How to do a Risk Assessment

In this post we will be answering a question our small business clients often ask us - How do you carry out a risk assessment?

Firstly we need to identify the risk or hazard, who may be harmed due to the risk or hazard and they put into place a suitable action plan.

If you have had no formal risk assessment or risk management training you will first need to understand how many steps are there to a risk assessment.

All risk assessments can be completed using a five steps approach which can be applied to all risks assessments, they are:

Step 1: Identify hazards, i.e. anything that can or may cause harm.
Step 2: Decide who may be harmed and how.
Step 3: Assess the risks and take appropriate action.
Step 4: Make a record of the findings, and implement any changes to reduce the risk/hazard.
Step 5: Review the risk assessment when there are any changes and complete the same 4 steps.

There are many risk assessments and online templates widely available on the web. Some more complex than others, therefore:

what is a suitable risk assessment template?

A risk assessment template is a tool used to identify and control risks in the workplace. It involves a systematic examination of a workplace to identify hazards, assess injury severity and likelihood and implement control measures to reduce identified risks.

Some templates use a risk matrix to assess the consequence, likelihood and overall risk rating of the hazards identified.

Who Uses a risk assessment template?

Employers may have their own in-house safety officers who have the right knowledge to carryout risk assessments on a set schedule, or when it is deemed necessary.

They can also choose to hire a third-party consultant to perform the assessment if there are no in-house safety officers.

However, ultimately, it is the employer’s responsibility to make sure a thorough risk assessment of their premises is carried out by a competent professional, including all work-related equipment, tools including the building also.

The Health and Safety Executive have some great templates available online which you can use to form the basis if your own risk assessments, here are some examples

(before you get excited and start clicking away don’t forget to read the rest of this article first for more useful advice)

What is the correct risk assessment format?

There is no silver bullet when it comes to a risk assessment format.

Risk assessment templates may vary widely depending on many factors such as the nature of the business, its own particular risk, its size, and in some cases, specifications set by official governing bodies to due to the nature of the business (petroleum, chemical or other high level risk sectors).

Regardless of your risk assessment format, the following information should always be recorded.

Who is at risk?

It is important to specify the group of staff that is at risk of an identified hazard. 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’).

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.

Extra thought will be needed for some hazards; cleaners, visitors, contractors, maintenance workers etc, who may not be in the venue all the time; members of the public, if they could be hurt by your activities.

Insider tip - Simply ask others in your team or business if they can think of anyone you may have missed when looking at who may be at risk.

In each case, identify how they might be harmed, i.e. what type of injury or ill health might occur.

For example, ‘staff stacking shelfs may suffer back injury from repeated lifting of boxes’.

Your Current control measures

Find out and include what the company is currently doing to lower the risk of injury for any identified areas.

Having identified the hazards, you then have to decide what to do. 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.

First, look at what you’re already doing, think about what controls you have in place and how it 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 the following:

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

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

Try a less risky option (eg switch to using a less hazardous chemical)
Prevent access to the hazard (eg by guarding); organise work to reduce exposure to the hazard (eg put barriers between pedestrians and traffic)
Issue personal protective equipment (eg clothing, footwear, goggles etc)
Provide welfare facilities (eg first aid and washing facilities for removal of contamination).

Remember, making improvements to health and safety doesn’t have to cost the earth.

However, failure to take simple precautions can cost a lot more should an accident happen.

Necessary improvement/changes to control measures

After going over the current control measures, come up with ideas on how they can be improved or replaced to further lower the risk of injury for any identified areas.

Assignments and deadlines

Finally, once decisions have been made to improve and/or replace control measures, include the names of personnel who will be responsible for the updates along with clear deadlines.

This simple practice helps improve accountability and diligence throughout the workplace and adds to promoting a safer working culture for all staff.

Risk Assessment Record-keeping

A good safety record-keeping system is needed to help organizations keep track of hazards, risks, control measures and any corrective actions required.

Beyond complying with regulatory authorities a good risk assessment system can help identify hazard trends and proactively improve workplace safety.

Conclusion

Risk assessments are an essential practice in today’s modern workplace and carrying out regular risk assessments can help you mitigate risk to you staff, visitors and the general public which all contribute toward protecting everyone’s health, safety and welfare whilst protecting you business.

If you are looking for a simple, effective and affordable solution to managing your risk assessments you can learn more about our online risk assessment tools within ClickHSE here, complete our RoSPA and CPD accredited online risk management course here or contact us today on 01905 371321 for more information.

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