IOSH Managing Safely. Assessing Risks. e-learning course. Module 2

Transcription

1 IOSH Managing Safely e-learning course Module 2 Assessing Risks

2 Risk Assessment and Risk Control Risk assessments and risk controls are fundamental to safety management, and we will therefore discuss them at some length but in a simple easy to follow manner. To meet your health and safety responsibilities as a manager, you will need to have a good understanding of the formal process of carrying out risk assessments and selecting risk controls appropriately. Fundamental terms Hazard: This is anything with the potential to cause harm, damage, production losses or increased liability. Risk: This is the likelihood and severity (consequence) of a substance, activity or process to cause harm. A wet floor is a hazard. The risk is how likely it is that someone will slip on the floor, and how severe is their injury going to be? How do we control risks? Firstly, let us consider what a risk control is. A risk control is the application of technical, procedural and behavioural measures to reduce risk. If we apply the above definition to our example of a hazard above ie. the wet floor, then we may consider having a barrier around the wet area of the floor to prevent people from coming into contact with the wet floor. We can also place WET FLOOR signs around the affected area of the floor, and we can have a procedure to ensure that employees do not run in the workplace and that all employees are issued with and wear the appropriate footwear. Lifting loads is a hazard. This may present a risk if a poor lifting technique is used, or the weight of the load is very heavy. Ideally, we should ELIMINATE the need for lifting heavy weights eg. reducing the weight of the loads. If however the need for lifting weights cannot be eliminated, then we should attempt to AVOID the hazard by perhaps using mechanical aids, if on the other hand some loads have to be lifted manually, then workplace precautions/ control measures have to be applied, in this case, asking for help, applying good posture and good lifting technique. Examples of the form a hazard takes: Some examples of hazards are; noise, machinery, tools, electricity, chemicals, fire, heavy loads, slippery surfaces, sharp edges, poor ergonomic layout, moving vehicles, and toxic substances. Methods of work: Confined spaces, working at height and excavation work. Living organisms: People, animals, insects, viruses and bacteria. A hazardous event: This occurs when someone or something interacts with the hazard and harm results. Likelihood: A qualitative description of probability or frequency. This is a measure of the chance that the hazardous event will occur. If part of a carpet in an office was torn, this will represent a hazard to the people using the office. If the torn part happens to be in a busy part of the office, such as the entrance to the office, then the likelihood that somebody will trip over it will be greater. However, if the torn part happened to be in a corner of the office occupied by a desk, then the likelihood of someone tripping over it will be much less likely. 2

3 Consequence or Severity: The outcome of the hazardous event is often considered as the consequence or severity. If an office worker tripped over the torn part of the carpet, there could be several possible outcomes, the office worker might not fall and therefore suffer no injury at all, or perhaps he might drop a laptop he was carrying causing it to be damaged, or the office worker might fall and suffer an injury e.g. a broken arm. Risk is the combination of the likelihood of a hazardous event occurring and the consequence of the event. Dealing with hazards: Remove the hazard, this is the best way of dealing with hazards but it is not always possible e.g. the use of chemicals in carrying out hygiene work. Avoid the hazard by not coming into contact with it. Use a workplace precaution where it is not reasonable to remove or avoid the hazard. To work safely, it is important to: Remove the hazards or avoid them completely if possible. Identify what workplace precautions are required when a hazard cannot be removed or avoided. Where workplace precautions are required, they must be maintained and used at all times. Work in ways that do not create hazards for oneself or others in the workplace. A hazard-free workplace is seldom achievable, therefore selecting and implementing the appropriate workplace precautions is critically important to reduce risks to an acceptable level. Hazards can result in Injuries, ill-health, damage or all three. Identifying hazards: This can be very simple when the hazards are obvious and common place: slippery surfaces, unstable items, moving vehicles etc, but in some other cases, identifying hazards is not a simple matter eg. radiation or work pressure. Different people identify hazards differently- this is due to different perception among people. What is perception? The way that a person views a situation. The diagram immediately below is known as the Necker Cube and illustrates how people perceive what they see differently. Where do you see the front of the cube? Is it top right or bottom left? 3

4 Risk Assessment What is Risk Assessment? An assessment of risk is nothing more than 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. A risk assessment is an analytical process that identifies hazards, who may be harmed and in what way they may be harmed. It also takes into account factors that make the risk more likely and those that make it less likely. A risk assessment is carried out to identify the risks to health and safety to any person arising out of, or in connection with, work or the conduct of their undertaking. It should identify how the risks arise and how they impact on those affected. One part of risk assessment involves deciding whether or not a hazard is a high risk. If it is decided that there is a high risk then the next step is to decide what workplace precautions are needed to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. For many of the jobs you do the risk assessments will have already been carried out and you will have been told about the workplace precautions which are needed. Employers are required by law to carry out these risk assessments as part of their duty to protect the workforce. However, in some circumstances, you may have to carry out your own risk assessment and decide on the workplace precautions for yourself. Employers should carry out risk assessments to: Meet legal requirements. Identify whether enough is being done to protect employees and others who are affected by their activities. Demonstrate good business practice. Improve business performance. Reduce costs and increase profitability of the business. Reduce the insurance premiums. Enhance the company's reputation. Five Steps to Risk Assessment The Five Steps are: 1. Identify the hazards 2. Estimate the risk 3. Evaluate the risk 4. Record your findings 5. Review your assessment When you are producing a risk assessment there is certain information that should be recorded: Details of the person(s) carrying out the risk assessment. The date and time of the assessment. Details of the location, people, equipment and activity being assessed. The hazards identified together with the risk level. Existing control measures and any additional controls and how well they work. The date for review of the assessment. 4

