Risk Assessment in a Workplace:
Risk Assessment:
What is Risk Assessment of a workplace in health and safety management system? What is risk assessment for HSE standard? A risk assessment is a written document that includes a three-step process: identifying hazards in the workplace under your control, assessing the hazards arising from this hazard, and adopting control measures to reduce the hazards.
But how to do a successful risk assessment? Every company that has employees has a legal duty to have a risk assessment system that takes into account all possible risks in the workplace. Risks at a workplace can be physical, chemical, biological or psycho social etc.
What is risk assessment?
Risk assessment is the process of identification, evaluation and control of risks at a workplace caused by possible hazards created in the work environment, which is the first step in health and safety control. A risk assessment is a written document that which is conducted by following three-step process. These steps include the following.
- Identifying hazards that arise in the workplace under your control.
- Assessing risks, what kind of risk and how it occurs.
- Corrective measures to control risks.
The health and safety department of each country has predicted the risk assessment in several stages, which among all countries is the identification of risks in the first category. Then risk control and corrective action are among the main topics in the HSE standard.
Hazard identification:
This paragraph is part of the safety and health management system guidelines and identifying the risk is the first basic step in controlling health and safety at the workplace. Hazard identification is defined as a source of hazard in the workplace that has the potential to cause injury or illness and has the potential to cause injury.
Hazards can be caused by poor quality materials, equipment and work methods and usually fall into the following categories.
- Physical hazards such as manual handling, slipping, moving, fire, driving at work, working at height, using poor quality equipment, etc.
- Occupational health hazards such as noise, vibration, dust, stress.
- Chemicals such as cleaning agents, industrial solvents, pesticides.
- Biological hazards such as viruses, bacteria, allergens.
- Human or psycho social factors such as violence, bullying, harassment.
Risk definition is the probability that someone will be harmed by the hazard, and it also assesses how severe the harm or disease could be, as well as how many people might be affected. Risk is a combination of chance, probability and severity.
What is the purpose of risk assessment?
Workers in any company or organisation, regardless of the industry in which they work, are exposed to risks related to the work they do. According to the law, the employer is responsible for the health and safety of workers in relation to the work they do at work. Therefore, it is mandatory for all companies to receive department safety qualification certificate labour and present it to the employer by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare .
According to Clause 19 of the Environmental Health and Safety Directive developed by ISO and the ISO 45001 standard , many relevant legal provisions (such as general application regulations or chemical agents regulations) have a general requirement to carry out a written risk assessment. Risk assessment is the employer's tool to ensure that the company complies with this legal duty by identifying risks and ensuring that measures are taken to ensure the health and safety of workers.
Risk assessment should involve employees at all levels, it should be documented and communicated to management and employees, because everyone should be aware of the risks and controls related to their work. A documented risk also shows that all workplace hazards have been considered and protective measures are in place to keep workers safe.
Who is responsible for risk assessment?
The general manager of the company or workshop has the ultimate responsibility of providing a healthy and safe working environment for the workers. The client or contractor creating the work environment or workshop must ensure that the risk assessment has been carried out, is being implemented and is current. Contractors are legally required to do all that is reasonably practices to minimize the risk of injury at the workplace. Therefore, they should follow up to:
- Make sure relevant hazards are identified in the workplace.
- Appropriate control measures are planned to eliminate or reduce risks.
The safety officer is responsible for identifying risks and control measures with the help of the supervising engineer of the project. Therefore, active workshops must have a safety officer, and the safety officer is required to request the required safety equipment from the client. For the risk assessment process, the safety officer should consult all employees involved in the workplace because they have valuable insight into where workplace health and safety issues occur and often have information about how to minimise risk.
Employers are required to pass employer safety courses by the Labor Department. Workers active in the workshops must also pass general labor safety courses and receive an 8-hour labor course certificate . Active workshops must hire a safety officer approved by the labor department, and the safety officer must have a certificate approved by the labor department.
What is the risk assessment process?
