Risk Assessment Training | JCH Safety

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HOW & WHAT
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RISK ASSESSMENT
TRAINING

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Welcome to the online Risk Assessment Course. This training course has been
developed to help you understand the process of risk assessment; which is fundamental
to managing safety risks in the workplace. Please pay careful attention to the
information contained in this training presentation and take the short multiple choice
quiz at the end. In order to obtain your certificate you will need to pass the quiz. Don’t
worry, you can re-sit if required. Please use the right arrow key on your keyboard to
move through the slides and if you need to go back to look at something just click the
left arrow.

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Okay, let’s get started.
Please work your way through the training material and once
you have completed all of the sections you can access the
online quiz. It’s located on this webpage to the right hand side
of the training. If you want to enlarge these slides please click
the button below that looks like this
Course Outline
Workplace accidents have the potential to kill, hurt and cause
damage to property. Many of the causes of accidents can be
prevented; the objective of this training is to help you to take
responsibility for what is going on around you at work and to
ensure that you go home safely at the end of each and
everyday. The best way to manage risk is to carry out a risk
assessment and this training will help you to know how to do
it.
Aims and Objectives of Training
 To understand what a hazard is.
 To understand what a risk is.
 To look at the 5 Steps to Risk Assessment.
 To understand how to carry out risk
assessments relevant to your work.
 To learn how to apply control measures to
reduce the risks associated with work

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“Why do I need to do a risk assessment….”
 You have carefully thought through all the issues.
 You have done the task a hundred times.
 It comes naturally to you.
 You know what you are doing, it is what you have been trained to
do all your life.
 So nothing could possibly go wrong……..
COULD IT????
Risk Assessments have the power to keep
you safe from harm if you incorporate them
into your working style.

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024 7771 7503
By identifying the hazards, you can then assess the level of risk
associated with that hazard and put in place controls to manage
it. In a moment we will have a look at the terminology to make
sure that you clearly understand the terms. But first a little bit
about the history of risk assessments.
Risk Assessment – A Brief History
 We have always assessed risk when making decisions as it is
part of human nature to preserve our health and life and
that of those around us.
 The concept of written risk assessments were introduced
with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, as a way to
manage safety.
 The concept and practice of carrying out risk assessments
was expanded upon in the Management of Health and Safety
Regulations 1992 (1999).
 Risk Assessments are integral to all other appropriate
legislation i.e. COSHH, PPE, Noise, Asbestos, Work at Heights
etc.
Risk Assessments
So what is a risk assessment?
“A systematic evaluation of the work place and/or other
activities which identifies the hazards present and gives an
estimate of the extent of the risks involved”

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Risk Assessments are legal documents and are required to be carried out by law. Here’s why:
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (amended 2006)
“Risk assessment
3.—(1) Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of:-
(a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and
(b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his
undertaking.
for the purpose of identifying the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by or
under the relevant statutory provisions and by Part II of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997”
The extract above is copied directly; the references to “him” and “his” should not be considered discriminatory.
Legal Summary
You may or may not have direct responsibility for carrying out risk assessments but you
do need to understand them and know how to read them!

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Hazard’s
Anything that may cause harm.
Examples: a wet floor, an unprotected edge, sunlight, poorly
constructed scaffold and overloaded shelving.
Risk’s
The probability of harm occurring.
In other words the extent of the likelihood of an accident
happening.
Understanding the Terms
Chance of exposure to the hazard
X
Consequences of the accident (severity)
=
LEVEL OF RISK
Risk Assessment
Risk assessments can be expressed as an equation which helps
you to quantify risk.

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Task or Area Based?
Risk assessments can be done in many different ways. The important thing is to do one
and then to record it. The style of the risk assessment can vary, there is no one template
for doing a risk assessment. Your employer will have templates you can use for the style
that they prefer to use so please ask them for their specific design.
When carrying out risk assessments you will need to consider your approach to it. Do
you need to assess a task in isolation or do you need to consider it in terms of the
process, the environment and the specific individuals carrying out the task? For example
a generic window cleaning risk assessment would not fit all circumstances. As a result
an area based assessment of the task would be a much better way to assess this risk.
Also, a risk assessment for a disabled person would have different results than for an
able bodied person. The next few slides explore task and area based approaches to risk
assessment.
Think it over and where possible always have a specific risk assessment for each task.

