2.4 Getting It Right

Risk assessment is a simple process, but follow these basic rules:

• Make it suitable and sufficient. Do you have the right information, people and techniques? Sometimes you need a specialist, for example for chemicals.
• Reduce the guesswork. Risk assessment is a judgement, not an exact science. Use good information, such as accident and incident data.
• Involve the people who do the job. You may think you know how a job is done, but the people who do it know best.
• Make it fit your site. An assessment done elsewhere for the same activity may not be valid for you, because equipment and conditions differ.
• Plan for the unexpected. People who work alone or meet an unpredictable event, such as a new kind of machine breakdown, may need to make a dynamic risk assessment on the spot. Think about how competent your people are to do this.

Summary

1. Risk is the combination of the likelihood of a hazardous event and its consequence.
2. A risk assessment is a careful examination of what in your workplace could cause harm, so that you can decide what to do about it.
3. The five steps are: identify the hazards, estimate the risk, evaluate the risk, record the findings and review them.

Risk Assessment Form

A form like this one records each hazard, who might be harmed, the existing controls and the rating before and after additional controls.

A study aid, not published or endorsed by IOSH or OSHA. Laws and limits differ between countries.