Development of Comprehensive Occupational Health Risk Assessment (COHRA) Method: A Case Study in a Petrochemical Industry

Introduction: In order to take control measures to protect the health of employees against occupational hazardous agents, assessing occupational health risks is essential. The purpose of this study was to develop a method for occupational health risk assessment in a petrochemical industry. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among operational and administrative occupational groups in one of the petrochemicals plants in south of Iran. The “comprehensive occupational health risk assessment (COHRA)” method was used to assess the risks of occupational hazards. For this purpose, the exposure rate (ER) and hazard rate (HR) for all hazards were determined based on the results of exposure measurements and health hazards data, respectively. Finally, the risk of occupational health hazards was calculated by multiplying the ER by HR and evaluated. Results: The level of risk in 13.6% of studied occupational groups was evaluated as high. Among occupational health hazards, the risk of exposure to noise and inappropriate lighting, benzene and ergonomic factors were assessed at high and moderate level, respectively. The risk of all occupational health hazards, except for ergonomic factors, were higher among operational compared to administrative jobs. Conclusions: Comprehensive occupational health risk assessment could be used for prioritizing the occupational health hazards and deciding about resource allocation and required control measures.