- Identification and assessment of work hazards
Different types of potential hazards may occur in the workplace, so it is very important to assess and identify hazards promptly. The first step of risk assessment is to identify the hazards in your workplace. This can be achieved by walking around and observing, reading the manufacturer's manual and working with staff to report hazards and near misses.
- Assess risks and decide on corrective actions
As explained above, risk means the probability of damage caused by a hazard, along with the probability of damage and the severity of damage if it occurs. When assessing risk, factors such as:
- The probability of occurrence and consequence, impact, probability of occurrence of risk, severity of damage as well as the severity of the impact of damage should be checked.
- Check the effectiveness of control measures such as: policies, engineering controls, training to workers, maintenance of safety equipment and injury prevention.
- Identifying people who may be at risk and assessing the risk to the environment and its surroundings.
Be sure to consider who may be at risk for assessment and control measures. Visitors to the project, other workers or employers, etc.
Where the public have access to your premises as part of the service provided, assess the risks they are exposed to. Hazards may vary from slipping, falling, to trespassing into hazardous areas. Also consider vulnerable groups that may require additional control measures. These vulnerable groups may include:
- Young people who may be at risk due to lack of experience and proper training.
- elderly.
- Pregnant employees.
- Night shift workers.
- People who have a language disability or speak a foreign language.
- Disabled people.
Other contributing factors that should be considered in risk assessment are:
- People (things to do or not do).
- Equipment (unsuitable or unsafe equipment for work).
- Materials (improper handling of materials).
- The environment (improper workplace conditions).
- Process (ie, how something that may be dangerous is done).
The easiest way to assess the risk is to identify the severity of the risk as follows.
Low risk: This is where the probability of harm from an identified hazard is low and its severity is low. For example: using a computer at a well-set-up desk is unlikely to cause harm.
Medium Risk: As the level of probability, severity and number of people at risk increases, a risk may be rated as a medium risk.
For example: manual handling of heavy loads without mechanical help (Tools and machinery) . Control measures are needed to reduce these risks to low risk.
High Risk: A good risk assessment should focus on the more serious risks first, as the likelihood of an accident occurring and serious injury, illness, or death can occur.
For example: vehicles backing up where pedestrians or members of the public are moving without control or management.
Risk matrix is often used for risk assessment. Plotting the probability of harm from an identified hazard against the severity of the impact if it occurs. The matrix can be as simple or complex as your business needs.
By combining severity, impact, and probability, a risk rating is created. Consider the example below.
- Probability 3 (possible) x Severity 1 (unlikely) = 1 x 3 = 3.
- Probability 2 (unlikely) x Impact 3 (moderate) = 3 x 2 = 6.
After determining the risk rating, the risk must be evaluated, that is, which risk is acceptable and which risk needs treatment or control and at what level. After the risk matrix table is determined, now you can accept the risk, avoid the risk, transfer the risk or take corrective action to control the risk.
What additional controls are required?
Where a risk rating results in a requirement to treat the risk, the risk is unacceptable and must be reduced. A risk control hierarchy is commonly used when deciding on controls. The order that must be followed when treating a hazard is as follows.
- Eliminate the hazard if possible.
- If this is not possible, then reduce the risk through substitution, for example, replacing a hazardous chemical with a safer (less hazardous) alternative.
- Engineer controls, for example, separating a noisy car from people or vice versa.
- Administrative controls such as training, safe work systems, policies, procedures, restrictions etc.
- Finally, and as a last form of defense, use personal protective equipment (PPE).
Creation of risk assessment documents:
After the risk assessment, a documented record of findings, controls, timelines, etc. should be available and communicated to all employees. It is usually recorded in a risk assessment template. This template has many formats and each business decides on the right template for their company. Finally, risks should be reviewed regularly and as necessary. If changes are made to equipment, processes, procedures, policies, rules, or people, etc., risk assessments should be reviewed, recorded, and communicated.
In summary, a good risk assessment shows that;
- A proper review was done.
- You asked everyone who might be affected.
- You have dealt with all the obvious significant risks, taking into account the number of people who may be involved.
- Precautions are reasonable and residual risk is low.
- You involved employees or their representatives in this process.
