Learner Guide to Principles of Risk Assessment

Transcription

1 ŀ Learner Guide to Principles of Risk Assessment This resource is intended as both a study guide and reference book for learners intending to undertake the Level 2 Award in the Principles of Risk Assessment

2 Contents Introduction 1. Health and safety in the workplace page 3 2. Legislation page The principles of risk assessment page15 Appendix page 23 i. Risk matrix ii. Risk rating iii. Sample risk assessment iv. Level 2 sample questions Page1

3 Introduction What is risk assessment? A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control measures. Accidents and ill health can ruin lives and affect your business if output is lost, machinery is damaged, insurance costs increase or you have to go to court. You are legally required to assess the risks in your workplace so you must put plans in place to control risks. A risk assessment is an important step in protecting your workers and your business, as well as complying with the law. It helps you focus on the risks that really matter in your workplace the ones with the potential to cause harm. In many instances, straightforward measures can readily control risks, for example, ensuring spillages are cleaned up promptly so people do not slip or cupboard drawers kept closed to ensure people do not trip. For most, that means simple, cheap and effective measures to ensure your most valuable asset your workforce is protected. Health and Safety Executive 2010 Page2

4 Chapter 1 Health and safety in the workplace Page3

5 The Moral, Legal and Financial Reasons for Health and Safety Both the employer and employee have a common law duty of care to each other and to other employees. This includes exercising reasonable care in order to protect others from the risks of foreseeable injury, death at work or health problems. Every employer must provide a safe workplace. This means that, if an employer is aware of a health and safety risk to employees, or ought to have known of its existence (in the light of current knowledge at the time), he will be liable if an employee is injured, killed or suffers illness as a result of the risk and he (the employer) has failed to take reasonable steps to avoid it happening. Employees have the right to the provision of a safe workplace, as implied by the employer's duty of care, but there are also expectations placed on them to exercise reasonable care in their own actions at work. This means that they must behave in a manner which does not jeopardise their own, or others', health and safety, including co-operating with the employer in the use of safe working practices as provided. Definitions Occupational health and safety the safety and health of people in relation to work, working and the working environment Accident an unplanned and uncontrolled event leading to harm or damage Near miss an event or situation which did not result in harm or damage but nearly did, in time or distance Hazard something with the potential to cause harm Risk the likelihood that harm will occur, the degree of harm and the number of people affected Control measure something (a control) that prevents or reduces a risk Page4

6 Work-related accidents and ill health Work related accidents and ill health result in costs for employees, employers and society. Good health and safety standards benefit employers, employees and society. Costs to employees include Loss of earnings due to sickness Pain and physical suffering endured Reduced quality of life as a result of injury Loss of pension and other entitlements Page5

7 Costs to employers include Sick pay, overtime, temporary labour Damage or loss of product, raw materials and equipment Lost production Loss of revenue and profit Fines and legal costs Loss of business reputation Loss of contracts Costs to society include Medical and rehabilitation costs Loss of tax revenue Investigation and legal costs Payment of incapacity benefits Page6

8 The need for reporting The legal requirement governing the reporting of work related accidents and incidents is the, Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 known as RIDDOR RIDDOR establishes five main types of work related accidents and incidents: Work-related deaths Major injuries Over seven day injuries (from April 2012) Work-related diseases Dangerous occurrences (near misses) The reporting, investigation and monitoring of health and safety lapses can drive the following benefits: Prevent recurrence Identifying risks Indentifying trends Learning lessons Page7

9 The accident triangle The accident triangle shows the relationship between serious accidents and less serious accidents. The triangle shows that for each fatality there are a larger number of accidents resulting in injuries. For each accident resulting in injures there are many accidents resulting in less serious injures and near misses. For each less serious accident or near miss there are a much greater number of unsafe actions and conditions. Fatality 30 Injuries (non-disabling) 300 First aid and near miss 30,000 Unsafe actions and conditions So, near misses and minor accident reporting plays a key role in identifying more serious risks and helping to prevent major accidents Page8

