Risk AssessmentTraining

By Brian Larkin. www.brianlarkinsafety.com

Risk Assessment What is a risk assessment ?

A risk assessment is nothing more than a careful examination of what, in your work or activities, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. The aim is to make sure that no one gets hurt or becomes ill.

5 Steps

Five steps to risk assessment

Identify the hazards Decide who might be harmed and how Evaluate the risks and decide on precaution Record your findings and implement them Review your assessment and update if necessary

1, Identify the hazards

First you need to work out how people could be harmed. When you work in a place everyday it is easy to overlook some hazards, so here are some tips to help you identify the ones that matter:

Identify the hazards

Walk around your workplace and look at what could reasonably be expected to cause harm.

Identify the hazards

Ask your employees or their representatives what they think. They may have noticed things that are not immediately obvious to you.

Identify the hazards

If you need to brush up on what is expected of you when conducting a risk assessment you can visit the HSE website. HSE publishes practical guidance on where hazards occur and how to control them. There is much information on the hazards that might affect your business.

Identify the hazards

If you are a member of a trade association, contact them. Many produce very helpful guidance.

Identify the hazards

Check manufacturers’ instructions or data sheets for chemicals and equipment as they can be very helpful in spelling out the hazards and putting them in their true perspective.

Identify the hazards

Have a look back at your accident and ill-health records – these often help to identify the less obvious hazards.

Identify the hazards

Remember to think about long-term hazards to health (eg high levels of noise or exposure to harmful substances) as well as safety hazards.

Hazard

Hazard

Hazard

Hazard

Discuss hazards in the workplace with the class

Decide who might be harmed and how Step 2: For each hazard you need to be clear about who might be

harmed; it will help you identify the best way of managing the risk. That doesn’t mean listing everyone by name, but rather identifying groups of people (eg ‘people working in the storeroom’ or ‘passers-by’).

Decide who might be harmed and how Remember:

some workers have particular requirements, eg new and young workers , migrant workers , new or expectant mothers and people with disabilities may be at particular risk.

Decide who might be harmed and how

Extra thought will be needed for some hazards; cleaners, visitors, contractors, maintenance workers etc, who

may not be in the workplace all the time; members of the public, if they could be hurt by your activities;

Decide who might be harmed and how If you share your workplace, you will need to think about how

your work affects others present, as well as how their work affects your staff – talk to them; and

Ask your staff if they can think of anyone you may have missed.

Decide who might be harmed and how

In each case, identify how they might be harmed, i.e. what type of injury or ill health might occur. For example, ‘shelf stackers may suffer back injury from repeated lifting of boxes’.

Who might be harmed

Who might be harmed

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions Step 3:

Having spotted the hazards, you then have to decide what to do about them. The law requires you to do everything ‘reasonably practicable’ to protect people from harm. You can work this out for yourself, but the easiest way is to compare what you are doing with good practice.

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions First, look at what you’re already doing, think about what

controls you have in place and how the work is organised. Then compare this with the good practice and see if there’s more you should be doing to bring yourself up to standard.

In asking yourself this, consider:

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

Can I get rid of the hazard altogether? If not, how can I control the risks so that harm is unlikely?

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

When controlling risks, apply the principles below, if possible in the following order:

Try a less risky option (eg switch to using a less hazardous chemical);

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

Prevent access to the hazard (eg by guarding);

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

Organise work to reduce exposure to the hazard (eg put barriers between pedestrians and traffic);

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

Issue personal protective equipment (eg clothing, footwear, goggles etc); and

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

Provide welfare facilities (eg first aid and washing facilities for removal of contamination).

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions Improving health and safety need not cost a lot. For instance,

placing a mirror on a dangerous blind corner to help prevent vehicle accidents is a low-cost precaution considering the risks. Failure to take simple precautions can cost you a lot more if an accident does happen.

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

Involve staff, so that you can be sure that what you propose to do will work in practice and won’t introduce any new hazards.

Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

HSE EXAMPLE, BODY SHOP ASSESSMANT What are the hazards?

Vehicle movements

Who might be harmed and how? Workers and customers might suffer serious injury if struck

by a vehicle (including a vehicle parked un-braked and/or un-chocked and in gear, and then started up from outside the vehicle).

HSE EXAMPLE, BODY SHOP ASSESSMANT What are you already doing?

Safe parking provided for customers Marked walkways for pedestrians Parked vehicles are braked or chocked when on vehicle lifts,

jacks, axle stands or on sloping ground. Engines always started with brakes on and in in neutral gear

and by someone sitting in drivers seat.

Do you need to do anything else to control this risk?

NO FURTHER ACTION

HSE EXAMPLE, BODY SHOP ASSESSMANT.

End with regard to the hazard identified

Note other hazards were noted in the example.

Record your findings and implement them Step 4:

Putting the results of your risk assessment into practice will make a difference when looking after people and your business.

Record your findings and implement them Write down the results of your risk assessment, and share

them with your staff.

