2. INTRODUCTION TO RISK ASSESSMENT
Risk assessment is the methodical process of Identifying health and
safety hazards in your workplace and then ensuring they are suitably
controlled.
It's an important part of health and safety management and is a legal
requirement for all work activities and for anything that may cause
harm to employees. This includes assessing the risks of COVID-19,
which we'll look at later in the course.
Throughout this training you'll learn about the key steps of the risk
assessment process so that you can apply them to your own work
activities. The course explains why carrying out a risk assessment is a
legal requirement and helps you to understand what needs to be
considered to reduce the likelihood of harm to employees and
anyone else who may be affected by your work activities.
In this module. we'll take a look at some key terminology examples of
common health and injuries arising from work activities and the
reasons why assessments are an essential part of ensuring good
health and safety at work.
3. THE TOPICS COVERED IN
THIS SECTION ARE:
Why are Risk Assessments Important?
What is a Risk Assessment?
The general principles of prevention.
Further key definitions
Who should carry out a risk
assessment?
4. WHY ARE RISK ASSESSMENT IMPORTANT ?
According to recent statistics from the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE), in 2019/20:
1.6 million workers suffered from work-related ill health (new or
long-standing).
111 workers suffered fatal injuries at work.
693,000 non-fatal injuries occurred at work.
38.8 million working days were lost due to work-related illness
and workplace injuries.
The estimated annual cost of work-related injuries and ill health
was £16.2 billion.
A risk assessment is essential to prevent your employees, or
anyone else in the premises, from coming to harm.
5. WHY ARE RISK ASSESSMENT IMPORTANT ?
There are many other reasons why you should carry out a structured
risk assessment within your workplace, including:
Enhancing the overall workplace safety culture and ensuring
everyone appreciates the purpose and benefits of health and
safety procedures.
Increasing the awareness of hazards and risks. so, there are fewer
accidents and injuries.
A decrease in claims against your company due to are duction In
accidents and ill health.
An increase in morale due to lack of ill health and accidents and
fewer absences from work.
An increase in morale due to visible action taken to improve
employee well-being and an improved health and safety culture
spreading through the organisation.
While ensuring good workplace safety can reduce the financial
burden on organisations, the reasons for carrying out a risk
assessment aren't just monetary.
6. WHY ARE RISK ASSESSMENT IMPORTANT ?
There are five steps to carrying out a risk assessment. These are:
1. Identify the potential hazards in your workplace and from your work
activities.
2. Consider who might be harmed and how. It's important to consider
anyone who may be harmed, including employees, contractors'
visitors and members of the public.
3. Evaluate the risks to health and safety and the methods to be used
to eliminate or reduce these risks.
4. Write down your findings. This is a legal requirement if you employ
five or more people. However, it's good practice for any sized
workplace to record the finding of their risk assessment.
5. Regularly review and update your risk assessment. Risk assessments
should be reviewed at least annually and more frequently if
circumstances change for example, new or altered processes or
significant changes to the workforce.
By law, all employers must manage the health and safety risks in their
workplace.
To do this, they are required to ensure a risk assessment is undertaken
to assess the hazards and risks.
7. What is Risk Assessment?
The following terms are used throughout the risk assessment process. Therefore, it's important that you are familiar with them
and understand their meanings:
A hazard is anything that may
cause harm such as exposure to
chemicals, electricity working
with display sori equipment
exposure to viruses and
biohazards trailing cables.
Hazard Risk
The risk is how likely it is that
somebody could be harmed by
or suffer health as a result of the
hazard, together with an
indication of how serious the
harm for health could be.
These are the actions that must
been to reduce the exposure to
a hazard and reduce the
likelihood of injury or that
occurring.
Control Measures
8. THE GENERAL PRINCIPAL OF PREVENTION
These principles of prevention are:
1. Avoid the risk. For example, use extension handles for first floor window
cleaning rather than working at height. If a risk cannot be avoided, it's
important to evaluate it and decide on controls to reduce the impact.
2. Combat the risk at source. For example, using fume hoods with inbuilt
ventilation that remove hazardous gases at the Source.
