Workplace Risk Assessment Basics

• Risk assessment is a systematic approach to identify hazards, evaluate risk, and incorporate measures for managing and mitigating risk in work processes.

Concepts of Hazard and Risk

• A hazard is the potential for something to cause harm and is an intrinsic property.
• Risk is the likelihood of that hazard causing harm.
• Risk = Likelihood of an event (probability) X Severity of outcome.

Risk Assessment Purpose

• To determine if existing control measures are adequate.
• Aim to prevent injuries and illnesses when implemented early in the design or planning phase.
• Prioritize hazards and control methodologies.

Conducting a Risk Assessment

• Assessments should be done by a competent team.
• Knowledgeable about the workplace.
• Inclusion of staff, supervisors, and workers.
• Need to include people that are unfamiliar with the area of work.

Steps for Risk Assessment

• Identify hazards.
• Evaluate the likelihood of injury or illness and evaluate its severity.
• Consider standard and non-standard operational events like shutdowns and emergencies.
• Review available health and safety information (MSDS, manufacturer data, reputed organization information, and test results).
• Identify actions to eliminate or control the risks.
• Monitor and re-evaluate to confirm risk control.
• Keep required documentation.

Factors to consider when doing assessments

• Methods and procedures used in processing, use, handling, or storage.
• Actual and potential exposure of workers.
• Engineering controls, work practices, hygiene practices and available facilities.

Hazard Identification

• Identification can happen with experience, testing and or analysis
• Experience: personal, corporate, accident records, standard organizations, insurance companies, discussions.
• Testing involves measuring performance, observing and recording actions and examination of equipment.
• Careful study of system components is needed for analysis; deductive and inductive reasoning can be used.
• Ask for the ten most hazardous processes, use Pareto's principle (20/80 rule) to select and analyze.

Hazard Analysis Techniques

• Preliminary hazard analysis.
• Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA).
• Hazard and operability studies.
• Fault tree analysis.

Prioritizing Risks

• Ranking or prioritizing aids in determining the most serious hazards and what needs controlling first.
• Priority is established by taking in account employee exposure and potential for injury or illness.
• Assigning a priority to the hazards, creates a ranking or an action list.
• Factors include: the percentage of workforce exposed, the frequency of exposure, degree of harm, and probability of occurrence.

Options to Rank or Prioritize Risks

• Use very low, low, medium and high risk acceptability .A very high risk is unacceptable and if legal requirements are not complied with, risk cannot be acceptable.

Review Triggers

• Starting a new project
• Change in the work process or flow.
• Change or addition to tools, equipment, or machinery.
• New employees taking over work.
• Moving location.
• Introduction of new chemicals or substances.
• New information about a current product.

Characteristics of Risk Assessment

• Suitable, it should take into account the severity of well known hazards in the activity or the business, refer to concrete findings found on site.
• Systematic, it should follow a good methodology.
• Sufficiency, it should have prioritized measures to improve occupational health and safety.

Controls Procedures

• Administrative Controls & Procedures to Remove or reduce the exposure
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) to create a barrier
• Interim measures should be taken if the risk can not be engineered or managed right away.

Hierarchy of Controls (Most to Least Effective)

• Elimination
• Substitution
• Engineering Controls
• Administrative Controls
• PPE

Principle of Crocodile

• Identify the risk
• Evaluate the risk
• Eliminate the risk
• Substitute the risk
• Isolate the risk
• Use personal protective equipment
• Run Away