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 Normally used for identifying common hazards in the
workplace in specific types of areas such as offices,
workshops, classrooms or bar areas.
 Will also be used to identify TASKS to be individually risk
assessed.
Area Based
A risk assessment of administrative areas will normally lead to
the identification of the following hazards:
 Slip, trips and falls.
 Electrical Safety.
 Computer workstation hazards.
 Manual Handling.
Area Based Example
Having conducted an area risk assessment the hazards identified
will then need to be dealt with. This will sometimes be done
through a company policy or through a safe system of work. The
common hazard of slips trips and falls could possibly be dealt
with through a generic risk assessment for all offices rather than
doing a risk assessment for slips, trips and falls for every office in
a building for example. The company could then issue a working
policy for managing this risk in the workplace. It is important that
an area based risk assessment highlights all of the significant
hazards and that these are then controlled.

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Task Based Task Based Example
Installing carpet tiles:
When assessing the risk associated with this task it would be
important to consider the risks associated with manual
handling the boxes, the risks from the adhesives used, the risks
from craft the possible risks associated with electricity such as
from cables and any other specific risks in the environment
such as from violence, plumbing pipes or from any other
hazard that could be present. Each task needs to be thought
through sensibly and findings recorded.
A specific task or job will be risk assessed and All the hazards
associated with the task will be assessed:
 Electrical
 Biological
 Chemical
 Radiation
 Manual handling
 Falls from height, etc

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5 Steps To Risk Assessment
 Identify the hazards.
 Identify who might be harmed and how.
 Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.
 Record your significant findings.
 Review your assessment and update if necessary.

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Step One:
Identify the hazards
This is quite simply about looking at the area or the task(s)
and thinking about what could potentially cause harm.
Common hazards include:
 Electricity.
 Slips, trips and falls.
 Working at height.
 Fire.
 Equipment.
Look at the area and task(s), think it through and record the
hazards that you can identify.
Methods Of Identifying Hazards
 Health & safety audits.
 Academic journals.
 Research papers.
 Consultation with other co-workers.
 Accident reports.
 Trade organisations.
 Observation.
 HSE statistics.

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Methods Of Identifying Hazards
 Don’t be nervous of using Google, consulting with similar Institutions or businesses, or asking other departments for the
benefit of their experience.
 Seek outside advice such as from manufacturers of equipment and materials, from safety consultants or from trade
organisations.
 Seek internal advice such as from colleagues, the safety committee and any specialists/line managers who may have
relevant experience.
 Remember to not be embarrassed to ask for help.

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Step Two:
 Employees.
 Contractors.
 Visitors.
 General public.
 Children.
 People who share the workplace.
When considering who may be at risk it must be people specific
Don’t forget vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities,
pregnant staff and those with little experience or training.
Who Might Be At Risk?
Cleaning the floor could pose more of
a risk than you first might think!
Identify who might be harmed…
Again, observe the area or the task and think to yourself who
could be hurt in this area or by this task? If you are assessing an
area there may well be a lot of potential people at risk such as
employees, the general public, possibly children or even
patients depending on what the area is. If it is a task you are
assessing it might just be one person at risk although think it
through because there may be more people at risk than you
first would think.

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Step Three:
1. Hazards and hazardous situations are systematically
identified i.e. observe and record potential hazards.
2. The level of risk associated with each hazard (situation) is
estimated.
Risk Analysis
Evaluate the risk:
It is really important that the risk be evaluated. When doing this
consider who might be harmed, how they might be harmed and
the extent of the potential harm.
If an incident happened what is likely outcome and also how
likely is it that the incident would ever happen? You need to
think about the significant risks. In other word potential hazards
that could cause harm but be realistic.
The risk of lion attack in Derby is probably nearly non-existent
and so it is not a significant risk. However, to a game keeper in
Kenya it is very much a clear and present danger!
Hazard severity x likelihood of occurrence = risk
Let’s work through an example and consider ways of recording
the information……

