Safety Risk Assessment in Educational Environments: A Case Study in Qom University of Medical Sciences

Consideration of safety principles can decrease the risk of incidents, damage, human and financial impacts, and guarantee a high effectiveness and efficiency and consequently, continuous productivity in an organization. The most important step in providing an optimal safety condition is analysis of the present safety conditions in an organization. In this regard, the present study aims to evaluate the safety risk in the faculties of Qom University of Medical Sciences.

The population of this HSR research includes the Faculties of Health, Medicine and Paramedicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Midwifery, the Iranian Traditional Medicine, and Health and Religion of Qom University of Medical Sciences. This research was performed in 2019, and it has investigated the safety risk resources (fire and explosion, the objects and individuals’ falling, electricity incidents, and secondary risks). The research was performed in three phases including: 1) system analysis, 2) recognition of the safety risks, and 3) evaluation of the safety risk in accordance with the US Military Standard (MIL-STD-882).

Based on the results of system analysis, 228 risk resources were identified in the studied faculties. The results of evaluating the safety risk based on a two dimensional risk matrix (probability- severity) showed that 39 resources have a low and acceptable risk, 71 resources have a high and unacceptable risk, and 118 resources have a medium-level risk.

According to the findings, in spite of the widely accepted assumption of safety of the educational environments, there should be more attention to safety issues in these environments. It is suggested to design a risk management model for identifying and evaluating the risks in these environments and proposing practical solutions for decreasing the safety risks and providing a safe environment.