5 Reasonably Practicable Requirements A statutory duty which has to be carried out as far as is reasonably practicable is one where there is a risk/benefit trade off. An employer is entitled to balance costs of remedy against benefits in reduction of risk and if the benefit is minimal compared to the cost, the employer need not carry out the duty. Reasonably practicable is a narrower term than physically possible and implies that a computation must be made, in which the quantum of risk is placed on one scale and the sacrifices involved in the measures necessary for averting the risk in terms of time, money and effort are placed on the other. If it can be shown that there is a gross disproportion between them, the defendants discharge the duty on them to take that measure. This does not mean no action at all is taken to control the risk, just that a less costly and less effective measure would be used instead. Legal aspects of risk assessment The general duties of employers to their employees in section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 imply the need for risk assessment. This duty was also extended by section 3 of the Act to anybody else affected by activities of the employer visitors, contractors, customers, or members of the public. However, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations are much more specific concerning the need for risk assessment. They state: The risk assessment shall be suitable and sufficient and cover both employees and non-employees affected by the employer s undertaking (contractors, members of the public, students, patients, customers). Every self-employed person shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which they or those affected by the undertaking may be exposed. Any risk assessment shall be reviewed if there is a reason to suspect it is no longer valid or if a significant change has taken place. Where there are five or more employees, the significant findings of the assessment shall be recorded and any specifically vulnerable risk groups of employees identified. (This does not mean that employers with four or less employees need not undertake risk assessments). Let us now consider each step in the risk assessment in detail: This would involve a consideration of the activities carried out, the people who carry out those activities, the equipment used in carrying out those activities, the environment and the different locations people work in. It would help a manager to walk around their workplace and actually observe the work being done. Managers should approach this process methodically by having a list to include: A description of the locations they manage (this may necessitate drawing a sketch of the areas in question, think also about the common areas such as stairs, corridors etc.) The people who work in the area on a regular basis or on a part time or indeed ad hoc basis. Remember to consider employees who work on and off site e.g. engineers and sales representatives may spend a lot of their time travelling and therefore not have a fixed workplace. Other people that you need to take into account are visitors, contractors, members of the public, young workers, trainees, expectant mothers who may have specific needs and even trespassers. Permanent and temporary pieces of equipment and substances used at the location. Managers need to plan, co-ordinate and share the risk assessments depending on their individual areas of responsibilities and departments. Remember that some of the equipment may be shared between different departments and therefore the responsibility for carrying out the risk assessments for such equipment needs to be clearly understood by all the managers. 5

6 Activities carried out at different locations. This may be a factor to consider if you happen to have responsibilities for more than one location. Some activities may be carried out differently at different locations e.g. a particular work activity may be fully automated in one location, but carried out manually at another location. Step 1: Identify the hazards How will you identify the hazards? This would involve a consideration of the activities carried out, the people who carry out those activities, the equipment used in carrying out those activities, the environment and the different locations people work in. It would help a manager to walk around their workplace and actually observe the work being done. Managers should approach this process methodically by having a list to include: A description of the locations they manage (this may necessitate drawing a sketch of the areas in question, think also about the common areas such as stairs, corridors etc.) The people who work in the area on a regular basis or on a part time or indeed ad hoc basis. Remember to consider employees who work on and off site e.g. engineers and sales representatives may spend a lot of their time travelling and therefore not have a fixed workplace. Other people that you need to take into account are visitors, contractors, members of the public, young workers, trainees, expectant mothers who may have specific needs and even trespassers. Permanent and temporary pieces of equipment and substances used at the location. Managers need to plan, co-ordinate and share the risk assessments depending on their individual areas of responsibilities and departments. Remember that some of the equipment may be shared between different departments and therefore the responsibility for carrying out the risk assessments for such equipment needs to be clearly understood by all the managers. Activities carried out at different locations. This may be a factor to consider if you happen to have responsibilities for more than one location. Some activities may be carried out differently at different locations e.g. a particular work activity may be fully automated in one location, but carried out manually at another location Communicate with your employees and their representatives. They will have a lot of first hand experience with the work activities and would be a very important source of knowledge for identifying hazards. Observe the physical layout of each location and the activities being carried out; pay particular attention to the amount of space available in relation to the number of staff and volume of activities being carried out. Examine relevant company records: accident records, manufacturer s instructions and Materials Safety Data Sheets. Thoroughly familiarise yourself with your areas, especially if hazardous substances or electricity are an integral part of the work activities that your staff are involved in. Step 2: Estimate the risk How likely it is that something could go wrong. How serious the outcome [consequence/severity] could be. You might find the simple example of a window cleaner using a ladder to clean the windows of a three storey high building a useful scenario. How likely is it that he could fall? To assess this, the following should be considered: The overall condition of the ladder The stability of the ladder The condition of the rungs The use of appropriate footwear The level of lighting available Let us use a three point scale for likelihood of a fall: 1. Low (1): It is unlikely that the event (accident) will happen 2. Medium (2): It is fairly likely that the event (accident) may happen. 3. High (3): If it is likely that the event (accident) will happen. Now using the same method, let us consider the factors that would impact the outcome (severity/ consequence) of the event: 6