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Step 1
“Assign a numerical value to the hazard and the
likelihood of occurrence and have a key like this one so
its easy to understand.”
Step 2
“Then multiply the two numbers and
use a matrix to see what the risk level
is”

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Risk Evaluation
 A judgement is made as to whether the level of risk is acceptable or tolerable.
 If not then corrective or preventative measures need to be used to control the hazard.
Hazardous unprotected edge Control measures to prevent likelihood of harm occurring
Signage and edge protection prevents people from falling off the edge of the
building

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Completing the Risk assessment
Organising actions and responsibilities to reduce the hazards and risks to acceptable levels:
So what can I do to reduce a hazard’s potential to cause harm?
 Elimination of hazard: does this task have to be done or does this equipment have to be used?
 Substitution: can different materials, methods or equipment be used to remove / isolate the hazard?
 Physical safeguards: Can machinery guarding, extraction or barriers be used to isolate a risk?
 Personal Protective Equipment: If the above options do not control the risk then apply PPE to reduce the potential severity of
harm.
 Safe working procedures: Come up with acceptable safe working methods and procedures and make sure people are trained.
 Or any combination of above.

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Completing the Risk assessment
 Industry standards.
 Legal requirements.
 Precautions already taken.
 Cost (so far as is reasonably practical).
 Different working conditions i.e. weather.
 Numbers of people at risk.
 Severity of injury.
 Probability.
 Length of exposure/frequency.
Evaluating The Risks
- Some considerations to think about:Writing safe working procedures or instructions
When writing safe working procedures consult with colleagues,
the people who do the tasks and consult with manufacturers to
gather as much information together to ensure that the safe
working procedure is achievable and that it will reduce the risk of
harm:
 General procedures may be in local rules.
 Specific procedures must be included in the risk assessment
and training/instruction must be given.

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Record your findings
Step Four
 The Elements to Record:
 A description of the area or task.
 The hazards that personnel may be exposed to.
 Details of the people who may be exposed to the hazards.
 Details of which hazards are significant and those which are acceptable (and why).
 The precautions in place, or to be put in place, to reduce the significant hazards to acceptable levels.
 How the precautions are to be maintained (management of systems, inspection of physical precautions etc.).
Recording the Risk Assessment

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Remember that risk assessments don’t have a standardised style or appearance. Here is an example of how they may look…..
Some risk assessments use the numerical style and others simply
assess the level of risk as high, medium of low.
Note the columns are titled to keep everything really clear.
Risk Assessment Format

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Recording the Risk Assessment Evaluating The Risks
Remember to record key facts:
 Details of additional risk assessments that are applicable to
the assessment i.e. hazardous substances (COSHH).
 Emergency Procedures- provide information of how to
react to a problem. Location of hospital, first aider etc.
 Details of person completing the risk assessment.
 Details of person countersigning the risk assessment.
 Date, school, business or group, location details etc.
 Use the risk matrix on the form either numerical or using
the high, medium of low style. Both are perfectly fine.
 Estimate the risk before control measures are added
 Identify control measures to lower the risk
 Estimate the risk after control measures which gives the
residual risk
 Can you lower the risk further? Ideally all should be LOW
 Not all risks are injury – what about financial loss? Consider
this in your assessment where necessary

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Consequence
Minor injury or no apparent
injury
Injury requiring first aid
Injury requiring medical
treatment, or with possible
long term negative health
effects
L
i
k
e
l
i
h
o
o
d
Will probably not occur in
most circumstances
Low Low Medium
May occur in some
circumstances
Low Medium High
Likely to occur in most
circumstances
Medium High High
An example risk assessment key:

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Signatures
Depending on your role in an organisation it might not fall to you to be responsible for the risk assessment. Speak to
your line manager to help you know the areas where you are expected to carry out risk assessments. For medium or
high risk tasks the chances are that your line manager or director should be signing off on the risk assessment.
Remember the goal is to lower the risk to the lowest possible level.
 All Low Risk - Principal Investigator (YOU). If not competent to do so, then also a Competent Person.
 Medium Risk - Principal Investigator (PI) and Competent Person (CP) - might be a consultant or safety manager.
 High Risk – PI and CP, then referred to high level management such as Head of School, Safety Manager, Project
Manager or Director for formal authorisation.