10 Factors affecting health and safety There are four main groups of factors that affect health and safety: 1. Occupational Type of work Occupational risks Risks caused by equipment and machinery Need for protective clothing or equipment. 2. Organisational Management attitude to health and safety Effectiveness of health and safety systems The existence of a health and safety policy Provision of health and safety training. 3. Environmental Temperature (hot and cold) Ventilation Noise Dust or fumes Light (too bright or too dark) 4. Human The health of the individual Behaviour Fatigue Competence Training (job or task training) Page9

11 Chapter 2 Legislation Employer Employee Page10

12 The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 Health and safety in the workplace is governed by the The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 also referred to as HASAW or HSW is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in the United Kingdom. The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for enforcing the Act and a number of other Acts and Statutory Instruments relevant to the working environment The Act requires employers to protect, so far that is reasonably practicable, the heath safety and welfare of all employees. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 places a duty on employers to assess and manage risks to their employees and others arising from work activities. Employers must also make arrangements to ensure the health and safety of the workplace, including making arrangements for emergencies, adequate information and training for employees and for health surveillance where appropriate. Employees must work safely in accordance with their training and instructions given to them. Employees must also notify the employer or the person responsible for health and safety of any serious or immediate danger to health and safety or any shortcoming in health and safety arrangements. The main requirement on employers is to carry out a risk assessment. Employers with five or more employees need to record the significant findings of the risk assessment. Page11

13 The Management Regulations lay down principles of prevention: Principles of Prevention When assessing work activities, the principles of prevention should be applied. Avoid risks. Evaluate the risks that cannot be avoided Tackle the risks at source Adapt the workplace to the individual, especially as regards the design of workplaces, the choice of work equipment and the choice of working and production methods with a view, in particular, to alleviating monotonous work and work at a predetermined work-rate and to reduce their effect on work Adapt the workplace to technical progress. Replace dangerous by the non-dangerous or the less dangerous Develop a coherent overall prevention policy which covers technology, organisation of work, working conditions, social relationships and the influence of factors relating to the work environment Prioritise collective protective measures over individual protective measures Give appropriate instructions to employees Page12

14 The Management Regulations require specific risk assessment for:- Hazardous substances Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Manual handling Noise Vibration Working at height Page13

15 Enforcement Health and safety legislation is enforced by Health and safety Executive and local authority enforcement officers Enforcement officers have a range of powers to enforce the law including, Entry into work premises Inspection and investigation Taking samples Serving prohibition orders and improvement notices Securing premises Health and safety offences are punishable in the criminal courts by fines or imprisonment. Page14

16 Chapter 3 The principles of risk assessment Why carry out risk assessments? A risk assessment is an important tool in protecting employees and businesses. It helps focus on those risks that have the potential to cause harm. Most of these can be readily controlled by straightforward measures. Risk assessments are intended to brining about improvement to health and safety standards and reduce the risk of harm, which in turn will reduce fatalities, injuries and ill-health. The controls arrived at from the process of risk assessment should be viewed as a business imperative with the potential to reduce losses in turn saving the business money. Risk assessments must be suitable and sufficient Suitable & sufficient -this term is not defined in legislation but a dictionary definition gives us: Suitable proper, appropriate, fit, appropriate to circumstances Sufficient enough to meet a need or purpose, provide adequate rigour in identifying risk Page15

17 In order to be suitable and sufficient a risk assessment must: clearly identify the risk provide detail proportionate to the risk (insignificant risk and day-to-day life risks can be ignored) be based on specialist advice if the risks increase or are more specialised consider others including visitors, contractors, customers and part time or temporary workers and those such as night staff who may work with few people around indicate how long the risk assessment remains valid provide details of the evidence on which it is based Sources of information Sources of information and guidance, both internal and external must be used to ensure the risk assessment is: Current (up to date) Relevant and appropriate to the business or situation Authoritative and reliable. Page16

