Workplace Hazards Difficult to Identify and Manage

Abstract

Hazard identification (HI) and risk management (RM) are key procedures in occupational safety and health promotion at workplaces. Previous research has reported difficulties in HI and RM at workplaces. To improve the effectiveness of RM, this study charts hazards that are considered difficult to identify or manageat workplaces. Interviews (n = 46) were carried out in four large-scale manufacturing and facility services companies. The interviewees often mentioned psychosocial hazards, hazards due to exceptional circumstances, familiar and obvious hazards, and hazards of the shared workplaces as difficult to identify or manage. The reasons these hazards were difficult to identify or manage varied from lack of knowledge and competence to problems in communication and safety culture. Certain hazards receive less attention than they should because they were considered difficult to deal with. Further studies on the successful measures to manage these risks are needed.