A risk is the likelihood that someone will be harmed eg death, injury or illness when they are exposed to a hazard. There are four steps to managing workplace health and safety WHS risks, beginning with a hazard and risk assessment and followed by implementing control measures using the hierarchy of control , before reviewing the effectiveness of those controls.
This article will focus on steps one and two, the hazard identification and risk assessment processes. Some hazards will be easier to identify than others because they are well known in a particular industry, while others may be more difficult to identify, according to Safe Work Australia.
The safety body encourages consulting workers and systematically analysing all tasks to help identify any potential hazards. Encouraging hazard reporting will help the hazard identification process as many workers ignore safety issues due to a perceived lack of support from management. Incident records and investigations, near misses, health monitoring and inspection results will all help identify hazards.
If someone has been injured, then a hazard exists which could also hurt someone else. Step 2 Assess Risks: Understand what harm a particular hazard could cause, the likelihood of it occurring and how serious it could be.
Record all notable elements and start considering corrective actions that can be applied to mitigate risks. Check out our cutting-edge safety solution, Alcumus Field iD to help you efficiently inspect assets.
These can be more difficult to single out as they may be invisible to the naked eye, such as the ever-present COVID virus. Another element which makes this hard to identify is some hazards have immediate risks whereas others take time to appear. OSHA recommends taking the following steps to efficiently identify health-related hazards , with those relating to the coronavirus explored more closely here. As we previously mentioned, there are several types of hazards that could be found on a worksite which fall into the categories mentioned above.
Take the time to review each category such as chemical hazards, ergonomic hazards, safety physical hazards, etc. Remember to also be aware of any preexisting medical conditions team members may have when assessing health-related risks on-site. If you find a front-line worker has back problems, for instance, be wary of asking them to lift heavy objects. This involves analyzing all incidents which have already occurred on-site and could potentially occur, ranging from near misses to actual injuries.
The goal here is to establish what the source or root causes of the incident was and keeping an open mind that several factors could be at play. Create a proper procedure to help pinpoint an occupational hazard, involving selected team members who conduct such investigations, recording all elements related to the incident. Once everything has been recorded such as what lead to the incident, what corrective actions were taken, how knowledgeable was the worker using these tools and carrying out this job task, etc.
The final step to efficiently identify and assess workplace hazards is to identify hazards that may not always occur daily, but instead may only arise during an emergency. This is something health and safety professionals have had to consider when modifying their health and safety programs and implementing new protocols.
In this step, consider scenarios which may be unlikely but could still happen. This includes an illness outbreak like COVID, a fire, an explosion, natural disasters, chemical spills, etc. Our team at Alcumus wants to help you properly identify and assess workplace hazards , c ollec t and gather the necessary data and information , and work to put the proper systems and procedures in place to create a safer work environment.
Speak to a safety expert and find out how our full-business solution can help by filling out the form below! Safety excellence starts now. Walk through the worksite and visually assess the types of equipment, work practices, and any potential hazards that could be harmful to workers.
Interview workers and managers. This allows workers to express concerns that may not be as obvious when conducting only worksite inspections. Involving workers in the process of identifying hazards also increases staff morale and compliance with safety practices. Create a hazard map.
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