18 Process of risk assessment The risk assessment cycle or process 1. Identify the hazard 2. Identify who might be harmed and how 5. Review assessments and update if necessary 3. Evaluate the risk and decide on controls or precautions 4. Record findings and implement them Don t overcomplicate the process. In many organisations, the risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply. You probably already know whether, for example, you have employees who move heavy loads and so could harm their backs, or where people are most likely to slip or trip. If so, check that you have taken reasonable precautions to avoid injury. Ref HSE Page17

19 Evaluation of risk Once you have identified the hazards, you need to decide what to do about them. You should think about what controls you already have in place, and how the work is organised. You should then consider if there is anything more you should be doing. Risk can be evaluated through: Observation Analysing accident and health trends Staff consultation Using existing research Creating a simple risk rating chart Evaluation is an essential stage of the effective risk reduction process. Evaluation helps to identify priorities as well as to dismiss unimportant risks, allowing for greater attention to be placed on higher level more significant risks. Page18

20 Principles of control General principles of control avoid risk altogether if possible evaluate the risks that cannot be avoided combat risks at source adapt the work to the individual take advantage of technological and technical advances implement a risk prevention strategy give priority to measures which protect the whole workforce ensure that workers are competent to do their tasks promote a positive health and safety culture in the organisation Page19

21 Common control measures Common control measures include providing proper induction for new workers placing signs and notices arranging training, information and instruction ensuring supervision providing protective equipment and clothing providing safe means of access and egress providing first aid facilities providing welfare facilities having a safety policy and safety systems of work Page20

22 Recording, monitoring and revision Recording, monitoring and revising risk assessments helps to ensure that they remain relevant and suitable and sufficient. Risk assessment forms an important part of monitoring in any health and safety management systems The law requires a review of risk assessments under certain circumstances: When the risk assessment is no longer valid or suspected to be no longer valid Due to significant changes in the matters to which it relates Competency A risk assessment should only be carried out by a competent person Competent Person Every employer should appoint one or more competent persons to assist in managing risk. Such persons shall be regarded as comptent where they have sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualtities to properly assist the employer. The competent person may be an employee or a person external to the business, e.g. a consultant. ENTO National occupational standards HSS6 is the national standard for competence in risk assessment Page21

23 Specialist risk assessments In certain circumstances a specialist risk assessment may be required, in particular where the risks are technical or in certain highly specialised industries: the nuclear industry jobs involving electricity or gas jobs involving hazardous chemicals mining diving working on an oil rig working at height manual handling tasks working under stress slip test, noise assessments or display screen equipment may require specialist analysis Page22

24 Appendix The risk matrix Although this is a simple matrix the method involves giving a numerical value to each factor and then using the matrix to determine the level of risk. The potential severity of the hazard from slightly harmful (1) to extremely harmful (3) is set against the likelihood of harm occurring highly unlikely (1) to likely (3). The factors are them multiplied to give a range of risks from trivial (1) intolerable (9). Page23

25 Risk rating chart The use of a risk rating chart allows for a hazard to be rated alongside the risk to arrive at a risk rating that can be used to inform action Page24

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29 Learner Guide to Principles and Practise of Risk Assessment Page28

30 Learner Guide to Principles and Practise of Risk Assessment Level 2 sample questions Page29

31 Notes All learner guides from Acumen Training and Development Ltd are intended solely for educational purposes. The author, company and associates thereof do not offer as legal, or other professional services advice. While best efforts have been used in preparing this guide, the author, company and associates make no representations of any kind and assume no liabilities of any kind with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents and specifically disclaim any implied fitness of use for a particular purpose. Neither the author, company or associates shall be held liable or responsible to any person or entity with respect to any loss or incidental or consequential damages caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information or programs contained herein. Version 3 released May 2013 Page30