The Usage of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis in Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment

As an effective risk assessment tool used in several industrial sectors ranging from automotive to aerospace industries, in recent years FMEA ( Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) technique has experienced an increasing use in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). The fact that the OHS is a professional field in itself requires the necessity of adaptation of the terminology and the approach of FMEA to the needs of OHS. However, no such systematic adaptation have been proposed in the literature of operational risk applications of FMEA, yet. For an effective use of FMEA under OHS framework, this study will focus on the provisions and differences of FMEA terminology in OHS and highlight important points to take into consideration for avoiding potential mistakes in application of FMEA. Besides, because occupational health risk are not usually included in the analysis, special attention will be given to how occupational health and safety risks can be included together in FMEA