Safety standards, risk analysis and decision making on prevention measures: implications of some recent European legislation and standards

Hale, A.R., de Loor, M., van Drimmelen, D. and Huppes, G., 1990. Safety standards, risk analysis and decision making on prevention measures: implications of some recent European legislation and standards. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 13: 213–231.

Legislation on industrial safety in many countries contains several different ways of phrasing its requirements: — either as exposure or risk standards which have to be met; — or as specific requirements to apply specified prevention measures — or as general requirements to put into effect measures belonging to ‘the state of the art’ in so far as those can reasonably be required of the employer or designer.

A new approach to European standardisation of machinery safety is in the process of putting forward a standard of good design practice as an umbrella for specific machinery standards, which fits this last approach. In placing a general requirement of good practice on Industry there is an implication that manufacturers and employers should be able to demonstrate that their decisions are based upon sound analysis of risk which they or others have conducted.

The paper presents a discussion of the implications of recent European legislation on machinery safety and of the Dutch Working Environment Law on the structuring of such a systematic approach. Emphasis is placed on the use of standards based on “the state of the art” in prevention. The options open for government to facilitate and influence the decision making steps related to risk assessment are also discussed.