Use of ETBAmethod (Energy Trace and Barrier Analysis) forhazard identification in a paint shop of an automobile production factory

Background and aims Occupational accidents and diseases cost 1.25 thousands billion $ to economic of world & links 2 million annually. Rate of death due to occupational accidents in developing countries in some cases is 4 times to developed industrial countries. To control accidents & resultant damages, identification of potential agents causing accidents in necessary. One of the modern methods for identification these agents is ETBA. This method is based on energy model. This model present energy as potential agent causing accident & according to this, propose a set of control strategies that are in different levels of priority due to their effectiveness Methods This research is a case study that is a kind of qualitative researches and it had done in an automobile factory's paint shop. First in this study ETBA method used to identify hazards, then risks were analysed and in the last phase, approaches were proposed for decrease level of unacceptable risks. Results This study determined that in this field, two category of hazards are in first priority for performing control measures: First category contains chemical hazards that might lead to catastrophic consequences like fire & cancer. Highest risk portion o this paint shop is manually spray painting booth and spray painting stations that is placed in repair lines. Second category contains hazards that causes accidents repeatedly the highest risk portions are stations where ground conveyor moves car bodies (pain and repair lines). Conclusion Because of these two category of hazards are concentrated in paint and repair lines, these lines should be in first priority for control hazards.