Occupational safety and health management and risk governance

The advancement in new technologies, substances and new ways of working make it necessary to look beyond traditional methods of risk management. General drivers to emerging occupational safety and health (OSH) risks are: globalisation; demographic changes; technical innovations; changes in risk perception; and an increase in natural hazards. OSH issues affected by these rapid developments are, for example: physical risks associated with inactivity; psychosocial risks; work intensification and increased job demands; violence and harassment at work; and the use of emerging dangerous or unknown substances (e.g. exposure to Nano-particles and electromagnetic fields)[1]. A new and broader approach to dealing with risk management in the workplace, in particular when the risks concerned are relatively new, is ‘Risk Governance’.