If you have fewer than five employees you do not have to write anything down.

Record your findings and implement them When writing down your results, keep it simple, for example

‘Tripping over rubbish: bins provided, staff instructed, weekly housekeeping checks’, or ‘Fume from welding: local exhaust ventilation used and regularly checked’.

Record your findings and implement them The HSENI does not expect a risk assessment to be perfect,

but they want it to be suitable and sufficient. As illustrated by their example risk assessments covered here, you need to be able to show that:

Record your findings and implement them A proper check was made; You asked who might be affected; You dealt with all the obvious significant hazards, taking into

account the number of people who could be involved; The precautions are reasonable, and the remaining risk is

low; and You involved your staff or their representatives in the

process.

Review your risk assessment and update if necessary Step 5: Few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, you

will bring in new equipment, substances and procedures that could lead to new hazards. It makes sense therefore, to review what you are doing on an on-going basis.

Review your risk assessment and update if necessary Look at your risk assessment and think about whether there

have been any changes? Are there improvements you still need to make? Have your workers spotted a problem? Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses? Make sure your risk assessment stays up to date.

Review your risk assessment and update if necessary When you are running a business it’s all too easy to forget

about reviewing your risk assessment – until something has gone wrong and it’s too late. During the year, if there is a significant change, don’t wait: check your risk assessment and where necessary, amend it. If possible, it is best to think about the risk assessment when you’re planning your change – that way you leave yourself more flexibility.

Lets discuss some situations

You are informed that there is a 5 minute task to be completed on the roof of the building.

You are asked to conduct a risk assessment

5 minute task

Where do you start Start by identifying the hazards.

Work at height is the big hazard here.

You need to get all the information regarding the task.

For example

The task What is the purpose of this task. OK needs to be done How will access and egress be achieved. Cherry picker Who is going to go on to the roof, training ? Is this roof capable of taking a persons weight. Yes you are

told. Are there roof lights . Check. Yes there are. Is there edge protection of a parapet to prevent falls over the

edge. Yes you can see. Are the roof lights “man safe” No you are told. You start to get worried at this stage.

What to do in a case like this. Go through your risk assessment 5 step format.

Where you identify a hazard, apply control measures that you have in place for dealing with that hazard.

If the control measures are not sufficient to protect those that could be harmed, then write down what extra controls will be necessary to be put in place to reduce the risk to an acceptable level

5 minute task on the roof This kind of task is not something that can be completed

without a great deal of careful planning.

My advice in this case would be to get a competent contractor to execute the task

New machine and process You are asked to complete a risk assessment on a new

machine and process.

Back to step one, Identify the hazards. Look at all the operations that can be conducted with the

machine. Some machines have different programmes. Observe the operative working the machine.

New machine and process Look for rotating parts. Look for nip points Look to see if the operators hands, clothing , jewellery or hair

could get “drawn in” Look at the product that is being put through the machine. Are there parts that could grip or catch the operator. Look to see if the machine ejects parts of the product. Look at the area around the machine. Are there other hazards you can see.

Rotating parts, nip points

Drawn in example

Surrounding Area. Look for electricity Look for fork lift trucks and or other vehicles. Look for chemicals associated with the task. Look to see if the operative uses his/her mobile phone. Look to see if the noise or vibration levels seem excessive. Look to see what interaction there is with other processes Is there a manual handling hazard. Are controls accessible, emergency stop. If guarding is opened or removed, does the machine stop.

New machine and process What are the maintenance requirements Has the operator received post training What other training has been conducted Is the machine complicated Would it be easy to make a mistake Is there a pre start check list completion procedure Is there a second shift, is there a night shift Will there be any “hand over” requirement. Is the operator classed as a young person (under 18)

New machine and process As you write down the hazards and risks you consider and

evaluate, write down the control measures that you know to be in place and the control measures that you feel will be required to reduce any risk to a acceptable level.

Use a formula to evaluate the risk.

Example Evaluation Formula

TATA Steel FormulaAssess the risk associated with each hazard using the scoring system set out on the following slides.

Calculate the score both with and without controls to indicate how effective the controls are.

TATA Steel Formula "0" No injury or illness, property damage or other loss up to £500 "2" Minor injury or illness, property damage or other loss up to £5000 "4" Lost time injury or illness without permanent disability, PD/OL to £10k "6" Permanent disability or fatality, PD / OL over £10k

TATA Steel Formula "-1" Low chance of loss occurring "0" Moderate chance of loss occurring "1" High chance of loss occurring "1" Task is done less than daily "2" Task is done a few times per day "3" Task is done many times per day   High. “H” 8, 9, 10 Med “M” 4, 5, 6, 7 Low “L” 0, 1, 2, 3

Exercise. What is the Hazard?

What are your options.Eliminate the Hazard = A I Man

Who might be harmed ?????

Guard the Hazard

Place warnings. Signage

PPE

Run

Discussion

End of Session

Thank You