OSH management in a supermarket chain

Within the company quality management system, workplace risk assessment used to be carried out locally by the shop manager using checklists, assisted by experts on health promotion and occupational safety. A more centralised and standardised design was considered to be helpful to figure out typical risks in retail stores in general, to compare strains and workload for different workstations and work processes, and to evaluate the efficiency of intervention measures. The management decided to standardise risk assessment by inspecting supermarkets with the help of a personal digital assistant (PDA) which allowed the use of the same checklists and risk assessment instruments in all shops.