Ground handling staff’s health and safety at Helsinki Airport

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Mikko Polvi

GROUND HANDLING STAFF’S HEALTH AND SAFETY AT HELSINKI AIRPORT

Faculty of Management and Business

Master’s Thesis April 2020

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ABSTRACT

Polvi, Mikko: Ground Handling Staff’s Health and Safety at Helsinki Airport Master’s thesis

Tampere University

Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) Degree Programme in Business Studies; Insurance Science Instructor: Lasse Koskinen

April 2020

This master’s thesis is a study into the state of the occupational health and safety of ground handling work at Helsinki Airport. The study covers the following perspectives of the occupational health and safety: OHS management, physical ergonomics, cognitive ergonomics, organizational ergonomics and safety culture. In other words, the focus point is in the socio- technical and organizational characteristics of the GH operations. The current practices, processes and procedures are compared to the existing theory about the above-mentioned perspectives and the ISO 45001:2018 standard.

The subject of this thesis has emerged not only as a result of the high level of the accident incidence rate in Finnish ground handling operations, but also as a consequence of the Finnish ground handling companies’ interest towards this kind of research. The thesis has been made as an assignment for the non-profit research foundation The August Ramsay Foundation.

Taking into consideration the non-profit aspect of the Foundation the viewpoint of this thesis is that it is for the public good. The phrase “for the public good” means that the primary goal is to produce occupational health and safety information from the field of ground handling operations that can be used for the public good. The occupational health and safety information produced contains the most significant OHS hazards, risks and opportunities in Finnish ground handling operations.

The three major findings, and therefore the most significant OHS risks in Finnish ground handling operations are the low identification of the early signs of a decline in the ground handling staff’s ability to work, low safety culture and inadequate safety improvements. There are other findings too, but the risk significance of the other OHS risks are from medium to low and therefore presented in the results. There are also numerous other identified OHS opportunities which are presented in the results.

Keywords: Occupational health and safety, ground handling, risk management

The originality of this thesis has been checked using the Turnitin Originality Check service.

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research background

Traditionally occupational health and safety (OHS) is managed by controlling the workplace’s physical environment, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment, and safety policies and procedures. In addition to the traditional methods, OHS can be managed by understanding cultural (safety culture), organizational (e.g. ergonomics) and managerial factors (OHS management) and how those have an influence on OHS. It is important to take all of these factors into consideration because it is rare that only one hazard would cause specific incident(s) in the workplace. For example, falling in slippery conditions could be really close to being caused by only one possible hazardous condition, which is slipperiness caused by ice or snow. However, it would be naïve to say that it is the only possible hazard. Could it also be possible that the lighting or the tiredness of an employee could have something to do with the employee slipping?

It would be naïve to think that we could perfectly solve the causalities between incidents and hazardous conditions. Firstly, humans, for example experts, tend to overestimate their knowledge, and secondly, humans tend to desperately seek for causality for everything that happens around us (Taleb, 2007). There are studies (Helmreich, 2000) showing (falsely) that over half of the errors observed emerged from procedural violations. Nevertheless, the problem of these ‘human error’ studies is that it is rare for the root cause of the error to be the pure imperfection of human performance and behavior. Human error is usually caused by various factors, and is not only the result of the imperfection of human performance, such as a combination of poor cognitive ergonomics, shift work or safety culture. Indeed, these studies have a lack of second stories as they stick to the “first stories”. (Hollnagel, 2014) Ground handling (GH) at an airport is a complex system that contains much uncertainty, emerging from the nature (external) and the system itself (internal). We must research this kind of environment as second stories.

The growth of the civil aviation and air cargo market in Europe has been rapid during recent years. In 2018, passenger traffic across the European airport network increased to 2.34 billion passengers, which is a 6.1% growth compared to the previous year. Helsinki Airport grew by

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10.4% in 2018 while the weakest results came from Swedish and UK airports. It is also estimated that air travel demand will increase by 50% by 2035 making air traffic intensely congested by then. (ACI Europe, 6^th February 2019) In addition, the European air cargo market is expected to increase by 46% by 2027 (BusinessWire, 2019). The increasing complexity and continued growth in a dynamic environment are the challenges that aviation is facing right now. (EPAS, 2018)

Therefore, Europe’s most popular airports are facing the possibility of exceeding their capacity in the future if significant expansion work is not carried out. For example, in 2014, Helsinki Airport started a development program the aim of which is to serve 30 million passengers per year by 2020 (Finavia, 13^th December 2018). Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe, commented during the Air Traffic Report 2018 publication event that: “Capacity and quality are major issues for an increasing number of airports across Europe.” (Airport World, 6^th February 2019)

Ground handling is a very important part of civil aviation and air cargo operations because ground handling activities keep flight operations going smoothly. The safe movement of passengers, baggage and cargo through the terminals, the turnaround of the aircraft and maintaining the aircraft service operations on schedule are the primary responsibilities of the ground handling companies. (Ashford, Martin, & Moore, 2013) Ground handling operations at the airport is very demanding in many ways and requires extensive and sustainable health and safety management actions not only from the company but also from the other stakeholders at the airport. In 2017, 50 percent of the global ground handling operations were carried out by specialized ground handling companies. It is estimated that 70 percent of the global ground handling operations will be outsourced by the year 2022 (Aviation Pros, 2018).

The subject of this thesis has emerged due to the high level of the accident incidence rate in Finnish ground handling operations, which has been identified by If P&C Insurance. This thesis has been made as an assignment for the non-profit research foundation The August Ramsay Foundation. Taking into consideration the non-profit aspect of the Foundation, the viewpoint of this thesis is that it is for the public good. The phrase “for the public good” means that the primary goal is to produce occupational health and safety information from the field of Finnish ground handling operations that can be used for the public good. This thesis is the final project of my Master of Economics and Business Administration Degree, which is why the economic perspective plays a significant role too.

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1.2 Research problem, objectives, and scope

The primary objective of this thesis is to produce OHS information for ground handling activities or other similar industries through the identification of the most significant OHS hazards and opportunities, and the determination of the most significant OHS risks. The research data has been gathered from the selected Finnish ground handling companies. The primary focus of the research is occupational health and safety hazards, risks and opportunities at the workplace. This research covers the ergonomic, cultural, and OHS management factors that influence employees’ health and safety at the workplace. Of course, the data collation method and therefore the data itself to some extent limits what risks can be identified. For example, due to the constraints of the scope of this thesis, work guidelines and instructions are not specifically included under the research except to the extent of what has been discovered from the qualitative data. The way to and from the workplace is also excluded from this thesis.

