RISK ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY IN SMES

Risk management requires, in addition to regulatory compliance, the observance of certain principles related to this process. These include, above all, the principles characteristic for the particular type of organization/system, the sphere of its influence, number of employees, and/or the advancement of knowledge related to the company objectives. At present, ISO 31 000 forms the basic platform; however, this standard concentrates only on primary (compulsory) requirements, regardless of specific procedures that have to be considered in cases of new or emerging risks at certain small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with smaller number of employees. To simplify the implementation of health and safety legislation, as well as the processes of integrated risk assessment with regard to new and emerging risks, certain general rules and procedures should be created for SMEs. This paper contains some information already published as part of Task 3.1.7 of iNTegRisk project presenting the proposal of methodology based on ISO 31000 principles; however, it provides a more complex view on the risk assessment in selected small and medium enterprises. To evaluate its efficiency, several industrial plants were selected, in which the verification was performed, and subsequently the remedies and precautions were suggested for its successful implementation into practice.