Identifying hazards in the workplace, determining the degree of risk they represent, and taking appropriate action is a fundamental component of any safety management system. While simple to say, it can be more difficult in practice than we might expect.

The 26 and 27 October 2015 Fall American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) Conference brought together a look at the future. Included was the future of hiring industrial hygiene professionals with a comparison of the number of hygienists hired in the past 25 years.

 OSHA has announced a new interactive webtool that will help small businesses identify and correct hazards in the workplace. The tool allows employers and workers to explore how to identify workplace hazards in the manufacturing and construction industries and address them with practical and effective solutions.

The amount of coverage given to safety-related risk issues at ASSE’s Safety 2013 made us think of how the European Union (EU) is actually ahead of the U.S. safety profession when it comes to embracing risk. The past year saw the completion of EU-OSHA’s flagship Foresight project, which anticipates longer-term workplace risks (initially in relation to ‘green’ jobs), to stimulate debate, and make clear to decision-makers the implications of particular courses of action.

Risk assessment. The Future of Risk Control. Integrated Risk Management. Risk Management and Product Safety. Risk Management and Risk Elimination. Risk Management Forum. Risk Factors. Risk Management 101. Risk Managers From Mars. “We have 15 risk-related sessions at Safety 2013,” says incoming American Society of Safety Engineers’ President Kathy A. Seabrook, CSP, president of Global Solutions, Inc. “You are right to think ‘risk’ is a focus for the safety profession.“