It must also be accepted that one thesis cannot identify and assess every OHS hazard, risk and opportunity due to the fact that groundling handling operations are part of a very complex system.

It is a prerequisite of the ISO 45001:2018 standard that organizations must, during the planning phase, identify OHS hazards, determine OHS risks, identify OHS opportunities, and identify the legal and other requirements that an organization must comply with. Taking the foregoing into account, the produced qualitative data from the Finnish ground handling companies has been assessed on the basis of the ISO45001:2018 OHS hazard identification, OHS risk assessment, and OHS opportunities identification. Again taking the above mention into consideration, the research problems have been compressed into two questions:

1. What are the most significant OHS hazards and risks in Finnish ground handling?

2. What are the most significant OHS opportunities to enhance the working conditions?

The first question represents the ISO 45001:2018 hazard identification and risk assessment tasks and the second question represents the opportunities identification task. The significance of the identified OHS risks is assessed qualitatively utilizing the researcher’s best knowledge, and using a risk matrix. The risk matrix variables are risk severity and likelihood, and both of these variables have been evaluated qualitatively.

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1.3 Key terms

Occupational health and safety risks (OHS risk)

OHS risk is a combination of the probability of the occurrence of a work-related hazardous event or exposure, and the severity of injury and illness that can be caused by that event or exposure.

Occupational health and safety hazards (OHS hazard)

An OHS hazard is the potential of a substance, environment, person, activity or process to cause an OHS risk.

Occupational health and safety opportunities (OHS opportunity)

An OHS opportunity is an opportunity to enhance the occupational health and safety performance by improving any of the OHS-related activities, conditions or circumstances.

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)

Occupational health and safety (OHS) relates to health, safety, and welfare issues in the workplace, and includes both the mental, psycho-social and physical welfare of employees.

Occupational Health and Safety Management (OHSM)

A set of various methods used to steer the organization’s OHS and its performance towards the organization’s OHS goals, such as an incentive system and being a model for workers.

Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS)

OHSMS is a framework that helps management to establish, implement and maintain required and relevant processes in order to meet legal and other requirements.

ISO 45001:2018

ISO 45001:2018 is an OHSMS framework which is designed to improve employee safety, reduce workplace risks and improve the safety of working conditions.

Ground Handling (GH)

Ground handling is a set of activities mostly in the airside that keeps flight operations going smoothly. An example of these activities is de-icing, aircraft hold loading and unloading, baggage and cargo handling, and various other aircraft services.

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1.4 Research methodology

The research method which is the most suitable for this thesis is qualitative research.

Qualitative researchers obtain in-depth data through naturalistic participant observation and qualitative interviewing (Rubin & Rubin, 2004). The quantitative survey study would also be a potential data collation method because it allows for the possibility of efficiently generating a considerable amount of data sample. However, the downside is that the interpretation of the results might be problematic and the survey studies are considered to be facile (Hirsjärvi, Remes, & Sajavaara, 2010), especially when the subject is broad and complex. Compared to qualitative research, the quantitative survey study gives higher statistical reliability as the sample size would most probably be bigger. Unfortunately, the survey form needs be very comprehensive to cover all of the fields of employee health and safety, which takes time and effort. To achieve adequate reliability with the qualitative research method necessitates quite a large number of interviews or interviewees. Taking the subject’s complexity and scope into consideration, the qualitative research is still the more suitable method for this thesis. The survey study would be a better method if the subject matter would have been more limited.

This thesis is primarily a descriptive study and secondarily an explorative study. A descriptive study searches for an explanation for the phenomenon or problem. An explorative study maps out the current state, searches for new perspectives and phenomena, establishes fewer known phenomena and develops hypotheses. (Hirsjärvi, Remes, & Sajavaara, 2010) With reference to the research problems, the purpose of this thesis is to find out what are the most significant OHS hazards, risks and opportunities at the workplace. The purpose corresponds to the definition of a descriptive and explorative study. This thesis is more explorative during the early stages and more descriptive during the later stages.

Because the subject matter is about employees’ health and safety at the workplace, it is reasonable to have the research made for GH employees, GH team leaders, GH supervisors, and OHS managers. Workers and team leaders have the widest and most practical experience of the work itself, the equipment, the working conditions, and the practicality of safety measures. OHS managers should be aware of the hazards and risks, the adequacy of safety training, operational standards, the safety culture and the risk management framework put into practice. Unfortunately, there is always a risk that the managers represent the company and not themselves. In other words, it is possible that what the managers say during the interviews can

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also be read from the company’s annual report or responsibility report. However, this is not a problem as long as the interviewer is aware of this risk.

Interviewing provides the possibility of acquiring in-depth and comprehensive qualitative data.

Due to the complexity of the subject of this thesis, it is clear that the generated interview data will also be multi-faceted and complex and might need in-depth clarification from the interviewees during the interview. That is why the best interview method is a half-structured interview, meaning that there might be variations of what has been asked from the various interviewees.

OHS can be a sensitive interview topic in some organizations which could have the effect of making the interviewees feel scared or threatened during an interview. It is also possible that interviewees will provide answers which they think the researcher will want to hear (McLeod, 1994, cited in Silverman, 2009: 128). However, Hirsjärvi (2010: 206) suggests that interviews are a great option for researching sensitive or difficult subjects. With the qualitative interviewing method, it is easier to obtain good comprehensive and in-depth results because of the possibility to profoundly focus on interesting topics.

The interviews can be carried out on a one-to-one basis or in groups. Grönfors (1982: 109) noticed in his research that interviewees are more natural and relaxed when there are other people participating in the interview. Hirsjärvi (2010: 210) states that there is evidence to suggest that one-to-one interviewees can be just as relaxed and natural too. One risk is that the group can discouraged from speaking about negative topics during the interview. Rubin &

Rubin (2004: 122) claims that in multiple-person interviews the relationship between the interviewees is generally more important in having an effect on what is said, than the questions posed by the researcher. That being said, a group interview consisting of both managers and employees would have an influence on what is said (or not said) because of the existing relationships and authority gap between them. Morgan (1997: 17) suggests that group interviews are an appropriate data collation method if the participants can discuss the topic actively and easily. Because the selected Finnish ground handling companies had, at least tentatively, a positive attitude towards the research, the group interviews and naturalistic observation are well-argued choices for the research method used for this thesis. On the other hand, despite the positive attitude on the managing level it does necessarily follow that the workers will automatically have a positive attitude towards the interviews.

