Identification and assessment of hazard risks in a flour mill by the JSA and FMEA methodology

Introduction and The non-identification of the potential hazards in the workplace leads to the incidence of several accidents, which result in mortality and injury. Therefore, the recognition and assessment of the workplace hazards can prevent many incidents. Risk assessment and risk management are the basis of planning and providing a control solution for hazards. Regarding this, the aim of the present study was to identify and assess the workplace hazards using the job safety analysis (JSA) and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) in a flour factory located in Golestan province, Iran.
This cross-sectional study was conducted to identify and assess the potential hazards of workers’ activities by JSA and FMEA. Based on the risk assessment code in each method, the risk prioritization was performed, and the risk control solution was presented.
According to the results of the study, a total of 12 hazards were identified at three activities carried out by the workers, namely loading, transporting the load to the warehouse, and unloading. In this regard, 45.54%, 36.36%, 9.09%, and 0.09% of the identified risks were within the unacceptable, unfavorable, acceptable, and inconsiderable risk level, respectively. In addition, the risk assessment of the factory environment and the flour grinder machine (Waltz) through the FMEA revealed the risk level of less than 85, which was within the acceptable limit. Corrective suggestions were made to remove or limit these risks.
Based on the results of this study, it is seems that the level of existing risks can be reduced by providing the appropriate means of cargo transportation, using rest periods, shielding, as well as training the workers.