Risk-assessment

HOW TO DO IT RIGHT

HOW TO DO IT WELL
Risk assessment is about……

• identifying sensible measures to

control the risks in your workplace.
• Your risk assessment will help you
decide whether you have covered all
you need to.
– That you have done enough.
 Definitions

• Hazard – anything, any substance, any

activity that could cause harm

• Risk assessment – a combination of the

likelihood that someone will be hurt and
the severity of the injury or ill health
Risk assessment is a physical &
mental activity
1. Pick a room, work area or lab.
2. Identify all the equipment, physical
agents (noise), chemical agents,
biological agents, operations, in the
room or conducted in the room.
You do need to walk around, preferably
with someone else.
• Identify who is or may be at risk –
don’t forget cleaners, maintenance
staff.
 Identify the hazards
• For each of the items of equipment,
agents or operations listed, identify all
the potential hazards.
– Electricity
– Manual handling
– Working at heights
– Fire
– Slips
 Set out what controls are in
place already
• For each hazard say what’s being
done already to make it safer.
– e.g. for Fire you would note that
extinguishers are in place, fire drills are
held
Consider the severity of harm
 Slight harm
• Nuisance and irritation (e.g.
headaches);temporary ill-health
leading to discomfort (e.g.
diarrhoea).

• Superficial injuries; minor cuts and

bruises; eye irritation from dust.
 Moderate harm
• Partial hearing loss; dermatitis;
asthma; work-related upper limb
disorders; ill health leading to
permanent minor disability.

• Lacerations; burns; concussion;

serious sprains; minor fractures.
 Extreme harm

• Acute fatal diseases; severe life

shortening diseases; permanent
substantial disability.

• Fatal injuries; amputations; multiple

injuries; major fractures.
 Likelihood of harm
• Frequency and duration of an
individual’s exposure to the hazard;
• Vulnerability of the individual or group
(e.g. young or inexperienced personnel,
pregnant mothers and those working
alone);
• Potential failure of services, e.g.
electricity and water;
 Likelihood of harm
• Potential failure of plant and
machinery components and safety
devices;
• Protection given by personal
protective equipment (PPE) and
whether this is correctly worn when
required;
• Unsafe acts (unintended errors or
intentional violations of procedures)
 Very likely

• Typically experienced at least once

every six months by an individual
 Likely

• Typically experienced at least once

every five years by an individual
 Unlikely

• Typically experienced once during

the working lifetime of an individual
 Very unlikely

• Less than 1% chance of being

experienced by an individual during
their working lifetime
Risk assessment
 Risk level Acceptability:

• Guidance on necessary action and

timescale.
 Very low risk

• These risks are considered

acceptable.

• No further action is necessary other

than to ensure that the controls are
maintained.
 Low risk
• No additional controls are required unless
they can be implemented at very low cost
(in terms of time, money and effort).

• Actions to further reduce these risks are

assigned low priority.

• Arrangements should be made to ensure

that the controls are maintained.
 Medium risk
 The risks can be lowered, but the costs
should be taken into account.

• The measures should be implemented within a

defined time period.

• Arrangements should be made to ensure that

the controls are maintained, particularly if the
risk levels are associated with harmful
consequences.
 High Risk
• Substantial efforts should be made to
reduce the risk.

• Risk reduction measures should be

implemented urgently .

• It might be necessary to consider

suspending or restricting the activity, or to
apply interim risk controls.
 Very High Risk
• These risks are unacceptable.

• The work activity should be halted until risk

controls are implemented that reduce the risk
so that it is no longer very high.

• If it is not possible to reduce risk the work

should remain prohibited.
General Principles of Prevention
• Best approach to deciding on what
controls to put in place.

• Best approach to prioritising controls.

• Have legal backing – part of the Safety

Health and Welfare at Work Act
 [Link] the risk
• Simple - If you can get rid of the hazard
then people are not exposed to the
risks!

• You should apply this principle first.

2. Evaluate unavoidable risks
• This requires you to undertake risk
assessments.

If you can’t get rid of a hazard, you

must assess it.
3. Combat the risks at source
• Here you are trying to deal with the
hazard at its root.
• If you have a noisy machine, giving staff hearing
protection is not dealing with the root of the
problem.
• If you enclose the machine so that it is not noisy or
if you replace the machine with a quieter one, then
you are combating the risk at source.
 4. Adapt the work to the
individual
• This is the principle of arranging the
workplace and tasks to take into
account your employees and to reduce
the affect of work on health.
 5. Adapt your work place in
line with technical progress

• Safer systems of work are always

being developed.
• You must keep up to date with new
systems, so that you can put them
into use in your workplace.
 6. Replace dangerous
systems with safer alternatives
• This applies to dangerous articles,
substances or systems of work.
• If you are using a solvent that may be toxic,
then you should consider if there is a non-
solvent alternative that is safer.
• If you can take steps to make it safer, then
do it.
 7. Develop a prevention
policy
• This is where you would set out how
you are going to protect your
employees and other people from the
hazards in your workplace
 8. Give priority to collective
protective measures

• Here it is better to put controls in place

that protect everyone, rather than for
example just handing out personal
protective equipment to employees.
9. The giving of appropriate
training and instructions

• Training or information is required to

carry out potentially hazardous tasks
safely.
 Completed risk assessments

• Be sure that the controls are

comprehensive and tie in with relevant
policies or procedures.
• You are likely to require supporting
documentation for more complex hazards.
How to ensure controls remain
effective
• Accountability
• Maintenance of equipment
• Up to date training and competency
• Up to date hazard information
• Regular review and consultation
 Risk assessment formats

• Some hazards require a specific risk

assessment format

• Manual handling
• Chemical agents including
carcinogens
• On its own, paperwork
never saved anyone.
• It is a means to an end,
not an end in itself -
action is what protects
people.
• Risk assessments
should be fit for
purpose and acted
upon.
Risk assessment is a process not a
document
 Areas for improvement

• Control measures should tie in with

existing policies and procedures.

• Risk assessments need to be

reviewed and updated.
 Areas for improvement

• Chemical agents risk assessments

must cover all chemicals in a protocol
not one at a time.
• Risk assessments and the resulting
control measures need to be
communicated to all
Questions?