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Interviews are the way to discover what the interviewees think, feel and believe regarding the subject. This data though does not precisely tell the researcher what really happens at a workplace. A naturalistic observation of employees working at the workplace completes and verifies the collected qualitative interview data and strengthens the reliability because the researcher sees what really happens. The observation is made in a natural environment which provides the possibility of gathering information directly from the workplace. The observation method can be criticized as the presence of the researcher can interfere with the natural situation and change the course of actions. Due to the limited extent of this thesis, it is not possible to ensure that the employees become used to the presence of the researcher at the workplace, which is a common way to neutralize the naturalistic observation situation. It is not possible to write down or collect the naturalistic observation data immediately during the observation so reliance on the researcher’s memory is necessary for writing down the data afterwards. All in all, the whole naturalistic observation method is burdensome which is why the time spent on the observation was limited. (Hirsjärvi, Remes, & Sajavaara, 2010) The qualitative data comes from the selected Finnish ground handling companies, both of which operate at Helsinki Airport. The qualitative data is gathered in the same way at both workplaces: The observation is done on the first day and the interviews on the second day. The research process input is the hazardous conditions to which an organization is at risk and the output is OHS information.

The research methodology and process is demonstrated in the figure 3.

Figure 1. Research methodology.

OHS Hazards at the workplace

Research method:

1. Observation 2. Interviews

Qualitative data analysis

Conclusions:

1. The most significant OHS hazards and risks 2. OHS opportunities

InformationOHS

Results:

1. OHS hazard identification 2. OHS Risk matrix

assessment

3. OHS opportunities identification

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1.5 Theoretical framework

Figure 2 demonstrates the theoretical framework of this thesis. All four of the main areas of the framework are introduced separately. The theoretical framework places the master’s thesis into theoretical context and introduces the key terms and represents the association between them.

Figure 2. Thesis framework.

1.5.1 Obligation

The Finnish occupational Safety and Health Act sets the minimum requirements for employees’ health and safety at a workplace. In Finland, occupational health and safety covers health and safety at work, the terms and conditions of employment, mental wellbeing, the functioning of management and the organization, productivity and co-determination. (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 2016) The act is a general act which is specified by special Acts, such as the electrical safety, radiation safety, pressure vessels, lifts and chemicals, and international and European ground handling and aviation regulations.

The ground handling and aviation regulations are derived from multiple sources. The aviation transport umbrella organization IATA, i.e. The International Air Transport Association represents 290 airlines which accounts for 82 percent of global air traffic. IATA works with local governments and aviation associations to develop regulations e.g. Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR). (IATA, 2019) The International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO works

Obligation to manage OHS risks

•Contractual obligations

•Non-contractual obligations

•Value creation

Risk management discipline and framework

•Occupational health and safety management

•ISO 45001 –standard

Object

•Defined Finnish ground handling work

Perspectives

•Safety culture

•Ergonomics

•OHS Management

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with 193 member states and industry groups to create and develop international civil aviation standards, recommended practices and policies (ICAO, 2019). The European Union Aviation Safety Agency EASA drafts implementing rules for European aviation and oversees national aviation safety agencies (EASA, 2019). In Finland the responsible body for national aviation safety is The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom.

The European Commission published a “White Paper” in 2011 which consists of 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade to build a competitive transport system in Europe. One of the main goals, alongside transport competitiveness and resource efficiency, was to be the world’s safest region in the civil aviation sector (The European Commission, 2011). In 2011, The European Commission also gave an declaration to the Council of Europe and the European Parliament about the measures necessary to achieve the goal. In addition to drawing up guidelines and instructions, there is a need to add weight to a systematic aviation safety risk assessment through a safety management system. In 2011, The European Commission published the first version of the European Aviation Safety Programme (EASP) which presents the structure of aviation safety management in the European Union area. (Traficom, 2019) The European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS) consists of identified key hazards in Europe, strategic safety goals and actions necessary to achieve them. The actions are directed towards EASA, The European Commission, the member states or other European stakeholders. Finland has included the actions, that are directed towards the member states, into the national plan for aviation safety (FPAS). EPAS also takes into account the global aviation safety goals which have been published in the Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) by ICAO. EPAS strategic priorities are based on the Commission’s aviation strategy and EASA’s strategy plan (EPAS 2019-2023, appendix D). Acts to improve European aviation safety in accordance with EPAS can be divided into five categories: safety promotion, focused attention topic, regulation, research and evaluation. (Traficom, 2019)

The Finnish Aviation Safety Program (FASP) covers a national aviation safety management system. It contains representation of aviation safety politics, context of regulation, processes and safety work. FASP appendix 1 is a Finnish Plan for Aviation Safety (FPAS) which contains key hazards in Finnish aviation, strategic safety goals and actions to achieve them. FASP with its appendixes also fulfills the obligation to create and maintain the ICAO’s State Safety Programme (SSP). FASP also refers to the Finnish Aviation Act. (Traficom, 2019) Aviation agents must take FASP into account in their operations (Finnish Aviation Act, 864/2014). The

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agents are responsible for their own safety and it is mandatory for the agents to take self- identified and national aviation hazards into account in their safety management system, and assess and mitigate the risks. The agents must execute the required FASP actions and document them. (Traficom, 2019)

In addition to the laws and regulations, employers also have non-contractual obligations. One of the most important ones is the Duty of Care, which comes from “tort law”. The goal of tort law is to discourage individuals from doing things that could hurt others. In a workplace, the duty of care means that employers have an obligation to protect employees and other stakeholders from hazards and risks existing at a workplace. The obligation is based not only on legislation, but it is also a moral and social obligation. (Whalley & Guzelian, 2017) Whalley

& Guzelian (2017: 107-116) argue that if you just focus on compliance with existing laws and regulations, then there is a high probability that your current actions will be viewed as negligent in the future at some point.