3. Adapt the work to the individual and keep up with technical progress.
For example, reducing the time individuals spend using vibrating tools,
using cameras to view confined spaces or working at a safer distance
from sources of infection.
4. Reduce risks by substituting hazardous processes or machinery for less
hazardous alternatives. For example, using water-based paints and
things stead of solvent based paints and thinners.
It's important to understand that the priority of a risk assessment is to
prevent risks. The regulations require that the general principles of
prevention are followed in risk assessment.
9. THE GENERAL PRINCIPAL OF PREVENTION
These principles of prevention are:
5. Prevent risks. For example, ensure guards and screens are provided
which prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery or which reduce
physical contact between people.
6. Use general protective measures in preference to individual protection
measures. For example, gloves and face masks. Personal protective
equipment (PPE) should always be a last resort where possible and
general protective measures should always be considered first.
7. Give appropriate instructions to employees. Employees need to be
properly trained in how to work safely when completing their duties as
well as any hazards and risks associated with their work. There also
needs to be effective knowledge sharing across the business and
employees should be aware find further information on safe working
practices for example In the manufacturer's guidance.
Prevention measures must always take priority over personal
protection measures.
10. Further Key Definitions
Two other key legal phrases that are important for you to understand when developing a risk assessment are:
Suitable and Sufficient
A risk assessment must be tailored towards the specific activity's procedures and materials in
the workplace being assessed. This means that risk assessments need to be specific to the
workplace and the work activities being carried out in it. ‘A generic risk assessment is not
enough at any time’.
Competent person
Competence a combination of the training skills experience and knowledge that a person has
and their ability to apply them safely. Anyone completing risk assessment would need to be
suitably Competent and have sufficient knowledge to be able to carry out the risk assessment
process safely.
11. Who should Carry out a Risk Assessment?
Employers have the overall responsibility for ensuring that risk
assessments are carried out either by themselves or by another
competent person.
A competent person is someone identified as having sufficient
training skills, experience and knowledge to carry out the risk
assessment process safely.
Within your organisation experienced and knowledgeable managers
and supervisors should be in a position to carry out risk assessments.
If needed, they should consult specialists for further guidance.
When preparing a risk assessment, it's important to always involve
those who will do the work. Their knowledge of the hazards
associated with the work activities and workplace will be helpful
when assessing the work environment.
12. SUMMARY
All employers have a legal responsibility to manage the
health and safety in the workplace. Part of this is
ensuring a risk assessment is completed.
Risk assessments are required for workplaces and work
activities where there are hazardu so that the risks from
those hazards can be controlled.
Risk assessment must be carried out by a competent
person This means someone who has the necessary
combination of was is experience and knowledge to do
the work safety.
risk assessment requires the computer A person to
identity potential hazards determine the hood of them
causing harm and decide on suitable control measures.
Risk assessments Should be written down and
everyone should heguerthe instruction and information
they require to ensure sy can carry out their work date
ardwithdur ritks to me
14. INTRODUCTION
In the last module, you learnt that risk
assessments are a legal responsibility for
all work activities and workplaces.
Risk assessments identify the hazards
and risks from work activities and in
workplaces as well as the control
measures needed to reduce or eliminate
them.
This module will explain the specific
legislation that places duties on
employers and employees surrounding
the risk asse process.
You'll also learn about how health and
safety inspectors enforce the law, and
the penalties they can issue if its
discovered that your workplace isn't
doing enough to prevent harm
15. THE TOPICS COVERED IN THIS SECTION ARE:
- The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974
- Further Regulations.
- Legal Enforcement
16. THE HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK, ETC. ACT 1974
Under the HSW Act, employers have a duty to ensure the health,
safety and welfare of all their employees so far as is reasonably
practicable.
The HSW Act also places duties on employers to run their work
activities and workplaces in a way that is safe and does not pose
risk to other for example, visitors, contractors and members of
the public.
Additionally, people who are not employers but who still control
premises are required under the law to ensure they make and
keep those premises sale and without risks to health.
The HSW Act further places duties on self employed individuals to
carry out their work in a way that is safe and without health risks
to themselves and others.
The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 (HSW Act) is the principal legislation for the health, safety and welfare
of employees and others affected by work activities in the UK.
