Health and Safety Risk Assessment: The Process and The Key Points
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Lawrence White
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Published on 05/20/2011
Practising health and safety risk assessment is very much the same process as fire risk assessment and they utilise the same key steps. Obviously fire risk assessment deals solely with fire hazards and risk, these having perhaps the greatest potential for serious damage and danger to people.
Practising health and safety risk assessment is very much the same process as fire risk assessment and utilises the same key steps. Obviously fire risk assessment deals solely with fire hazards and risk, these having perhaps the greatest potential for serious damage and danger to people.
But also all things which pose any risk or harm to a person's health and safety must be taken into account and acted upon. Many employees every year are needlessly injured at the workplace because of small safety concerns, most of which could be easily avoided. Lets look at the steps in this process.
The process and its steps:
What are the risks?
The first part of health and safety assessment is to identify all the health and safety hazards presented to the individual, the workplace and all of its employees, visitors to the business/industry and customers in the case of retail business.
What issues, materials, situations, environments pose a threat to the individual?
This can be small things such as not having proper sign-age for labelling a wet floor. If something as simple as a 'Caution Wet Floor' sign isn't in the workplace, there is no way to notify an employee, visitor or customer of a wet surface or potential slip hazard.
Other things such as proper labelling of cleaning agents and other chemicals play huge factors in safety, no liquid should ever be in a container without a label indicating exactly what it is and the hazards it presents. Corrosive, flammable or toxic materials must be labelled. In a group it is easiest to come together and identify all health and safety risks.
Who is at risk?
People who are at most risk, or who are at unique risk must be identified and further educated. For instance, a cleaner in any business is at more risk for the dangers of cleaning agents and chemicals and containers not properly labelled, or environments not properly ventilated.
These people must be given extra attention to in regards to that matter. In a restaurant, kitchen staff are at more risk of being injured from using knives and other sharp objects, they must be given extra attention and education in these matters. Find out what risks are present and what risks might be unique to certain people.
Action:
This step in health and safety risk assessment is the evaluation, when all the data and information is collected and the action plans in relation to the information are planned. There are a huge variety of actions from training, to retraining, to changing certain work environments, issuing policies to increase safety. An example is an eye wash station.
If the work place presents any possibility of a chemical getting into somebody's eyes, there will be an eye wash station. Do all employees know where the station is? They must be shown.
Recording:
This is all information, plans, policies, photographs collected and recorded in the form of written reports and manuals and more. These are used for training and for reference and are ways to indicate that employees and all staff have been educated.
Health and safety risk assessment follows only a few simple steps but is hugely important and helps all staff and visitors.
But also all things which pose any risk or harm to a person's health and safety must be taken into account and acted upon. Many employees every year are needlessly injured at the workplace because of small safety concerns, most of which could be easily avoided. Lets look at the steps in this process.
The process and its steps:
What are the risks?
The first part of health and safety assessment is to identify all the health and safety hazards presented to the individual, the workplace and all of its employees, visitors to the business/industry and customers in the case of retail business.
What issues, materials, situations, environments pose a threat to the individual?
This can be small things such as not having proper sign-age for labelling a wet floor. If something as simple as a 'Caution Wet Floor' sign isn't in the workplace, there is no way to notify an employee, visitor or customer of a wet surface or potential slip hazard.
Other things such as proper labelling of cleaning agents and other chemicals play huge factors in safety, no liquid should ever be in a container without a label indicating exactly what it is and the hazards it presents. Corrosive, flammable or toxic materials must be labelled. In a group it is easiest to come together and identify all health and safety risks.
Who is at risk?
People who are at most risk, or who are at unique risk must be identified and further educated. For instance, a cleaner in any business is at more risk for the dangers of cleaning agents and chemicals and containers not properly labelled, or environments not properly ventilated.
These people must be given extra attention to in regards to that matter. In a restaurant, kitchen staff are at more risk of being injured from using knives and other sharp objects, they must be given extra attention and education in these matters. Find out what risks are present and what risks might be unique to certain people.
Action:
This step in health and safety risk assessment is the evaluation, when all the data and information is collected and the action plans in relation to the information are planned. There are a huge variety of actions from training, to retraining, to changing certain work environments, issuing policies to increase safety. An example is an eye wash station.
If the work place presents any possibility of a chemical getting into somebody's eyes, there will be an eye wash station. Do all employees know where the station is? They must be shown.
Recording:
This is all information, plans, policies, photographs collected and recorded in the form of written reports and manuals and more. These are used for training and for reference and are ways to indicate that employees and all staff have been educated.
Health and safety risk assessment follows only a few simple steps but is hugely important and helps all staff and visitors.