Applying health, safety, and environmental risk assessment at academic settings

Students, staff, and faculties are involved in activities that exposed them to a range of minor to severe or even fatal accidents in academic settings. Managing work environment risks is crucial to any safety and health prevention program. This study developed a risk assessment using combinations of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	BMC public health Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 1328 - 7
Main Authors:	Dehdashti, Alireza, Fatemi, Farin, Jannati, Muhammadreza, Asadi, Fatemeh, Kangarloo, Marzieh Belji
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England BioMed Central Ltd 01-09-2020 BioMed Central BMC
Subjects:	Academic institutions Academic Medical Centers Accident Accident Prevention Colleges & universities Correlation analysis Cross-Sectional Studies Educational aspects Environmental aspects Environmental assessment Environmental factors Environmental hazards Environmental impact analysis Environmental risk Environmental testing Hazard assessment Hazard identification Health aspects Health hazards Health risk assessment Health risks Humans Iran Laboratories Literature reviews Risk analysis Risk assessment Risk Assessment - methods Risk Factors Risk groups Risk levels Risk management Risk reduction Safety Safety and security measures Safety Management - methods Students Universities Universities and colleges Working conditions Iran Accident Risk assessment Academic institutions
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Summary:	Students, staff, and faculties are involved in activities that exposed them to a range of minor to severe or even fatal accidents in academic settings. Managing work environment risks is crucial to any safety and health prevention program. This study developed a risk assessment using combinations of hazards and risk factors to establish a scale of measures in a risk reduction action plan. This cross-sectional study was conducted in an Iranian medical sciences university in 2018. A structured method of risk assessment was developed, applying a three-step procedure to identify hazards, consequences, and risk evaluation. Data were collected through detailed health, safety, and environment checklist in 38 different sites. Finally, the risks quantified, prioritized, and control measures proposed accordingly. Chi-square and correlation tests assessed how environmental factors were associated with hazard consequences. The analysis results were evaluated at the significance level of 0.05. The frequencies of moderate and high-risk levels were 22.7 and 2.9%, respectively. Thus, corrective measures should be considered as soon as possible and immediately for these risk groups. Facilities and functions within laboratories, library, and powerhouse were more vulnerable to serious risks. The type of hazard had associated with the sites and total risk score at the significance level of 0.05 (P-value = 0.017). Similarly, risk severity was significantly related to the sites (P-value = 0.003). Safety hazards had a statistically higher contribution to the total risk score when compared to health and environmental hazards. The study revealed complex risks and hazardous circumstances with significant variances in academic sites and activities. Universities should provide training in risk reduction programs to increase the awareness of students, staff, and faculties, which can improve life safety in a university environment.
ISSN:	1471-2458 1471-2458
DOI:	10.1186/s12889-020-09419-5