17. FURTHER REGULATIONS
• Certain workplace hazards are covered by additional specific
regulations. These regulations will provide requirements for the
control measures needed for specific hazards.
• These control measures do not have to be assessed separately but
can be considered as part of, or an extension to your overall risk
assessment.
• Examples of other regulations which enforce particular control
measures for a workplace or work activity include:
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations
2002.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.
The Fire Precautions (Workplaces) Regulations 1997 Part II.
The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment Regulations
1992.
Workplace Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
18. LEGAL ENFORCEMENT
• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforces health and safety law
within the workplace. The aim of the HSE Is to prevent death, injury and
ill health in Great Britain's workplaces!
• HSE health and safety inspectors visit all types of workplaces to
examine working conditions Investigate incidents and to help employers
manage risks sensibly and proportionately.
• A health and safety inspector may visit your workplace to examine the
arrangements that you have in place for assessing and controlling risks to
health and safety.
• They will be looking for evidence that your workplace has a sensible
risk assessment process and working up-to-date risk assessments for the
parts of your workplace and work that require them.
• In relation to COVID 19 control measure the HSE has said that they
will carry out work lo check that appropriate measures are in place to
protect workers from COVID 19 and they will resume their targeted
proactive inspection work of high-risk industries which was temporarily
stopped during the height of pandemic
19. SUMMARY
The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 is the primary
legislation that requires employers to ensure the health, safety
and we fare of all employees in the workplace.
The Management of Health and Safety Work Regulations 1999 is
the legislation that requires risk assessment for work activities
and workplace.
Other regulations require particular control measures. However,
these control measures do not have to be recorded separately
and can be considered as part of, or an extension to the overall
risk assessment
21. INTRODUCTION
Carrying out a risk assessment is about considering what might
cause harm to people and deciding what controls are needed to
prevent or minimize that harm.
The Health and Safety Executive has set five steps for
carrying out an effective risk assessment. These are:
1. Identify the hazards.
2. Decide who might be harmed by those hazards and how.
3. Decide what is needed to control the risks.
4. Record the hazards who might be harmed and the key
controls.
5. Regularly review the risk assessment.
• In this module, we look at the first four of these key steps
when you are carrying out your risk assessment, it's vital to
remember that the process should help you identify reasonably
practicable measures to control the risks in your workplace
22. THE TOPICS COVERED IN
THIS SECTION ARE:
Hazard and risk
Step one: identify the hazards
Step two: Decide who might be harmed
and how
Step three Evaluate the risks
Step four: Record the significant findings
23. Hazard and Risk
The terms hazard' and 'risk are often used interchangeably, this can make it hard to understand what each actually means. However, it's
important to understand their definitions so that you can effectively control any risks present in your workplace.
Hazard
A hazard is anything that may cause harm to anyone. For example, confined spaces, work with display screen equipment
exposure to extreme temperatures exposure to infectious materials and weapons to electricity all pose hazards to workers and
w need effective controls to reduce the likelihood and severity of an incident.
However, it's important to carefully consider the nature of the work and substances used. For example, not every chemicals
and naturally considered a hazard. A substance or work activity is only a hazard if it can cause harm to someone.
Risk
Risk is the likelihood that a hazard may cause harm in practice. For example, a machine may have a fixed guard in place that
was the risk of injury, however, if the guard is damaged or missing then the risk of injury will significantly increase.
Similarly, a shop open to the public may have a fixed lock on their dining cupboard but if this lock is broken the risk of
individuals coming into contact with hazardous substances signiificanty increases
24. Step One :- Identify the Hazards
To be able to effectively identify the hazards within your workplace, it's important that you have a good understanding of the work
activities and processes carried out. To identify the hazards in your workplace you should:
Walk around the workplace and consider any hazard that are in it. These
hazards may be from machinery, substances people the work
environment or work activities.
consider the normal work activities that are undertaken. For example,
lifting and moving materials either manually or with lifting equipment
what are the main hazards?
Remember to also consider occasional work activities. For example,
machinery maintenance cleaning operations of contractors work.
