DW Module 2
DW Module 2
DW Module 2
Assessing risks
Notes:
What is risk?
Risk is part of everyone’s life – we can’t avoid risks but we can put things in place to
manage them effectively.
Can you remember, for example, when you first learned to drive? Perhaps you were
looking forward to your first lesson because you were eager to become independent. On
the other hand, you might have been a bit apprehensive about getting behind the wheel for
the first time. Either way, learning to drive involves a degree of risk. Because you were
learning, you’d have had a qualified instructor sitting next to you, so the risk would have
been well managed.
Learning to drive helped you learn to manage risks for yourself, as well as giving you a
skill.
There’ll always be a small risk in taking driving lessons, but without it you’ll never learn to
drive – a skill which you’re likely to use throughout your life.
15
So what do we really mean by risk?
If you decided to do nothing about the roof, and one night it did rain, the extent of the
damage would depend on the contents of the warehouse and their value.
Notes:
16
Basic terms that apply to risk assessment
In order to ensure a safe working environment, you need to understand the definition of
risk and be able to estimate it, evaluate it and take action if necessary. Before we work our
way through this process, let’s take a look at the basic terms that apply to risk assessment.
A hazard is anything that has the potential to cause harm. This could be something as
specialised as a piece of complicated machinery, or as commonplace as a cup of coffee. If
it could be harmful in any way, then it’s a hazard.
Suppose there’s a hole in the ground. The hole (the hazard) by itself
isn’t causing any harm, but if someone tripped over it (the hazardous
event) then it’d become harmful.
Risk is the combination of the likelihood of a hazardous event occurring and the
consequence of the event.
We’ll use this definition of risk throughout this course. Consequence is also sometimes
referred to as severity – these terms may be used interchangeably.
17
What is a risk assessment?
Risk assessment is a means of making sure that the most serious workplace risks are
managed by cost-effective control measures. Assessing risks allows you to prioritise the
action you take to control them. In this module, we discuss how to assess risk. In Module
3, we’ll look at ways of controlling risk.
Put simply, a risk assessment is a careful examination of anything in your workplace that
could cause people to suffer injury or ill health while they’re at work.
Risk assessment is about deciding who might be harmed and then judging how likely it is
that something will go wrong, and how serious the consequences could be. Once you’ve
worked out what the risks are and how significant they are, you can concentrate on cutting
them out – or at least controlling them.
• You don’t have to carry out the assessments yourself – if you’re not confident, get
help from someone who is appropriately qualified and trained and knows about
what they’re assessing. But remember, you’re responsible for seeing that it’s
adequately done.
• It’s always a good idea to involve other people in the risk assessment process –
particularly the person whose job you’re assessing. They may have noticed things
which aren’t immediately obvious to you. By involving your staff, you’re also helping
them to think about what could go wrong and how to avoid problems.
Notes:
18
A risk assessment enables you to:
Remember, accidents and ill health can have a devastating effect – they can ruin lives
and your business.
Notes:
19
Case study 1
A nurse, who had a long history of back complaints, was required to do work involving
heavy manual handling of patients. She wasn’t sent to the occupational health
department to assess her fitness. The work aggravated her injuries and resulted in
surgery and retirement on grounds of ill health. She claimed compensation from her
employers and was awarded £16,000. The judgment recognised the failure of the
employer to carry out a manual handling risk assessment.
Case study 2
A kitchen designer and manufacturer felt that he wasn’t realising the full potential of
the workforce – he wanted to get them more involved in all aspects of the business.
Weekly meetings now cover everything, including risks! The business owner
commented: ‘Since we’ve been talking about risk, we’re more aware of potential
hazards… in 16 months we haven’t had a single injury.’
Case study 3
A company providing services to the travel industry assessed the risks of its shrink-
wrapping facilities. As a result, it was able to reduce the risk of manual handling
injuries to employees, get staff involved with risk assessment and develop business
processes. The company is now aiming for quality management certification and also
targeting bigger customers, who expect to see proof that their suppliers are taking
health and safety seriously.
Workplace accidents and ill-health cost society up to £31 billion every year
(Health and Safety Executive 2004).
20
How do we carry out risk assessments?
Stage 2: identify the risks – what are the hazards, who might be harmed and how?
21
Stage 1. Make a list of the work tasks that are your responsibility
Anything in your workplace that you manage – the activities that take place, the people
involved in those activities, the equipment they use and the different locations they work in
– can be a hazard in some circumstances.
That’s why it’s essential that you make a list of everything you manage. The best way to
do this is to walk around the workplace and see for yourself what’s going on. If you don’t
do this, it’s possible that a hazard could be overlooked and therefore not included in the
risk assessment.
Notes:
22
b) The people who work in the area on a regular
basis or from time to time
Notes:
23
d) Activities carried out at different locations
To record this information, you can use a work tasks list similar to the one on page 38.
Notes:
24
Stage 2: Identify the risks – what are the hazards, who might be harmed and how?
Now that you’ve completed your work tasks list, you can identify the risks – to do this you
need to know what the hazards are, who might be harmed and how.
• observe the physical layout at each location and the activities being carried out. For
example, do people have enough space to work comfortably without being
unnecessarily at risk?
