Carrying Out a Risk Assessment

It is compulsory for all businesses to carry out a risk assessment on their premises to ensure that all the necessary precautions are in place. A risk assessment looks at what might cause harm to people and assesses whether you've done enough to protect people and the environment from the risk of an accident occurring.

There are 5 main steps you should take:

• Look for the hazards - things that might cause slips, trips and falls, working at height, exposure to hazardous substances, fire, explosion, high noise levels and moving vehicles. These are just a few examples
• Determine who might get harmed and in what way
• Consider the risks and decide if adequate provisions are in place to prevent accidents occurring or whether additional precautions need to be put in place
• Record your findings
• Review your risk assessment policy from time to time and update it of necessary, especially if new hazards are introduced to the workplace

If you have 5 or more people working at your premises, you must put your risk assessment in writing. However, even if you have fewer people on your premises, all businesses, no matter how big or small, are required by law to carry out and maintain regular risk assessments.

Conducting regular risk assessments may cost more in the short-term, as you spend money to improve conditions, but you will protect yourself from the risk of fines or being sued by an employee or member of the public who might visit your premises.

If your business has relatively few risks, you can carry out the assessment yourself but if you have more complicated requirements, you may want to seek help from a safety specialist or environmental consultant.

Common Hazards in The Workplace

Different working environments can pose different hazards but some of the most common ones include a trailing cable, worn carpet, exposed wiring, i.e. things that can be easily spotted. It can be something more general like poor lighting or something specific to your business such as hazardous substances you might use. Other hazards are not so identifiable but must be dealt with just the same, e.g. a slippery surface.

You should try and compartmentalise each hazard and put each one into groups which will enable you to identify most hazards that are prevalent in the workplace. They should be grouped by workplace hazards - such as a workshop's layout, activity hazards - such as using a milling machine in your workshop and environmental hazards - such as the dust and fumes that are given off when using certain items of industrial machinery.

How to Spot Hazards

Walk around your business premises and see if you can spot any potential hazards. It's not just about looking for them however. You should talk to your staff who may be more aware of potential hazards than you. Look at safety data sheets and manufacturers' instructions to identify potential problem areas and examine health records and the accident book to identify existing problem areas.

Evaluating The Risks

Once you've identified potential hazards, you must determine the likelihood of each specific hazard causing harm. You'll need to prioritise each hazard and decide whether the risk of each is low, medium or high. If you decide the risk of a specific hazard causing harm is low, then your existing precautions are probably adequate. If you decide it is medium or high, you should consider taking immediate steps to reduce the risks.

Taking Steps to Control The Risks

Ideally, you should be looking to eliminate all risks you have discovered whilst carrying out the assessment. This might include replacing old cabling, substituting hazardous substances for less harmful ones, instigating pollution controls, changing lighting and the layout of the workplace. However, it is understandable that not all risks can be completely eradicated. The law states, however, that you should have taken all reasonable measures to eliminate or reduce the risks.

These are just some of the practical steps you might wish to consider although there are many more. Apart from practical action, you may also want to think about changing behaviour and work practices, improving communication in the workplace to encourage more discussion between employees and their managers about potential risks, develop better training procedures and perhaps find key licenses and regulations specific to your business environment.

For more details on how to carry out a full risk assessment of your workplace, visit the Health & Safety Executive's (HSE) website.