Principles of risk assessment for maintaining and improving health and safety at work

1. Section A
Principles of Risk Assessment for Maintaining
and Improving Health and Safety at Work
Faculty of Building, Engineering and Energy 2015

2. What is Risk Assessment?
A risk assessment is a careful examination
of what, in your work, could cause harm to
people, so that you can weigh up whether
you have taken enough precautions or
should do more to prevent harm.
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Workers and others have a
right to be protected from
harm caused by a failure to
take reasonable control
measures.

3. Hazard or Risk?
Before considering risk assessments it is important to be able to identify the difference
between a hazard and a risk.
A hazard is anything that
may cause harm such as
chemicals, electricity,
working from height or
machinery
A risk is the chance, high or
low that someone could be
harmed by a hazard
together with an indication
of how serious the harm
could be.

4. The Five Steps to Risk Assessment
The responsibility for completing risk assessments and method statements is outlined in the
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations.
The Health and Safety Executive propose five steps to effective risk assessment

5. Method Statements
A method statement communicates a safe system of work for operatives to follow when
completing a task. It is normally written and should be agreed upon before work commences.
You have a responsibility to highlight to your supervisor any suggested improvements to the
method statement.
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6. What is RIDDOR?
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
outline legal requirements for reporting deaths, injuries, occupational diseases and dangerous
occurrences to the Health and Safety Executive or Local Authority, so that they can identify
where and how risks arise and try to stop them from happening again.
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7. What is RIDDOR?
The regulations are made under the Health
and Safety at Work Act 1974. The main
purpose of the regulations is to generate
reports to the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) and to local authorities. This allows
individual incidents and trends to be
examined so that authorities can develop
strategies to prevent future injuries and ill
health.

8. Accident Reporting
An accident is defined as a
separate, identifiable, unintended
incident that causes physical injury.
If you are involved in an accident in
the workplace you, or a responsible
person acting on your behalf should
record details of the accident in the
accident report book. This book
should be held in the site office.
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9. Accident Reporting
Certain accidents must be reported to
the Health and Safety Executive. If you
are involved in a near-miss accident,
which could be an incident where
someone has narrowly avoided injury,
it may not be formally reportable but
it is still important that you record it
to avoid the likelihood of it
happening again.
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10. Causes of Death
Fortunately we have been able to reduce the number of deaths within the construction industry in
recent years but most deaths are avoidable which means there are still a range of measures we
can take to reduce the likelihood of them happening again. There were 39 fatal injuries to
construction workers in 2013. The causes of these deaths is shown in the table above.
Falls
Being struck by a falling or
moving object
A collapse or overturn
Being hit by a moving
vehicle
Electricity
Other or unconfirmed

11. Causes of Injury
The number of major injuries reported over the last year has also fallen. There were 1913 major
injuries to construction workers in 2013. Many of these injuries were also avoidable and through
careful planning and the adoption of safe systems of work we can further reduce the number of
construction workers injured each year. The most common causes of major injuries are shown in
the table above.
Falls
Slips, trips and falls on the
level
Being struck by moving or
falling objects
Handling

12. Fire Safety
Fire safety is an important consideration
within the construction industry. Safe
systems of work should be adopted at all
times to ensure the likelihood of a fire
starting is minimised. For example,
combustible fuel should be separated
from other materials and stored in a
location where it cannot be exposed to
any source of ignition.
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13. Electrical Safety
Electrical safety is important when on a construction site. Hand held power tools should be
properly inspected and maintained to reduce the risk of electrocution. If you are unsure of
where the electrical supply is located or are concerned that you may come into contact with an
electrical supply, a Cable Avoidance Tools (CAT) can be used to detect the path or location of a
power supply(the hazard).
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14. Manual Handling
A common cause of back injuries in the construction is poor manual handling practices. Many of
the materials used within the industry are bulky and there are often obstacles to navigate. You
should make every effort to adopt a safe system of work when manual handling and follow the
three principles of avoid, reduce and assess.

15. Competent Person
An operative who is experienced and qualified to carry out work is known as a competent person.
You should never be expected to carry out work unless you are fully aware of the safe systems of
work and the risks and hazards associated with the works. When you are training as an apprentice
you would be expected to be supervised by a competent person.
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16. Disposing Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste should always be disposed of in accordance with the site waste disposal rules.
This ensures that you protect against contaminants entering the draining/water system and that
you do not place anyone else at harm from the waste.