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COSHH / Risk Assessment
Title:
Ref:
Name of Principal Investigator
Description of Task / Activity (including frequency / duration)
Location
Names/Type of Persons Involved / At Risk
Should the personal circumstances (such as pregnancy or any other medical condition) of any person
involved change, this risk assessment MUST be reviewed.
Hazards
Activities, substances,
machines, tools, etc.
Hazards identified Estimated risk
(low/medium/high)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Precautions required to mitigate risk (relate to numbers above):
Estimated risk
after
precautions
(low/medium/high)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Emergency Procedures and Contacts
Lone / Out-of-Hours Working
Training Requirements
Access Restrictions / Signage
Storage
Waste Disposal
Principal Investigator (in all cases) Signature Date
Competent Person (medium / high risk) Signature Date
Date for Next Assessment (must be reviewed within 12 months)
An example of a COSHH Risk
Assessment
COSHH risk assessments are used for
controlling risk associated with hazardous
substances. This is an entire training unit in its
own right and we will not deal with them
here. However, be mindful of the need to risk
assess activities, environments and harmful
substances. If you have not received COSHH
risk assessment training consult with your
management for help.

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Step Five
Review the assessment
As with almost everything hazards and risks associated with tasks and work
environments change. Staff change, premises are modernised, new equipment and
processes are used, different technology may be used and so on. As a result it is
important to review your risk assessments. They should be dynamic documents
that are regularly consulted and updated every time there are any considerable
changes. Make sure to review your risk assessment at a minimum of 12 month
intervals or whenever circumstances change.
Don’t forget to record that a review has been carried out. Write down the name of
the person who undertook the review and the date.

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Recording the significant findings of the risk assessment.
 What the task is.
 Who is responsible/supervisor.
 Where the risk assessment applies, who is affected.
 List of hazards.
 List of precautions.
 Details of safe working procedures.
 Emergency procedures.
 Reference to other associated risk assessments i.e. COSHH,
manual handling, PPE etc.
 Record the date and the person carrying out the assessment.
Remember: Act on the risk assessment. Don’t just
assess the risks and then ignore it!
Risk Assessment Summary

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How it can go wrong – a Case Study
The Health and Safety Executive have inspected part of a University following a case of occupational asthma and issued
the University with an “Improvement Notice” to improve RISK ASSESSMENTS!!!
Circumstances of the Improvement Notice
 Project studying poultry in various locations (approx. for 12 years).
 Member of staff involved in project never used respiratory protection or considered exposure to animal allergens as a
hazard.
 Member of staff working on the project developed asthma which was later diagnosed as “occupational asthma” i.e.
directly connected to the work environment.

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Circumstances of the Improvement Notice
 Details reported to the HSE (legal requirement)
 HSE investigated and concluded that the risk assessment for
the work undertaken was not “suitable and sufficient” as the
animal allergens had not been taken into account in the risk
assessment. As a result they were issues with an
Improvement Notice under the Health and Safety at Work Act
1974 and under the COSHH Regs 1999
 The risk assessment for the activity did not consider the
possibility of occupational asthma due to exposure to animal
allergens, a condition that was foreseeable.
 No respiratory protection was considered or provided and no
lung function tests were ever carried out (although available).
 The HSE concluded that although the person involved was
working on an individual project, the management of the
University should have ensured that appropriate precautions
were taken.
They also concluded that there was no effective risk
management system and that similar hazards may not have
been addressed.

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The HSE considered a prosecution, which would have probably
been successful. In the circumstances they felt that the
willingness of the University to improve its systems meant that
an “Improvement Notice” would serve the interest of health and
safety better.
Other Possible Outcomes

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Risk Assessments Keep You, Your Colleagues and Your Company Safe
 The need to carry out risk assessments is a legal requirement for all employers with 5 or more
employees.
 You have a duty to keep yourselves and your colleagues safe so undertake risk assessments and
implement them.
 Regularly review the risk assessment to make sure they stay suitable and sufficient.
Thank you for undertaking this training module. Please feel free to review the
information or to take the quiz now.

Risk Assessment Training | JCH Safety

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