Figure 3. Legal, regulatory and other requirements for a ground handling organization.

Creating value for the company’s shareholders is the primary goal for limited and public limited companies. Therefore, the goal of the risk management is also to add value to the company. What this means in practice is the balancing of the potential for loss against the cost of controls (Stolzer & Goglia, 2015). In other words, risk mitigation is not in the company’s interest if the risk mitigation costs are higher than the potential loss. This is basically the starting point of financial risk management. However, a company needs to take their reputation risk and other risks into consideration when performing this kind of calculations.

The protecting of employees’ health and safety at the workplace is just as important a goal as the value creation is. A company has the social responsibility to pursue that goal by systematically and carefully implementing OHSMS. The social responsibility is based on

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occupational health and safety regulations, and on non-contractual obligations, such as the duty of care. A company needs to achieve an adequate level of health and safety to meet the requirements, and therefore the company cannot balance the potential for loss against the cost of controls in occupational health and safety management when fulfilling mandatory requirements. After contractual and non-contractual obligations are fulfilled, the company can balance the potential loss against cost of controls among occupational health and safety matters.

1.5.2 Risk Management Discipline & Framework

Occupational health and safety management and the ISO 45001:2018 standard are the logical choices for the discipline and method because it supports the goal of this thesis: Identify hazards and assess OHS-related hazards, risks and opportunities. Indeed, the ISO 45001:2018 is specifically designed to identify, assess and reduce workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities at the workplace. In addition, it enables organizations to comprehensively integrate occupational health and safety management into business processes. (Sadiq, 2019) More comprehensive risk management systems/frameworks have achieved recognition among large enterprise companies, such as enterprise risk management (ERM), because the systems, and therefore the risks, are nowadays more complex and interdependent than before in a globalized and changing world.

1.5.3 Object

The first requirement of the ISO 45001:2018 standard is to identify OHSMS’s stakeholders.

With infinite time the OHSMS almost every stakeholder at the airport would be covered by the OHSMS in this thesis. Firstly, due to the constraints of the scope of this thesis, the relevant ground handling stakeholders must be framed carefully. Secondly, it must be considered that the work tasks in ground handling operations can be extremely diversified.

Ground handling operations as an aviation industry sector consists of multiple lines of work.

The safe movement of passengers, baggage and cargo through the terminals, the turnaround of the aircraft and the maintaining of aircraft service operations on schedule are the primary ground handling responsibilities. (Ashford, et al., 2013) Safety in general is the primary goal of aviation operations in order to avoid accidents and maintain a positive public image.

Employee safety, passenger safety and flight safety are also the overriding goals of the ground handling operations. Keeping to the schedule can be considered to be partially contradictory goal regarding safety, but it is still, a very important one. Keeping to the schedule is a vital issue for the ground handling company because the financial consequences of delays are

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significant for airlines and other stakeholders. Frequent delays caused by ground handling operations might lead to the situation where the airline changes a ground handling provider after the expiration of a contract. Then again, it is predicted that the importance of a ground handling company’s safety record might increase in the future during contract negotiations.

Ground handling work is a combination of independent work and teamwork. The work at the apron is performed in teams which usually consist of a group leader, a belt load driver, a conveyor belt driver and a crane operator. The supervision of work, operating from the office outside the apron, provides work tasks to workers at the apron and the safety manager oversees the overall operational safety. The de-icing service is performed further away from the apron.

The ground handling work includes a lot of driving between aircraft stands, and the traffic at the apron can be congested during rush hours. Even one aircraft stand can be really congested at any time of the day if there are cleaning services, fuel tank, aircraft service, ground handling activities and other stakeholders performing work tasks at the same time. Changes in flight schedules have a direct influence on ground handling schedules, making the work schedules unpredictable on some level. For example, if all of the passengers do not arrive at the flight in time, their baggage must be removed from the aircraft hold which delays both the flight schedule and the ground handling work.

Ground handling work is a physical job which puts employees’ physical health to the test. It is not always possible to perform the work tasks in a good physical ergonomic way, for example cramped aircraft holds extend the work. As a matter of fact, ground handling work can be compared to the work of a stevedore or warehouse worker. In addition to the physical stress, the work also strains employees mentally. Tight schedules, stress, shift work, and problems with cognitive ergonomics significantly influence the employees’ health and safety on all levels of the organization. Dangerous substances, such as the constant exposure to exhaust gases in the ramp, are a serious threat to the employees’ health.

Ground handling safety must have raised concerns at the European Union level as well because the industry is facing its biggest regulatory change since 1996. The reform aims to update ground handling safety regulation to meet present-day obligations. (Conway, 2018) On 7^th March 2019 was the first EASA Conference on ground handling operations was held to prepare the implementation of the European roadmap on ground handling safety. The conference consisted of six main improvement areas: Management system, operational standards, ground support equipment, training, staff turnover and oversight. EASA will restructure the necessary

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requirements and non-regulatory activities to increase the level of ground handling safety.

(EASA, 2019)

Ground handling activities can be divided into two categories by the location where a ground handling activity is performed. Airside activities are work tasks that take place at the apron and include the supervision of those activities. Terminal activities are work tasks that take place inside the terminal and include the supervision of those activities. Table 1 below shows all of the categorized activities. As mentioned before, all of these activities are not included in this research. Only those activities that take place at the apron, the de-icing area, the supervision, and in the cargo and baggage terminals, and the transportation between these areas are included in this research. In other words, all of the activities taking place inside the passenger terminal are excluded from this research. Activities that are included in this research are marked with * in table 1. However, rather than researching these activities separately, the ground handling activities form a coherent whole which is researched as a whole.

Table 1. Rephrased ground handling activities (Ashford, Martin, & Moore, 2013, p. 154).