• speak to your staff and their representatives, if they have any, and find out whether
they consider anything in the workplace to be a hazard – they may have noticed
something which isn’t obvious to you
• read up on hazards relevant to your area. For example, do any of your staff have to
work with hazardous chemicals or electricity? If they do, both you and your staff should
have some knowledge of these topics.
To record this information, you can use a hazard checklist like the one on page 39.
Notes:
25
Stage 3: Estimate the risk
Now that you’ve identified what the hazards are, you’ll need to weigh up how serious each
risk is.
Consider the situation where window cleaners from a small local firm are using a ladder to
clean windows on a three-storey block of flats during their monthly window-cleaning round.
How likely is it that they could fall? To assess this, you need to consider a number of
factors, such as:
When you’ve considered all relevant factors, you can rank the likelihood of the fall. You’ll
find it helpful to do this by using a three-point scale:
Medium (2): if it’s fairly likely that the event may happen
26
Did you know…?
Notes:
27
Now that you’ve calculated the likelihood of the fall, you need to do the same for the
consequence.
If a window cleaner were to fall off the ladder, what would the likely outcome be? Again,
you need to consider a number of factors, such as:
When you’ve considered all relevant factors, you can rank the seriousness of the fall.
Again, you’ll find it helpful to do this by using a three-point scale:
We might decide that it’s unlikely that the window cleaner will fall because the ladder is
robust and secure, so we’ll rank the likelihood as low (1). We might also decide that if the
window cleaner were to fall from the lowest rungs of the ladder the injuries might not be so
severe as if she fell from the upper rungs of the ladder – so the seriousness might be low
(1) for the lower rungs and high (3) for the upper rungs.
For the two outcomes we’ve just described, we have two levels of risk:
1 x 1 = 1 and 1 x 3 = 3
Suppose in another situation the ladder is in poor shape, not secure and on uneven
ground. So this time we rank the likelihood of falling from the ladder as high (3). Again, as
above, the seriousness of the fall could range from low (1) to high (3). So we have two
levels of risk:
3 x 1 = 3 and 3 x 3 = 9
28
Did you know…?
In 2008/09, 1.2 million people who had worked in the last 12 months were
suffering from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by work.
Taking account of people who have worked at any time, not just the last 12
months, the figure is much larger. (Health and Safety Executive,2009)
Notes:
29
Stage 4: Evaluate the risk
OK, so now you’ve estimated the risk and worked out your risk level – what are you going
to do about it?
Usually, the higher the risk level, the more serious the risk is and the more likely you’ll
need to take action. To make it easier to decide on the urgency of the action, you can
allocate an action level to each level of risk.
This way of estimating and evaluating risk is called the ‘risk matrix’ approach – it’s a
commonly used tool.
30
Notes:
31
You can also use a five-point scale to estimate likelihood and consequence, with five
descriptions for likelihood and five for consequence.
1) Insignificant - no injury
5) Catastrophic – death.
This approach has the advantage over the three-point scale of giving a better definition of
the medium risk area.
Notes:
32
In the case of the 5 x 5 matrix, the actions levels might be:
Risk estimation techniques and action levels will vary from company to company.
Remember, there are several ways to do a risk assessment. It is important that you use
the most appropriate method for your situation. Usually, complex processes require more
advanced methods.
Find out how risk estimation and evaluation takes place in your organisation. If
it’s necessary for you to take action, you’ll need to decide what to do to reduce
the risk.
In Module 3, we’ll discuss the different ways of reducing risk that are available to you.
It’s important to remember that there’s never a zero risk rating as there’s always a chance
of something happening. Also, once you’ve done something to reduce the risk, you’ll need
to estimate and evaluate the risk again to see whether you’ve done enough.
33
Stage 5: Record your findings
In Module 3, we’ll discuss the steps you need to take to control risks.
34
Did you know…?
180 people were killed at work in 2008/09 (Health and Safety Executive 2009).
Notes:
35
Getting it right
Risk assessment is a simple process, but here are some tips to make sure you do it well.
• Make sure your assessment is suitable and sufficient. Have you got the right
information and are you using the right people and techniques? Sometimes you may
need to seek advice from someone with specialist knowledge in a particular area, such
as chemicals.
• Risk assessment involves making a judgment about risk – clearly this isn’t an exact
science. However, ensuring the quality of the information you use to estimate likelihood
and consequence helps to reduce the subjectivity. For example, use relevant accident
and incident data.
• It’s essential to involve the people whose activities you’re assessing. You may think
you know how a job is done – they really know how it’s done.
• Make sure your risk assessments are relevant to the local situation at your site. A risk
assessment done somewhere else for an activity that also takes place on your site is
not necessarily valid for your circumstances. You’ll need to modify it to fit your situation.
For example, different equipment may be used at different sites for the same task, and
this may affect the risk.
• Where people work alone or encounter an unpredictable event, such as a new kind of
machinery breakdown, they may have to do an ‘on-the-spot’ risk assessment to fit the
new circumstances. As a manager, you should consider how competent your staff are
to undertake such roles and assess these risks.
Notes:
36
Summary
1. Risk is…
37
38
39
40