Think about long term health issues that could result from hazardous
processes. For example, exposure to noise, exposure to infectious
material or the use of display screen equipment.
Talk to employees It's important involve employees carrying out the work
as they may have insights into hazards that you missed.
Consult first aid and accident record in your workplace.
25. Step One :- Identify the Hazards
The following list details some of the most recognized hazards found in
workplaces.
Uneven or slippery surfaces.
Moving vehicles and machinery.
Electrical installations and equipment.
Hazardous substances and chemicals including flammable and explosive
substances.
Noise.
Vibration.
Manual handling.
Work at height.
Display screen equipment.
Situations where conflict and violence are likely.
Lone working.
Exposure to diseases infections and viruses.
Its important that you identify the hazards present in your workplace and
tailor your risk assessment.
26. Step Two :- Decide who might be Harmed and How ?
The second step to completing a risk assessment is to consider:
1. Who might be harmed by a hazard?
2. How might they be harmed?
It's important to consider anyone who may be present at any time.
Therefore, you should consider any ways in which any of the following
groups of people may be harmed:
Employees, including full-time, part-time and shift workers.
Maintenance staff and visiting contractors.
Cleaners, delivery drivers and others who carry out their work activities
in your workplace.
Members of the public for example customers or anyone who may be
near traffic movements or construction activities.
Anyone sharing your work premises that may be impacted by your work
activities and vice versa.
Your risk assessment must detail any hazards posed to individuals impacted
by your work activities and the controls needed to manage them. You must
also include information on how these groups of people will be properly
informed of the controls and their roles.
27. Step Three :- Evaluate the Risks?
Having identified who may be harmed by the hazards and how, you'll need to
decide how likely it is that harm will occur and what can be done about it.
Risks occur as a natural part of daily life and the law does not expect you to
eliminate all risks.
At this stage you should consider:
1. What are you already doing to control risk?
2. Is there anything else that you need to do?
You will probably already be doing a lot in your workplace to control the risk
for example controlling welding fumes using local ventilation or controlling
workplace once using coded security locks to prevent public access to staff
spaces. However, you should carefully consider if further controls are
needed.
Instead, you must be aware of the main risks associated with your
workplace work activities and processes and what you are doing to
manage them.
28. Step Four :- Record the Significant Findings?
Step four is to record your significant findings. You should be
carrying this out as you complete the first three steps of your risk
assessment.
It is not necessary to write down every hazard and risk. Instead, you
should record any hazards where there is a foreseeable risk of harm
that can be controlled.
The template will help you to make a sensible record of:
The key identified hazards.
Anyone who may be harmed by those hazards.
The controls currently in place and any needed to reduce or
eliminate the risks further.
The conditions when the assessment needs to be reviewed to
ensure it remains effective.
29. SUCCESSFUL RISK ASSESSMENT
Overall, the key to a successful risk assessment is to ensure you
have:
1. Considered all the main hazards.
2. Understood the risks they pose and who is at risk.
3. Evaluated your current controls and decided if you need to
update them or require any additional controls.
4. Made a sensible record of your findings.
In most cases you will have evaluated all the necessary control
measures by following the advice in this module. However, for
several specific tasks, often connected to the way that people
work rather than the physical equipment that they use you will
need to make decisions about additional controls that should be
In place.
30. SUMMARY
Hazards are anything that
has the potential to cause
harm to someone, while
risks are the likelihood of
that harm occurring.
Step one of risk
assessment to identity
hazards To do this you
should walk round your
workplace consult
manufacturers information
and chat with employees.
Step two is looking at who
may be harmed and how?
This step helps to ensure
that the controls selected
are the right ones.
Step three involves
considering the controls
already in place in your
workplace and evaluating
any additional controls
needed.
You should complete step
four, to record your
significant findings, as you
go through the first three
steps.
32. Introduction
The module explained that for most of the hazards in the
workplace, there are well known control measures and
information available from several sources to help you
develop your risk assessment.
There are occasions where it is necessary to decide which
of the available control measures are the most appropriate
and safest for the activities carried out in your workplace.
In the last module, you learnt how to carry out an effective risk assessment to ensure that your workplace control measures are suitable
and sufficient, and to identify if further controls are needed.