Terminal Airside

Baggage checking Baggage handling*

Baggage (re)claim Ticketing and check-in

Passenger loading/unloading*

Transit passenger handling*

Elderly and disabled persons*

Information systems Government controls Load control*

Security Cargo*

Ramp Services

Supervision*

Marshaling Startup*

Moving/towing aircraft*

Safety measures*

On-ramp aircraft servicing*

Repair of faults Fueling

Wheel and tire check Ground power supply De-icing

Cooling/heating Toilet servicing Potable water

Demineralized water Routine maintenance Non-routine maintenance Cleaning of cockpit windows, wings, nacelles, and cabin windows

Onboard servicing cleaning Catering

In-flight entertainment

Minor servicing of cabin fittings

Alteration of seat configuration

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External ramp equipment*

Passenger steps Catering loaders Cargo loaders

Mail and equipment loading Crew steps on all freight aircraft

1.5.4 Perspectives

Occupational health and safety management is a wide branch of science consisting of various factors affecting OHS. It is impossible to deal with all of the potential factors that emerge at the airport within the constraints of this thesis. Instead of this thesis being a comprehensive OHS hazard, risk and opportunity research, it focuses on only specific OHS factors.

Firstly, the researcher’s discipline, i.e. business science, limits the scope of this research.

Business science focuses on (OHS) management methods and systems, economic, cultural and psychological, and other organizational factors. Because of this, for example, fire safety, equipment safety and other technical safety factors are not specifically researched in this thesis as these factors are more related to technical science.

Secondly, consideration must be given to the fact that some of the OHS-related factors are more relevant in the airport environment and in ground handling industry than others. Ek &

Akselsson (2007) states that safety culture in a ground handling company operating in Sweden was good, but poorer than expected by the managers. Furthermore, Ek & Akselsson (2007) suggests that: “In future studies of safety culture aspects in ground handling companies, it would be interesting to determine what results would be found at an airport with several ground handling companies working in competition.” That being said, Helsinki Airport is an airport in which several GH companies operate. In addition, the NLR Air Transport Safety Institute (2010) identified potentials for improving OHSM-related factors in European airports.

Furthermore, it is relevant to reflect that the current GH OHSM processes are in accordance with the most updated OHSM standard, ISO 45001:2018.

Ergonomics is very important in ground handling operations because the work is physical and repetitive. The growing use of IT and data also causes challenges for cognitive ergonomics.

Organizational ergonomics must be taken into consideration because ground handling is a very competitive industry and economic factors have a significant influence on organizational structures which can cause stress for employees. Other environmental factors, such as physical,

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chemical and biological factors are important at the airport, but due to the limitations of what business science covers, these factors are not primarily within the scope of this thesis. The selection of these components is also a well-founded hypothesis of possible targets for development.

The factors that have an influence on occupational health and safety at a workplace are categorized in this thesis as follows: Culture, Ergonomics, Safety and Health Management, and Environmental factors. Ergonomics consists of physical ergonomics, cognitive ergonomics and organizational ergonomics. Culture refers to those aspects of the organizational culture which will have an impact on attitudes and behavior related to increasing or decreasing OHS risks.

Environmental factors contain the effects of physical, chemical and biological exposures at a workplace. Health and Safety Management refers to how the processes are designed, implemented and overseen.

1.6 Thesis structure

The structure of this thesis and its formatting are based on the guidelines created by Tampere University’s insurance science and risk management teachers. The subject is presented and defined in the Introduction chapter. The introduction is followed by two chapters on theory that provide an in-depth viewpoint of the theory behind the risk management of ground handling employees’ health and safety. Chapters four and five contain generated empirical data with research method representation and data analysis. The last chapter summarises the results of this thesis. Discussion and study limitations ends this thesis.

The results are divided into three categories: Safety Management, Safety Culture and Ergonomics. It is quite naïve to think that occupational health and safety could be divided into parts because in reality it is a big picture in which all of the factors have a contributing effect on each other. However, to make it easier to formulate the results it is better to divide OHS in separate parts, and in the conclusions combine all of the factors together. The conclusions are a comprehensive analysis of all of the factors that are assessed in the Results section.

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2 RISK, AND OHS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

2.1 Risk and uncertainty

The origin of the word “risk” has been influenced by the Latin word “riscum” and the Arabic word “risq”. The Arabic word refers to prosperity whereas the Latin word focuses on undesired consequences. (Walker, 2013) Nowadays, the word can mean both undesired and desired consequences depending on the author and the branch of science. Indeed, there is no universal definition for the word. In everyday conversation risk usually means the possibility of undesired consequences. Furthermore, some researchers (Koskinen, 2018; Hansson, 2010) thus define risk as the probability of an undesired event on an objective. In addition to that, Hansson (2010) suggests that risk must not be certain nor impossible. In finance, risk is nowadays thought to be a desired or an undesired event on an objective, usually measured by money. In the world of OHS, risk is seen as a negative event, such as an injury or an incident.

In the past, risk management was generally, mostly disintegrated within organizations.

Different risk areas were operated in “silos” which made the organizations very vulnerable to different kinds of risks, such as complex “multi-factor” risks. Nowadays, risk management is developing towards the direction in which risk is seen as both a possibility as well as a threat due to globalization, the development of technology and the constantly changing world. These factors have increased interdependencies between organizations and other stakeholders making systems and networks more complex and unpredictable. This have led to the situation in which organizations are exposed to hazards and risks they cannot even be imagined, also known as black or grey swans, due to the unknown interdependencies within the supply chains, the environment, outsourced services or stakeholders operating in the same workplace.

The consequences can be very significant to the organization, either positively or negatively.

A major competitor can experience a huge business interruption due to problems with the supply chain or a fatal accident which benefits financially the other organization. For example, Kone Oyj announced at the beginning of 2020 that it will take full advantage of ThyssenKrupp’s weak liquidity situation, after their merger negotiations ended without a result. DDoS cyber-attack to a cloud service might interrupt an airline’s cargo data or other valuable data which causes a massive risk to flight safety and ground handling safety.

Nowadays though, significant exposures emerge from multi-factor risks, also known as

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complex or intelligent failures in which various sets of hazards create a hazardous condition which is not identified by the organization. Companies need to accept that they cannot predict every hazard in their operating environment, and they should not invest too much of their money on forecasts or predictions. What they should do is to take advantage of opportunities and mitigate existing risks, as well as continually try to improve safety-related factors at the workplace.

