Determining essential criteria for selection of risk assessment techniques in occupational health and safety: A hybrid framework of fuzzy Delphi method

A large number of techniques have been developed to assess risks in the field of occupational health and safety (OHS). These techniques are applied to identify, analyze, and evaluate the risks. Ambiguity and lack of explicit instruction and a structured framework in the selection sometimes result in applying inappropriate techniques. Before selecting, it is necessary to evaluate and prioritize alternatives based on weighting in precise and well-defined criteria. In this study, to determine the essential criteria with a mixed approach in the form of a hybrid framework, first, influential factors in risk assessment technique selection mentioned by previous studies were studied. Then through meta-synthesis of data, these factors were separated into four categories, 1) factors related to the organizations' characteristics, 2) factors related to the characteristics of techniques, 3) factors related to stakeholder participation, and 4) selection criteria for weighting risk assessment techniques. The fourth category, separated as selection criteria, was put to the opinion and judgment of OHS experts for validation. Using the fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), which decreases the degree of uncertainty in the results by fuzzy cal-culations, after two rounds of questionnaire interviews, 89% of the experts and above with moderate agreement, equivalent to the value of Fleiss kappa coefficient of 0.4, rated the specified criteria as relatively to undoubtedly important. Finally, a ranked list of 25 essential weighting criteria was presented in the form of nine dimensions, along with their comprehensive definitions. In the opinion of this study's experts, the dimension 'To be comprehensive' gained the maximum importance, especially in two criteria, 'System components coverage' and 'Hazards and failures coverage'. The criteria rating in this study was without considering a specific organization or industry. Therefore, decision-makers can apply these criteria to select risk assessment techniques for various industries and organizations. The priorities of the criteria, however, may vary in other specific situations depending on the participation of other stakeholders in weighing the criteria to compare the techniques and select the most efficient ones.