Risk assessment and hazard identification will help organisations recognise and control the inherent hazards in their workplace in addition to creating awareness amongst their employees. Think about it, without a risk assessment, even dangerous hazards may go unnoticed in your workplace. The worst thing about that is sometimes such hazards or inherent risks have ready-made solutions available in the market, but without a risk assessment, you are exposing everyone to needless or unnecessary harm. In fact, as ISO consultants, we can assist you with your risk assessment, allowing you to remain as updated as possible. In this article, we will explain the hazard identification and risk assessment procedure. 

what is risk assessment

 

What is risk assessment?

The simplest definition of risk assessment is that it is a careful evaluation of what can potentially cause harm to people, keeping in mind the line of your work, and industry prevalent risks. The goal of risk assessment is more than preventing individuals from getting hurt or becoming ill, it is to ensure that the workplace remains safe for function. Therefore, conducting risk assessments can help you reap benefits such as improved employee confidence, lower insurance premiums, and of course, safer work environment. Additionally, organisations are legally required to assess the presence of risks in their workplace.

There are different types of risk assessment processes, where some are more task oriented, such as Display Screen Equipment (DSE) risk assessment, whereas others are quantitative, calculating values from specific discipline-related metrics. Therefore, it becomes important to decide upon the type of risk assessment procedure that will help you identify all significant hazards and place satisfactory precautions by weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

The ISO 45001 audit checklist can be used as a guideline to set up your company’s own Occupational Health and Safety System. The scope of Actions to Address Risks and Opportunities applies to your company’s Environmental, Health, and Safety system, including all activities, products, services, and processes covered under it

Hazard identification and risk assessment procedure

The hazard identification and risk assessment procedure is include 5 steps:

Step one: Actively look for hazards

Begin while taking a stroll of your workplace to understand what are the areas that could reasonably cause harm. Focus on both non-significant and significant hazards, going on to engage with your employees. Sometimes, employees notice things that others may not find immediately obvious.

Step two: Decide who may be harmed and how

You can only place customised safeguards if you understand how the potential risks might harm your workers, trainers, interns, cleaners, contractors, visitors, or members of the public. This is important to figure out as you will need to tailor the communication channel. For example, for employees, the precautions can be communicated with the in-house safety policy, however, for visitors, the precautions may need to be publicly displayed on a billboard or a banner.

Step three: Evaluation of the risks

At this point in time, it is necessary to evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness, and relevance of your current protocols to determine if you are adequate. Additionally, evaluating the current precautions will also help you understand if the remaining risk is intolerable or tolerable. If the remaining risk is intolerable or above acceptable levels, you need to improve your current safeguards.

Step four: Maintain records

Records are essential, not only because they serve as a template to help you clarify doubts, but they also act as evidence of implementation. This means that if you decide to acquire any international certification, such as ISO 45001, you would need to present the auditor with proof of all the safety activities that you conducted in your organisation. Hence, the type of risk assessment, along with its steps, the findings of the assessment, and the corrective actions that you took must be recorded.

Step five: Review and revise

At this point in the hazard identification and risk assessment procedure, you would have either modified your safety controls or would have improved your current practices. Either way, it is time to test their functionality. Auditing and maintaining logs of the auditing procedure will help you improve your protocols in the future as well as maintain the validity of any safety licences.

workplace safety

Does ISO 45001 help in workplace safety?

ISO 45001 is the international standard that guides organisations to implement a customised Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS). An occupational health and safety management system is a set of tools, policies, procedures, and protocols that enhance the safety of a workplace by teaching the top management to conduct a risk assessment and create policies in accordance. The standard guides the management to conduct safety awareness training, so as to enhance knowledge about inherent risks. With the help of a gap assessment, organisations can find if their current safety protocols are in alignment with the industry-specific best practises. 

Additionally, the standard also teaches organisations to recognise the relevant regulatory, statutory, industry, and federal obligations that they must adhere to. Therefore, ISO 45001 certification helps in workplace safety by firstly teaching organisations to recognise risks, secondly, helping them craft a customised risk treatment plan, and thirdly by improving the current level of efficiency of both personnel and policies.

Conclusion 

A risk assessment and hazard identification plan will help you identify all the areas that might pose a threat to the health and safety of your employees and those who visit your organisation.