According to ISO 45001:2018, OHS risk is a combination of the probability of the occurrence of a work-related hazardous event or exposure, and the severity of an injury and an illness that can be caused by that event or exposure. Generalizing this to a whole OHS management discipline, OHS risk is seen as a combination of likelihood and the severity of a negative occurrence (injury or illness). This is a reasonable approach if we think of what could happen to an employee at a workplace: OHS-related occurrences are negative outcomes without exception. As a summary, the OHSM approach to define risk is an employee-oriented and one- tailed event, caused by hazardous conditions and factors. OHS hazards can be seen as the uncertainty of performed activities, employees’ behavior and environmental factors.

Uncertainty refers to a situation in which something is not known or there is only incomplete information available. Uncertainty is a general state in OHSM because of the indefinite resources needed to completely identify uncertainty/hazards. However, the goal of the organization is to identify and limit uncertainty to a level in which operations comply with legal and other requirements.

Risks exist when uncertain/hazardous conditions exist. In theory, risks could be mitigated completely with the right risk control methods, but in reality, there is always some residual risk left after the risk control methods have been implemented. One reason for that is that human performance and thereby the organization’s performance naturally varies. The performance variability is caused by uncertainty and some level of contingency. As we all know, humans are not robots and therefore despite the desire to work flawlessly, humans are prone to failures.

Personal matters, biases, cognitive and physical limitations, core values, culture, environmental factors and beliefs are all factors that cause the deviation of an employee’s performance, just to name a few. The other reason for existing residual risk is incomplete information and uncertainty around us. In other words, risk can be also defined as the deviation of an employee’s or organization’s performance (caused by various factors). The definition is not used in this thesis, but it demonstrates one perspective of how risks can be perceived.

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In order to define risk as a deviation caused by uncertainty, there must be some kind of expectation or conception of how things ideally should be done in a vacuum. Otherwise it is impossible to identify deviation if the expected performance is not known. Assuming that a certain task has been instructed and organized perfectly, the deviation only occurs when uncertainty causes deviation to the performance of an employee or organization or when the employees intentionally violate guidelines or instructions. (Hollnagel, 2014) This approach requires the standardization of work tasks which can be a burdensome task for management.

2.2 Risk characteristics

Risks have different characteristics and can be classified within those characteristics. The first characteristic is pure or speculative risk. Pure risk means that there is only the probability of a loss or no loss. In addition to the probability of a loss, speculative risk consists of the possibility of a positive outcome too. (Rejda & McNamara, 2014) Speculative risk is also called the two- tailed risk to illustrate the possibility of desired and undesired consequences. In this thesis risks are thought to be primarily pure risks, and the conditions to be speculative risks, for example safety culture. The risk of falling or slipping is a completely pure risk because there are no positive outcomes. On the other hand, physical and ergonomically acceptable work can cause positive outcomes for employees when musculoskeletal system becomes stronger, but these scenarios are quite rare.

The second characteristic is the objective or subjective risk. The objective risk is the variation of the actual value from the expected value. If the expected value is 100 and the actual value 90, the objective risk is 10 (or 10%). The subjective risk is the variation of the perception of the risk between individuals in the same situation. A high subjective risk usually causes prudent and conservative, but also overly cautious behavior. (Rejda & McNamara, 2014) It is obvious that employees and even risk managers’ experience workplace risks differently which makes the employees’ health and safety risks very subjective, even if the working methods are completely standardized. That is because people perceive risk significance based on their experience and knowledge, which can be very biased. Some of the employees’ health and safety risks are very improbable which increases the probability of the variation of actual loss from expected loss.

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The third characteristic is the diversifiable or non-diversifiable risk. Diversifiable risks can be reduced or eliminated by diversification. A non-diversifiable risk affects the entire economy or a large group of people and it is not possible to eliminate with diversification. (Rejda &

McNamara, 2014) Some employees’ health and safety risks, such as terrorist attacks, can be reduced or eliminated by the diversification of the geographical location of the workforce (smaller units might not interest terrorists). On the whole, employees’ health and safety risks are hard to eliminate or reduce by diversification.

Koskinen (2018: 15) adds a fourth characteristic which is the dynamic or static risk. Dynamic risks change over time, whereas static risks are constant over time. A quite static risk which causes deviation to an employee’s performance is the organizational culture. Diesel exhaust gases are also quite a static risk for health at the airport ramp. Personal matters, such as fatigue, are usually quite a dynamic risk (most accidents and incidents happen on Mondays).

Traditional dynamic risks are weather conditions and the condition of the equipment.

Risks can be classified by the complexity of the process. Repetitive work is usually a very transparent and straightforward process in which procedures and practices are clearly defined, for instance the production line or basic services. In spite of fact that occurring risks are known and preventable, accidents and incidents still happen because of the deviations from existing processes. These deviations are caused by behavior, skill, the environment and a lack of attention. What causes certain behavior or a lack of attention are connected to personal matters, being in a rush, organizational culture, management attitudes or group norms. Indeed, usually the preventable failures are not the employee’s intentional errors. Preventable failures are unwanted but somewhat inevitable. (Edmondson, 2019)

Complex failures can happen in a similar or more complex environment than preventable failures are subject to. These risks occur in a way that no one might have ever expected them to occur and they are a combination of events or actions. These risky situations might occur frequently one at a time and single hazardous conditions are identified, but their overall impact is not. In other words, the causes of these “system breakdowns” are a combination of system complexity, performance variability, and novel factors in familiar situations. Complex failures are a risk in various working environments, such as in hospital care and aircraft carrier operations. Complex failures are also unwanted, but the surprise element of these failures provides a change to learn something about both the risk and the system. (Edmondson, 2019)

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The probability of complex failures increases exponentially as the existing amount of OHS hazards increase. This is also called as convexity of complex system payoffs. (Taleb, 2012) Last but not least risk classification is intelligent failures. These failures are usually associated with experimentation, the creation of something new, and the development of processes and products. A good example of these types of risks are investment on a somewhat uncertain object or investment based on extensively incomplete information, the development of medicine or a new product or process development and implementation. Some might call these failures as trial and error failures. What causes exposure to these risks is uncertainty, experimentation, and risk-taking. (Edmondson, 2019)

2.3 ISO 45001:2018 - Occupational Health and Safety Management System

An occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) is a framework the target of which is to prevent employees from sustaining injuries, illnesses and deaths at the workplace.