This module will discuss the hierarchy of control .The hierarchy
of control will help you to choose the safest ,most appropriate
controls for the work undertaken so that you can create a
suitable and sufficient risk assessment for your organisation.
33. THE TOPICS COVERED IN
THIS SECTION ARE:
The hierarchy of control
Avoiding risks
Safe systems of work
Individual protection
Giving appropriate instructions to
employees
34. The Hierarchy of Control
As we learnt earlier in the course, it's important to follow the general principles of prevention when selecting control measures.
These general principles can be arranged in a hierarchy that should
be followed in order:
1.Eliminate :
Can you eliminate the risky process or task completely to remove
the hazard?
2.Substitute:
Can you change the materials, process or way of working to
reduce the risk
3. Engineering controls:
Can you adapt or modify your equipment or workplace to reduce
the risk for example enclosing the process!
4. Administrative controls:
Can you amend your working procedures to be safer?
5. Personal protective equipment (PPE):
What PPE can you use to eliminate or reduce any residual risks?
Note: PPE should always be a last resort and general protective measures should always be considered first
35. The Hierarchy of Control
The hierarchy of control measures helps to ensure that control measures are considered in order. starting with eliminating the risk
completely. Your first question should always be: 'Is there a safer way to complete this work task?'
If you cannot eliminate the risk completely, you should consider substituting the process or substances to less hazardous alternatives to
reduce the risk.
If you cannot eliminate or substitute the hazard, the next level is to control the risk by choosing engineering controls which contain the
hazard.
Once you have considered elimination, substitution and engineering controls, administrative controls can be used to reduce any
remaining risks.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the lowest level of the hierarchy of controls and, in most work situations, It should only ever be
used as a last resort.
36. Avoiding Risks
Your risk assessment should ensure that there are dear controls listed for
ensuring that engineering control remain effective. In many cases
Inspections are a statutory duty. For example, is a legal requirement to:
Inspect the guards of power presses on a daily basis.
Carry out thorough examinations of exhaust ventilation equipment
for dust control.
Inspect places of work at height on a daily basis,
This is not an exhaustive list. Details on the frequency of inspections and
maintenance requirements for different pieces of equipment can be found in
the relevant guidance documents and manufacturers instructions.
The risk assessment must include:
The inspections and examinations required for each piece of
machinery.
The frequency for inspections and examinations.
Who should carry them out.
what records need to be kept
37. Safe System of Work (SSoW)
SSoWs are risk assessments. An SSoW must detail the work
equipment, competencies and procedures needed to carry out
the work activity safely.
For example, unloading moving and storing work materials and
products in a warehouse using handling equipment would be
best described by writing a safe system of work that explains
each of the elements in detail.
A Safe System of Work (SSoW) is a combination of physical controls, procedures, plans, training and
information that provides a safe workplace or a safe work activity for all workers
In construction activities, a commonly used phrases is ‘method
statement’. However, a SSoW is much more than a set of
instructions and method statements should be carefully checked
to ensure that they include details of the equipment procedures
and competencies needed to carry out work safely.
38. Individual Protection
PPE should only be used where it is not reasonably practicable to
use other controls to reduce any remaining risks
.Some work activities such as work at height have more extensive
hierarchies of control that are tailored to that work activity. These
will have further requirements but personal protection such as
safety harnesses are still considered a last resort and must never
be the first choice.
If your workplace uses personal protective equipment to reduce
risks it's essential that all employees required to use the PPE are
appropriately trained on the type of protection, they need how to
use it properly and how to inspect and carry out simple
maintenance of the PPE, such as cleaning.
39. Giving Appropriate Instruction to Employees
An important step in ensuring the health and safety of employees is
to provide them with all the necessary information, instruction,
training and supervision required to ensure that they understand
how to work safely.
Under health and safety law, employers are required to provide
relevant training information and instruction to employees and
contractors to ensure they can work safely.
Training and instruction are important to ensure employees
understand:
The various hazards and risks they may face at work.
How to deal with the hazards.
Any emergency procedures.
