Health and safety risk assessment follows only a few key steps which are simple and easy but of great importance. The process is about identifying risks, the people at risk and in all cases evaluating all of the information and making action plans and policies and then recording all of this in written form such as manuals and training guides. The steps are listed below and should be followed accordingly to create a safe work environment for all.
A few easy steps:
1. Discover what the risks are. This first step in health and safety risk assessment is when some staff, if not all staff and management, get together and identify all of the health and safety risks in the workplace. These risks are going to be large, medium and small, obvious and surprising. No risk is too small and even the seemingly least dangerous risk should be taken with great importance. These risks can be improper sign-age and labelling, faulty equipment, blatant disregard for policies, dangerous materials and many more.
Does your workplace, for example, have a policy of any faulty equipment having to be reported? If so, if this equipment isn't being reported when faulty by staff, there is a huge safety risk. Another example could be something as small as shelving and storage? Is shelving inadequate? Are large and heavy items being placed improperly on shelves and posing a risk to employees? You will discover a plethora of risks of all magnitude and all are to be given serious attention.
2. Who is at risk? The answer of course is that everybody is at some sort of risk, but you must identify who is at what risk and which people have risks that others do not or who are more likely to experience a risk. For instance, a visitor to an industrial site is at greater risk of health or safety concern if they get a chemical in their eyes. They probably don't know where the eyewash station is.
This sort of thing is an example of identifying who is at risk and of what potential dangers. People loading and unloading goods as part of a warehouse or probably more at risk for falling boxes or falling off loading platforms. By identifying the people and the risks they face, it is easier to create action plans.
3. The action plan and policies.
Now that all the health and safety risk assessment has been performed in regards to risks and the people who might experience them, comes the detailed and largest task of implementing plans and policies to eliminate or minimise the risks. Ensuring proper sign-age, labelling, training for lifting and communication, information logs, first aid and CPR training, policies around work practice and behaviour, these are all examples of the evaluation of the information in steps one and two and now plans are created.
4. Record the information and collect other forms of data. All the information can be collected as written text, photographs, diagrams and more. These will not only act as manuals and guides for training and reference, it will prove staff have been educated and made aware of policy and practice.
Health and safety risk assessment is easy in a few steps and very large in scope and necessary in all environments.
Author Resource:-
Office Test is the UK's leading provider of compliance, testing and maintenance services for business and offer comprehensive Health and Safety Risk Assessments. To view their full range of services visit http://www.officetest.co.uk.
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