Methodological Principles of Professional Risks Assessment

He paper presents the results of investigation of the methodological principles of professional risks assessment. It is mentioned that the problem of the professional risks assessment is urgent due to the introduction of the new mechanisms of compulsory social insurance against industrial accidents and occupational diseases. The essence of the professional risks was defined. It is associated with the uncertainty and stochastic characteristics of the object-subject interconnections: the influence of man-caused environment on humans, human’s subjective risk perception, safety and health at work, the efficacy of the social insurance and rehabilitation mechanisms. Based on the analysis, two groups of methods of professional risks assessment are distinguished. They are: direct and indirect methods. Direct methods use statistical information according to the defined risk indices or information regarding caused losses with the probability of their occurrence. Indirect methods use deviation indices of the available controlled conditions from the normative values. The approaches as to the formalization of risk and its integral indices were distinguished: the individual risk at the point with coordinates (x; y); the maximum level of the individual risk; the average individual risk; the total risk; the equivalent of the economic losses from the professional risks. It is mentioned that measures to minimize professional risks can be evaluated in the money equivalent through indirect cost; private capital; insurance; costs and benefits; voluntary payments.