7 The height of the fall Is there anything to help stop / prevent the fall? What the person falls onto i.e. solid or soft surface Once all relevant factors have been considered, the severity of the fall can be ranked using the three point scale: 1. Low (1): Minor injuries requiring first aid e.g. minor cuts 2. Medium (2): An injury requiring further medical assistance e.g. broken bones 3. High (3): Major injuries e.g. broken back or a fatality Now you have enough information to estimate the level of risk involved: Low risk, medium risk or high risk. Risk = Likelihood x Consequence (severity). Let us now consider the window cleaner scenario again: If we assume that the ladder is secure and in a very good condition, then we ll rank the likelihood as low (1), and if the window cleaner falls from the lowest rungs of the ladder, then the injuries are not going to be severe, so the seriousness might be low (1) for the lower rungs, and high (3) for the upper rungs. The two levels of risk for the above are: 1 x 1= 1 and 1 x 3 = 3 Now assume in a different situation the ladder is in a poor state of repair, not secure and placed on uneven ground. So now we can rank the likelihood of falling from the ladder as high (3), and similarly, the seriousness of the fall could be between low (1) to high (3) depending on high above ground the window cleaner is. The two levels of risk now are: 3 x 1 = 3 and 3 x3 = 9 Step 3: Evaluate the risk We have estimated the risk and calculated the risk level. What should we do with the information? Generally speaking, the higher the risk level, the more serious the risk is and the more likely action will have to be taken. To make matters easier to determine the urgency of the action, we need to allocate an action level to each level of risk. 7

8 LIKELIHOOD 6-9 Unacceptable: Take immediate action. 3-4 Tolerable: Look at ways of improvement. 1-2 Acceptable: No further action, but ensure controls are maintained. The above method is known as the RISK MATRIX. Based on the same principle, we can use a five point scale to estimate likelihood and consequence (severity), with five descriptions for likelihood and five for consequence. Likelihood could be ranked as: 1. Very unlikely There is a 1 in a million chance of the hazardous event happening. 2. Unlikely There is a 1 in 100,000 chance of the hazardous event happening. 3. Fairly likely There is a 1 in 10,000 chance of the hazardous event happening. 4. Likely There is a 1 in 1,000 chance of the hazardous event happening. 5. Very likely There is a 1 in 100 chance of the hazardous event happening. Consequence would be ranked as: 1. Insignificant No injury. 2. Minor injuries Needing first aid. 3. Moderate Up to three days absence. 4. Major More than three days absence. 5. Catastrophic Death. In the 5 x 5 matrix, the action levels would be: LIKELIHOOD Unacceptable Stop activity and make immediate improvements Tolerable Aim to improve within a specified timescale. 5-9 Adequate Aim to improve at next review. 1-4 Acceptable No further action, but ensure controls are maintained. It is important to remember that risk estimation techniques and action levels will vary from one organisation to another, depending on the complexity of the work processes and activities i.e. the more complex the process, the more advanced the risk assessment is likely to be. 8

9 Step 4: Record your findings Significant findings must be recorded either electronically or as a hard copy, or both as back up. This is a legal requirement if your organisation employs five or more people. The following information should be included in your record of the risk assessment: Details of the person carrying out the risk assessment The date and time of the assessment Details of the location, people, equipment and work activity being assessed The hazards that have been identified together with the risk level Existing control measures and how effective they are The review date of the risk assessment Step 5: Review your assessment The risk assessment should be periodically reviewed and updated, and in addition, a review of the risk assessments should be carried out following any significant changes in the workplace. The following are examples of circumstances that would necessitate the review of the validity of the risk assessment: When the results of monitoring (accidents, ill-health effects, environmental) are adverse and not what has been expected Changes in legislation The introduction of significant new plant, equipment or technology A significant change in process or work patterns i.e. the introduction of shift system Significant change in personnel New information becoming available As time passes the risk assessment should be reviewed and updated. The validity of risk assessments should be monitored through a combination of monitoring techniques such as: Safety audits Occupational health surveys Safety tours and inspections Preventive maintenance inspections Safety representative/committee inspections Statutory and maintenance scheme inspections, tests and examinations Risk assessments should be suitable and sufficient. A suitable and sufficient risk assessment should: Identify the significant hazards and the significant risks associated with them Identify the people who may be affected by the hazards. Identify and prioritise measures required to comply with any relevant statutory provisions Remain valid to the nature of the work and valid over a reasonable period of time It should be carried out by a competent person. The level of risk and complexity of the work activities should be the determining factors of the level of detail in the risk assessment. 9