Emerging risk models are still scarce and far from agreed upon. They are currently the focus of increasing interest in the occupational context. Consequently, frameworks that deal with emerging risk management in industrial contexts are very recent or, even still, in the development and maturation stage. Uncertainty should be considered as the main characteristic of emerging risk in this context. It is as such that the main objective of this paper is to develop a qualitative approach inspired by meta-learning lessons to the selection of strategies for emerging risk management, considering uncertainty as the main decision variable in occupational contexts. To this end, uncertainty has been integrated, as a combination of knowledge and understanding, in a theoretical framework on emerging risk. An emerging risk classification scheme has been developed with the results obtained. This scheme makes it possible to estimate the level of emerging risk and management strategies based on the combination of uncertainty and the potential consequences of emerging risk. Such approach has been applied to three case studies with different evolutionary degrees of emerging risk: exoskeletons; nanomaterials; and industrial automation. The proposed approach could be considered primarily as a qualitative tool applicable to the process of pre-assessment and communication of emerging risk.

The publication in 2018 of ISO 45001 is the first international ISO standard in the field of occupational health and safety management systems. ISO 45001 is the result of an international consensus on the subject and describes the best international preventive practices and incorporates the requirements of a management system aligned with the so-called High-Level Structure of the ISO standards of management systems. Simultaneously, ISO/IEC 31010:2009 provides for the selection and application of systematic techniques for risk assessment. However, this standard does not address safety in a specific way. It is a generic standard for risk management and any reference to safety is simply informative. Thus, the main objective of the present work is to identify and classify the main techniques included in the ISO/ IEC 31010:2009 standard applicable in the field of occupational safety and in line with the requirements for the ISO Standard 45001. As a secondary objective, it is sought in the same context to identify the main non-standard techniques of new or emerging nature. This process of identification and classification has been carried out by means of a systematic review of the scientific literature specialized in the matter. The results have been classified according to bibliometric indicators in the following groups: (a) Main standard techniques for application to occupational safety; (b) Main techniques developed through specific standards (such as: IEC 61882:2016 – Hazard and operability studies [HAZOP studies] – Application guide; IEC 61025:2006 – Fault Tree Analysis [FTA]); (c) Main non-standard techniques of a new or emerging nature for application to occupational safety. Finally, the results obtained by the classification mentioned above have been analyzed in order to determine the degree of coverage and standardization of the main risk assessment techniques applied to occupational safety.