Not all work activities will require training and many work tasks can
be carried out safely by simply providing the individual will clear
instructions. However, it's important that your risk assessment
details the necessary training instruction and Information that
individuals will require and when it's needed
40. SUMMARY
• Sometimes for a work activity, it's necessary to decide on controls
that will help to undertake the work as safely as possible. The
hierarchy of controls helps to choose effective appropriate
controls.
• The first two steps in the hierarchy are to use control measures to
eliminate or substitute the hazard to reduce the risk.
• The next level is to use engineering controls to reduce the risk.
This includes physical safeguards, such as machinery guards or
edge protection
• In your risk assessment it's important to record any training
instruction and information employees will require to ensure they
can work safely.
• Next is administrative controls which involve developing safe
systems of work - a combination of physical controls, procedures,
training and information to ensure a safe work activity.
• PPE is at the bottom of the hierarchy and should only be used as a
last resort to reduce any residual risk
42. INTRODUCTION
The previous modules of the course have explained the first four
steps of the risk assessment process. These are:
1. Identifying the hazards.
2. Deciding who may be harmed and how.
3. Evaluating the risks and selecting controls.
4. Recording the risk assessment.
This module of the course will examine why it's important to
regularly review your risk assessment and keep your written
record up to date.
43. THE TOPICS COVERED IN
THIS MODULE ARE:
The importance of
regular risk assessment
reviews
The review process
Informing employees
and contractors
44. The Importance of Regular Risk Assessment Review
Most risk assessments fail if they are not regularly
reviewed.
This is because allowing your risk assessment to go out of
date can result in a number of problems, including
Control measures becoming inadequate or disused.
Failing to correctly inform existing or new employees of
any changes in work processes or activities.
Incorporating new or additional work processes or
activities which are not included in the risk assessment.
Allowing these things to occur means that you could have
hazards in your workplace that you have not properly
considered, which increases the likelihood of accidents or
ilI health occurring.
Therefore, it's essential to ensure there are clear
procedures in place for regularly reviewing your workplace
risk assessments
45. Review Process
Any time that anything changes in your workplace. whether it's new
equipment, substances. procedures or employees, new hazards may be
introduced, or existing hazards may be changed.
Therefore, whenever there is any change to plant, machinery, or the
workplace or personnel, you should examine any relevant risk
assessments to determine whether your control measures need
updating.
A simple way to remember to do this is to have a copy of the risk
assessment on display near the work. Any time there is a change, read
the risk assessment and make any necessary changes
46. Review Process
There will be other occasions when your risk assessment will also need to
be reviewed. These Occasions include:
When there has been an incident, accident or near-miss, One of the
key actions from any investigation must be to review and amend your
risk assessment.
When there has been an unexpected event. For example, bad weather
may have damaged buildings or equipment, or the government may
have issued new guidance.
When repairs or alterations are carried out. Often, it will be necessary
to review the risk assessment as repairs or alterations may have
changed something in the work process.
Finally, it is good practice to carry out a review of your risk assessments
regularly even if none of the above changes have happened.
Some employers do this on an annual basis; however, this time scale is
dependent on the employer and the risks involved. It's essential to ensure
that a regular review process is in place.
47. Informing Employees and Contractors
It's important that all workers are aware of any hazards posed by the
workplace or work activities and understand how to effectively use the
controls in place.
Therefore, its essential that any changes to your organisation's risk
assessments are explained to employees and contractors.
Its also important to ensure there is some evidence that this information
was passed on for example asking employees to sign a form saying they
were present when the information was communicated.
For example, you could carry out regular health and safety briefings on
your risk assessments and any changes to them to ensure that employees
and contractors are informed about their duties.
Whatever the method of communicating changes to essential that those
carrying out the work are involved and understand the control measures
and their part in carrying them out.
Saying that employees and contractors were verbally told without any
evidence is insufficient.
48. SUMMARY
• Risk Assessment can fail if they are not regularly reviewed.
This can lead to unsafe working condition.
• You should have a process to check risk assessment where
there are any changes to the workplace or activities.
• One useful tip is to keep a copy of risk assessment close to
the work activity and ensure that its reviewed and updated as
a part of the change.
• There are time when risk assessment must be reviewed. This
include after accidents, events and new government
guidance.