OHSMS also aims to enhance the factors that improve working conditions and repair factors that do the opposite. There are different OHSMSs with different practices to achieve these goals, depending of what risk area is being managed.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (2013), effective OHSMS requires a systematic and sustainable approach. The plan-do-check-act approach is a systematic way to manage OHS risks effectively. It enables the company to continuously improve and audit the overall operation. The planning includes determining the policy and a plan for implementation. After setting the stage, risks are profiled, OHSMS is organized and implemented into the “Do” - phase. After the implementation of the OHSMS, the system performance must be measured and any possible accidents, injuries and near misses must be investigated. The last phase of the approach is the “act” which contains a performance review and learn one’s lesson. (Health and Safety Executive, 2013) Also, ISO 45001:2018 standard is based on the PDCA-cycle.

The ISO 45001:2018 OHSMS standard is designed to reduce workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths at work. Compared to previous similar standards, ISO 45001 makes it easier to integrate OHSMS into the total business processes. Furthermore, the standard’s format, structure and terms are based on ISO’s Annex SL which makes the standard easy to integrate with other ISO management systems. (Sadiq, 2019)

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The ISO 45001 standard sets the requirements for the OHSMS. According to Sadiq (2019), by implementing OHSMS and carrying out its tasks using the ISO 45001 standard on a long-term basis the company benefits in the following ways:

1. Improvements in the OHS of its workers by providing safe working conditions that prevent injury and ill health,

2. the elimination of hazards and the minimization of OHS risks, 3. compliance with all of the applicable legal OHS requirements,

4. the implementation of a policy for OHS and the achievement of its OHS improvement objectives,

5. the development of a proactive and preventative OHS system,

6. the enhancement of participation and the accountability of senior management, and 7. the continuous improvement of an organization’s OHS performance by following the

‘Plan-Do-Check-Act’ (PDCA) cycle.

2.3.1 Context of the organization

Issues associated with the context of the organization are as follows: Understanding the organization and its context, understanding the needs and expectations of workers and other interested parties, and determining the scope of the OHS management system. (Darabont, Antonov, & Bejinariu, 2017).

The company must recognize all of the internal and external factors that can have positive or negative influence on OHSMS outcomes at the workplace in order to understand what are the OHS hazards and risks, and be aware of and prepared for changes in the operational environment. For example, OHS risks can be static or dynamic depending of the company’s circumstances, working conditions, characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. (Sadiq, 2019) According to Sadiq (2019), the following external and internal factors in the table 2 influence the company’s OHSMS. Modern swiftly changing globalized and interdependent operational environments require the need to manage risks holistically and proactively in order to prevent injuries, illnesses and deaths, and keep up the company’s efficiency.

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Table 2. Rephrased external and internal factors that have an influence on OHSMS (Sadiq, 2019).

External factors Internal factors

 Social and community factors

 Legal factors

 Contractors’, competitors’ or suppliers’

products or activities

 Environmental factors

 Changes in laws

 Changes in technology

 Changes in company image or reputation

 Changes in an organization’s role, structure, management or personnel

 Changes in an organization’s OHS policies and objectives

 Capital, human and technological resources

 The capability of an organization’s information system to support a safe and healthy workplace.

 Horizontal and vertical relationships between staff and management

 The adequacy and effectiveness of OHS controls

 The management of contractors and other outsourced activities

 Working hours, shifts, working conditions and organizational culture

 The perception of employees towards their work, working conditions and relationships

 Changes in products, processes and equipment that could impact upon OHS

 The needs and expectations of workers in relation to their health and safety at work

Management must understand the needs and requirements of workers and other stakeholders when creating effective OHSMS. ISO 45001:2018 sets three requirements to achieve this understanding. The first requirement is to identify all of the interested parties that are linked to OHSMS. Workers, legal and regulatory bodies, contractors, clients, the parent company and workers’ trade unions are examples of these interested parties. The second requirement

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demands that the company identifies the OHS-related needs and expectations of these interested parties. The needs and expectations can concern working conditions, work processes and systems, culture, ergonomics, OHS hazards and risks and risk controls. The aim of the last requirement is to identify those needs and requirements that are, or could become, legal or regulatory requirements. The requirement divides legislative and regulatory requirements from other voluntary requirements. (Sadiq, 2019) This task is important because for the company it is really essential to know the contractual (and non-contractual) obligations which it is facing and which must be fulfilled, and what requirements are voluntary and can be assessed more in accordance with the company’s own discretion. Figure 4 illustrates this process.

Figure 4. Understanding the needs and expectations of workers and other interested parties (ISO45001:2018, Clause 4.2) (Sadiq, 2019).

The next step in creating the context of the organization is to determine the scope of OHSMS.

The scope includes the physical location and parameters of the company’s organization, current and planned work-related activities, products and services under the company’s control or influence, and special framework standards or regulatory requirements. The scope must be clear to all of the stakeholders in order for them to evaluate whether they are covered by the company’s OHSMS or not. (Sadiq, 2019)

2.3.2 Leadership and worker participation

Issues associated with leadership and worker participation are as follows: Leadership and commitment, OHS policy, organizational roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and authorities, and participation and consultation. (Darabont, Antonov, & Bejinariu, 2017).

OHS is the responsibility of all of the employees within the organization. This means that the way employees operate at work must primarily be driven by safety, and secondarily by efficiency. When an organization’s culture, environment and work system are favorable for operating safely, such as safety culture, then the OHS can be improved. Indeed, OHS is all about safe conditions and the mindset of employees. In other words, OHS is an organization’s state of mind and an ongoing part of every job within the organization. Some might argue that

Identify interested parties.

Identify the OHS- related needs and expectations of interested parties.

Identify which of these needs and expectations are, or could become, legal

or regulatory requirements.

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workers cause accidents because they just do not care about OHS. Yet, this is only partly true, it is senior management’s responsibility to create the conditions in which employees care about OHS and are able to operate safely at the workplace. An organization’s attitude towards OHS is highly influenced by the senior management’s attitude towards OHS, resulting in OHSMS to be worthless if the employees and senior management are unwilling to commit to it. What an organization thinks about OHS, and how willingly the employees want to contribute to their own and others’ safety, is influenced by personal traits, the organization’s communication skills, group norms, the management’s attitude and working conditions.

