A guide to risk assessment in the workplace

Posted by Paul Inch on April 28, 2011 under Personal Injury | Be the First to Comment

Risk assessment is important as it ensures that staff members and customers in the workplace are kept safe at all times. The authorities in health and safety set out regulations and risk assessment also checks that the workplace complies with these regulations. If a situation was to arise where a

business owner might be found liable for an accident, a workplace risk assessment will help cover them as any potential hazards should be eliminated.

Firstly potential risks need to be discovered. By walking around a workplace and carrying out jobs and situations which employees and customers might come across it helps to expose any potential accidents. This could be things such as trip hazards, exposed sharp edges, open machinery, hazardous liquids or even something as simple as a wet floor.

Some potential risks can be completely eliminated by keeping a workplace clear and tidy however some risks are unavoidable. Unavoidable risks can still have precautions placed on them to minimize the chance of them happening. Identifying the person who is at risk is the next step as this can help to minimize the chance of an accident occurring. An unavoidable risk such as open machinery can be minimized by the person who operates it wearing protective clothing and having accessible emergency stop buttons for example.

The next step is to take the necessary precautions after the risks and the people who are at risk have been identified. For example is there a chemical which is less hazardous but does the same job if chemicals are used? To eliminate any chance of human contact can open machines have a safety guard added so that no moving parts are exposed? Can steel toe cap boots, protective goggles and other protective clothing be worn?

The final step is after a certain period of time the risk assessment should be checked and reviewed to make sure the precautions taken are still in place. As well as checking changes already made in the last assessment, the review should show if there are any new risks which have developed too.

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