Occupational risk assessment for flight schools: A 3, 4-quasirung fuzzy multi-criteria decision making-based approach

Abstract

The concept of occupational risk assessment is related to the analysis and prioritization of the hazards arising in a production or service facility and the risks associated with these hazards; risk assessment considers occupational health and safety (OHS). Elimination or reduction to an acceptable level of analyzed risks, which is a systematic and proactive process, is then put into action. Although fuzzy logic-related decision models related to the assessment of these risks have been developed and applied a lot in the literature, there is an opportunity to develop novel occupational risk assessment models depending on the development of new fuzzy logic extensions. The 3,4-quasirung fuzzy set (3,4-QFS) is a new type of fuzzy set theory emerged as an extension of the Pythagorean fuzzy sets and Fermatean fuzzy sets. In this approach, the sum of the cube of the degree of membership and the fourth power of the degree of non-membership must be less than or equal to 1. Since this new approach has a wider space, it can express uncertain information in a more flexible and exhaustive way. This makes this type of fuzzy set applicable in addressing many problems in multi-criteria decision making (MCDM). In this study, an occupational risk assessment approach based on 3,4-quasirung fuzzy MCDM is presented. Within the scope of the study, the hazards pertaining to the flight and ground training, training management, administrative and facilities in a flight school were assessed and prioritized. The results of existing studies were tested, and we considered both Pythagorean and Fermatean fuzzy aggregation operators. In addition, by an innovative sensitivity analysis, the effect of major changes in the weight of each risk parameter on the final priority score and ranking of the hazards was evaluated. The outcomes of this study are beneficial for OHS decision-makers by highlighting the most prioritized hazards causing serious occupational accidents in flights schools as part of aviation industry. The approach can also be suggested and adapted for production and service science environments where their occupational health & safety are highly required.