Which principle involves systematic identification of dangers in the workplace?

The principle that involves systematic identification of dangers in the workplace is risk assessment. This process is essential in occupational health and safety management as it aims to identify hazards before they lead to accidents or health issues. It involves evaluating the risks associated with these hazards and determining appropriate measures to mitigate them.

In a risk assessment, various steps are followed: identifying hazards, determining who might be harmed and how, assessing the risks and deciding on precautions, recording findings, and reviewing the assessment regularly. This comprehensive approach helps organizations prioritize safety and allocate resources effectively to reduce risks.

Safety audits, while valuable, focus more on evaluating existing safety processes and compliance within an organization rather than the initial identification of dangers. The risk control hierarchy provides a framework for prioritizing risk reduction measures after hazards have been identified. Incident reporting involves documenting accidents and near misses, which may help in identifying hazards indirectly but does not systematically identify dangers in the proactive manner that risk assessment does.