DEFINITION

Risk Assessment – Why?

“ To prevent accidents by
identifying hazards and
reducing the risk of injury
from those hazards to as
low a level as is reasonably
practicable.”
 ?WHY RISK ASSESSMENT

To prevent
Accidents

By The
Identification of
rds
H az a

Reducing the risk of injury from those

hazards to as low a level as is
reasonably practicable
 BENEFITS OF RISK
ASSESSMENT
• Comply With The Law

• Economic

• Human
 Definition of a Hazard

Something with the potential“

”.to cause harm

Definition of a Risk
“The likelihood that the harm
will be realised and, for the purpose of Risk
Assessment, the severity of the harm ”
 SOME DEFINITIONS
Reasonably Practicable
Balance of the risk against the cost of controls

Cost
Assessment of Time
Risk Trouble
Difficulty
Reasonably Practicable

Time
Assessment Trouble
Of the Cost
Risk Physical difficulty
 Risk Management
 Risk assessment is the process of
identifying and evaluating a hazard to
determine the level of action required to
reduce a risk to an acceptable level.
 It is nothing more than a careful
examination of what in the workplace
could cause harm to people, so that we
can weigh-up whether the department has
taken enough precautions or are required
to take additional precautions, to prevent
harm occurring.
 Risk Assessment
 Consider the task or processes.
 Identify the hazards.
 Identify who is at risk.
 Analyse and evaluate the risk
against the severity.
 Decide on control measures.
 Implement the control measures.
 Monitor the control measures.
 Review the process.
What is a Hazard?
 A Hazard is
anything that has
the potential to
cause harm, e.g.
chemicals,
electricity,
working up a
ladder.
 Using a crane,
forklift …….
 General Types of Workplace
Hazards

1. Work Environment
2. Energy (e.g. electricity)
3. Manual Tasks
4. Noise
5. Substances (e.g. chemicals)
6. Plant
Identify Hazards
 Step 2: What is a Risk?
 The Risk is the likelihood that the hazard
will cause harm and the severity of the
consequence.
 For Example:
 If you are cleaning the oven with corrosive
cleaner without using gloves or apron
there is a great risk of being harmed.
 If you wear all protective clothing and
gloves and adhere to all safety precautions
the risk is low.
 If you change the chemical to a safer type
and adhere to all precautions the risk will
be even lower.
 Step 2 – Assess Risk

 Next, assess the risks associated

with each identified hazard.
 The desired outcome of this step is
to develop a prioritized list of risks
that require further action.
 Determine the likelihood of an
incident occurring at your
workplace.
 Determine the consequences of an
incident occurring at your
workplace.
Who Might Be Harmed and How
 Generally it will be staff occupying
the workplace.
 Attention must be paid to:
 Visitors
 Contractors
 Cleaning staff
 Maintenance staff
 Inexperienced staff
 Likelihood (Probability)
Very unlikely – Unlikely – Likely – Very
Likely
 Example – Working at Height
The probability of falling off an edge is more
likely the closer you are working to it
 Consider for Example
 The number of times a situation occurs
 The number of people are exposed and the
duration of exposure
 The skills/experience of persons exposed.
 The position of the hazard relative to
people and other hazards.
 Special characteristics of workers that
may affect the likelihood of an accident
(lift or right hand orientation)
 The quantities of materials or point of
exposure.
 Environmental conditions
 The condition of equipment
 The effectiveness of the existing control
measures.
 Consequences
(Minor – Moderate - Major – Extreme)
 Example – Working at Height
If these three workers fell down
these heights, the consequences
will be different
 Consider for Example
 The potential for chain reaction (where a
hazard can evolve and compound into a
more dangerous situation)
 Substance concentration
 Material volume
 Speed of projectiles or moving parts
 Height
 Worker position relative to the hazard
 Weight
 Force and energy levels
 Risk Rating
Minor Moderate Major Extreme
(4) (3) (2) (1) Likelihood/
Severity

4 3 2 1 Very
Likely
(1)
5 4 3 2 Likely
(2)
6 5 4 3 Unlikely
(3)
7 6 5 4 Very
Unlikely
(4)
Risk Rating
Use the ratings for each risk to
develop a prioritized list of
workplace risks requiring action
Step 3 – Control Measures
Engineering Controls
Administrative Controls
PPE
 Example
 Every week, two workers are required to clean
the public toilet blocks in the local park.
 To do this they take a truck, which has a small
pressure pump and hose stored on the back of it.
 They drive the truck to the front of the toilet
block, lift the pump off the truck, carry it into the
toilets, attach the hose to the tap and clean the
block with high pressure water.
 When they have finished, they carry the pump out
to the truck and reload it onto the back of the
truck and go to the next park with a toilet block.
 Hazards
 The pump is heavy and awkward to
lift. (Manual Handling)
 When they are using the hose in the
toilet block the noise is too high.
(Noise)
 Risk
 Muscle strain
 Back injuries

 Hearing loss
 Control
 Change work practices by increasing
length of hose to eliminate the need
to lift the pump.

 Change work practices by increasing

length of hose to reduce the noise
level inside the toilet block.
Controls Risk Hazard

Change work practices by Muscle  Manual

increasing length of hose to Strain Handling
eliminate the need to lift pump. Back
injuries
Change work practices by  Noise
increasing length of hose to
reduce the noise level inside Hearing
the toilet block. loss