. The following methods may be used to identify hazards: observations, interviews, and surveys workplace inspections checklists safety analyses. Assessing hazard significance (risk assessment) Both the likelihood (probability) of identified hazards and their significance for the health and safety of workers (severity) must be assessed. If the employer or their personnel are not competent to assess the risks, the employer must use an external expert. The natural choice for matters of health is the occupational health service. All hazards to health must be identified, and they must be primarily eliminated. Hazards that cannot be eliminated must be minimised or protection must be arranged against them. Useful links Risk assessment (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Risk identification and management (in Finnish; Finnish Institute of Occupational Health) Identifying and assessing occupational health and safety risks (in Finnish; Centre for Occupational Safety Reducing physical and psychosocial risks in wholesale and retail work (in Finnish), PAM project report, 2016 See also Workers must be insured against accidents at work Work clothes and shoes Threat of violence Working alone
