Risk assessment in printing
A preventive approach is fundamental in occupational health and safety. A careful and detailed analysis of the specific conditions in each organisation is therefore fundamental so
that hazards can be identified. Printing activities, due to the handling of hazardous substances, require detailed and precise occupational risk assessment. For micro, small and even medium-sized enterprises operating in this sector, a very useful free online tool for such an assessment is offered by OiRA – Online Interactive Risk Assessment.

What does OiRA offer?
The toolkit has been developed by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EASHW) to provide access to the know-how and methodology for adequate risk assessment in different sectors of economic activity. The web platform is mainly aimed at micro and small enterprises, but medium-sized enterprises can also benefit. The presumption is that small firms often lack sufficient resources, so the EABRD provides free access to a standardised methodology for carrying out a self-assessment of risk. The aim is to identify any hazards within the relevant organisation and develop an action plan to adequately manage them.
In addition to micro-enterprises, the platform is also a valuable tool for occupational health services because it provides a basis for analysing the risks associated with specific business sectors

How to work with OiRA?
Working with OiRA is made as easy as possible by the platform’s creator, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. To take advantage of its features, you will need to register with it. Following the instructions on the site, you should create a profile for your organisation, which you can update or continue with the assessment at a later stage if you have not finalised it.

There are four stages you should go through, starting with the first one – preparing for the evaluation. Identifying risks is done through a set of specific questions provided by the platform, which you need to answer if they exist as hazards in your enterprise. If you answer yes to the existence of the risk, the next level determines its extent, and the final level identifies measures and resources to develop an action plan to minimize or eliminate the identified hazards. After successfully passing through all stages, a report is generated.

As of August 2022, there are 40 tools published on the platform in Bulgarian. They are in all industry sectors, but most are in the Manufacturing sector. The tools themselves are easily downloadable by clicking on the relevant link. Bulgarian companies can select “Bulgarian language” from the menu in the right corner of the site and the Bulgarian language tools from the search filter.

For professional advice on risk assessment or other health and safety issues in the workplace, you can contact St. Panteleimon Occupational Health Service in Sofia.