The senior management of the company has the overall responsibility and accountability for OHSMS. The ISO 45001:2018 standard requires that the senior management expresses commitment, support and leadership towards OHSMS (Sadiq, 2019). In practice, the expression can be e.g. a declaration which shows what the above-mentioned senior management’s attitude towards OHSMS is. The standard proposes that the following requirements and actions are fulfilled by senior management:

 The overall responsibility and accountability of OHS,

 The establishment and implementation of OHS policy and objectives,

 The integration of OHS system into all work processes,

 The provision of adequate resources to establish, maintain and continually improve OHSMS and

 The communication of requirements, procedures and practices relating to OHS to everyone in the organization.

ISO 45001:2018 standard states that the final responsibility and accountability of OHSMS is in the hands of senior management. However, according to the standard, it is absolutely necessary to appoint a person in charge to operate certain OHSMS functions. (Sadiq, 2019) According to Sadiq (2019): “The consultation and participation of workers is essential during the development, planning, implementation, performance evaluation and continual improvement stages of the OHSMS.” Furthermore, the ISO 45001:2018 standard’s clause 5.4 requires the following actions concerning worker consultation and participation:

 Process determination for consultation and the participation of workers on levels of the organization,

 the implementation and maintenance of the above-mentioned processes,

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 ensure sufficient resources (time, training and other resources) are available for consultation and participation,

 provide access to easily understandable and relevant information about OHSMS to workers at the right time and

 the removal of barriers that impair communications between OHSMS developers and workers in order to create an effective consultation and participation process.

Consultation means mapping out the views of different stakeholders in order to make decisions.

Worker consultation is important, especially when defining the needs and expectations of workers, establishing OHS policy, assigning roles and responsibilities, complying with legal requirements, establishing OHS objectives, and determining the controls for outsourcing, procurement and contractors. The adequate consultation of workers usually requires the involvement of health and safety committees and the representatives of workers.

Participation means more active involvement and the contribution of workers in the decision- making and implementation process. According to ISO 45001:2018, the participation of workers is vital for the following tasks:

 OHS hazard identification and the assessment of OHS risks,

 the identification of training needs,

 the establishment of a “two-way street” communication system,

 the process of deciding controls and determining their effectiveness and

 the investigation and defining of corrective actions in order to improve continually.

2.3.3 Planning

Issues associated with the planning are as follows: Actions to address risks and opportunities, including hazard identification and OHS risks assessment, and the determination of the applicable legal requirements and other requirements, and OHS objectives and then planning to achieve them (Darabont, Antonov, & Bejinariu, 2017).

Planning is the first phase of the PDCA-cycle. Because OHSMS as a process aims for continual improvement, the planning phase is done multiple times over time. In addition, the phases of the cycle can also be overlapping phases over time. The planning includes identifying OHS hazards, defining OHS-related risks (assessment), identifying OHS opportunities, and identifying contractual and non-contractual requirements. The standard also requires a process of directing and reacting to the OHSMS changes. It is recommended that the identification and

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assessment tasks are done before embarking on any planned, permanent or temporary changes.

Risk identification must also be an ongoing process because OHS risks can be dynamic or static.

One of the most important task of the OHSMS is hazard identification. If the identification of the most influential OHS hazards that can expose employees to OHS risks is not carried out then there will be huge deficiencies in the OHSMS. The system might be working perfectly except for the identification of the system input, OHS hazards. That makes the hazard identification task very important because OHSMS with insufficient hazard identification is like a slice of Swiss cheese. Furthermore, it is not enough for all of OHS hazards to have been identified individually. It is necessary to identify the interdependencies of these hazards. The most impacting accidents are usually caused by several hazardous factors which overlap in a certain improbable pattern. Therefore, it is necessary that the members of the risk identification and assessment teams are professionally diversified, represent different levels of the organization and include specific experts. The organization must be aware of the different hazardous factors that have an effect on employees’ health and safety, such as electrical and mechanical hazards, heat sources, slip and trip hazards, working at height, traffic hazards, physical hazards, chemical hazards, biological hazards, ergonomic hazards, fire hazards, movement and energy hazards, radiation hazards and confined space hazards, etc. (Sadiq, 2019)

The standard requires that the OHS hazards emerging from its operations, activities and services are identified. The identification process must be comprehensive: It must cover all of the locations, workplaces, equipment, tasks, materials and persons. It is recommended that the following factors in figure 5 are taken into consideration during the hazard identification process.

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Figure 5. Rephrased factors that have an influence on the identification of OHS hazards (Sadiq, 2019).

As processes, practices, the working environment and work systems change over time, so do the hazards and risks change. In order to fulfill the requirements that the ISO 45001:2018 standard has set, and keep hazard information up to date, risk identification must be an ongoing process. The organization should define how it plans to fulfill these requirements. It can regularly review the identified hazards of specific locations, activities, equipment and workplaces. Furthermore, the organization can also regularly review the whole workplace. It is up to the organization which implementation it prefers the most. (Sadiq, 2019)

After identifying the OHS hazards it is a prerequisite that the OHS risk(s) emerging from the hazards are evaluated. The risk is defined in this thesis, as the probability of the occurrence and the severity of the occurrence must be taken into account when assessing the risks. The qualitative risk matrix is used in this thesis to assess risk. Sadiq (2019) suggests the following process based on ISO 45001:2018’s demands to assess and control risks:

i. Identify and document hazards.

ii. Determine and document the risk, after considering the effectiveness of the risk control measures already in place.

iii. Assess and document whether or not the risk is acceptable or unacceptable – keeping in mind the organization’s OHS policy and legal requirements.

Social and cultural

factors Routine and non-

routine factors

Infrastructure, machines, equipment,

materials and substances

Typical product lifecycle activities

Physical conditions and locations of the

workplace

Differences in humans' physical and

mental characters (human factors)

Design of the work system and the

changes of it

Accident, incident and emergency statistics

and other organization's past

experience

Other internal information sources

(reports, investigations etc.)

External information sources (agencies, websites, insurance

companies, consultants etc.)

What if -method in order to identify emergency situations

Hazardous situations outside the workplace

that are under the control of the

organization

Hazardous situations not controlled by the

organization

Changes in knowledge, technology, new

research and development

Feedback from workers and other

stakeholders

Ground handling staff’s health and safety at Helsinki Airport

Mikko Polvi