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Good Practice Guidance on Occupational Health Risk Assessment

13 December 2016

Health risk management is essential in the journey towards zero harm (ie zero exposures above occupational exposure levels) and zero serious illness or fatal events from occupation health-related exposures.

  • This guide identifies the occupational health impacts of mining and metals processing, outlines good practices in the identification of hazards and exposed workers, assists practitioners in estimating exposure levels and assessing the effectiveness of controls and explains the importance of quality analysis and reporting.
  • Occupational HRAs systematically and proactively identify health hazards, assess their potential risks to health, prioritise these, including the identification of material unwanted events (MUEs), and determine appropriate control measures (including the identification of critical controls to prevent MUEs) to protect the health and well-being of workers.
  • The HRA process is a partnership between occupational health advisers, occupational/industrial hygiene advisers, managers and operational staff with each – depending on the circumstances – using their knowledge, experience and skills to support the HRA process. This encompasses four key aspects:
    • Developing a workplace culture across an organisation that recognises that the prevention of long-term serious disease is just as important as the prevention of serious safety events.
    • Making a consistent and sustained effort to ensure that there are no repeat occurrences of occupational diseases in any workplace setting of an organisation.
    • Setting and implementing a simple, consistent and non-negotiable set of health and safety standards across an organisation that aims to prevent occupation-related illnesses.
    • For businesses to identify their ‘material unwanted health events’ and manage these in accordance with ICMM’s Health and Safety Critical Control Management: Good Practice Guide.