5 Steps to Risk Assessment at Work: An Employer’s H&S Guide

The requirement to complete a risk assessment for workplace safety is an absolute legal duty. Every employer must conduct a suitable and sufficient workplace hazard assessment. Any business failing to have suitable and sufficient risk assessments may be committing a legal offence, so it is vitally important that you know you have these documents in place.

A risk assessment in the workplace should identify risks arising within the workplace environment or from the work activities undertaken therein. The level of detail in the risk assessment should always be proportionate to the risk.

In a simple, small office, this is likely to result in a relatively simple risk assessment. On a large site, with complex work equipment, an organisation will doubtless need a more extensive and detailed workplace safety risk assessment.

The person(s) carrying out the risk assessment must always be competent to do so – competence typically being defined as a blend of knowledge, experience, skills, and training.

To help businesses, the HSE introduced the phrase “5 steps to risk assessment.” As the statement suggests, they broke the risk assessment process down into 5 easy-to-understand steps.

Step 1: Identify Hazards

This involves identifying the hazards, with the definition of a hazard being something with the potential to cause harm. Examples might be power tools such as circular saws because they have sharp cutting elements rotating at high speed.

Hazardous substances like epoxy glues have the potential to cause harm because they might be toxic or corrosive. It is typically some inherent property that makes something a hazard, such as the fact that cutting blades are sharp, or that the glue contains a particular chemical component.

Step 2: Determine Who Could Be Harmed and How

This step of a workplace safety risk assessment involves identifying who could be harmed by the hazards that have been identified during Step 1.

Risk is the likelihood of that harm occurring multiplied by the potential severity if it does. A circular saw, although always a hazard because of the presence of a sharp cutting blade, doesn’t pose a risk until someone comes along and uses it.

When determining how likely someone is to be harmed by the circular saw, we might want to know how well-maintained the item of work equipment is, whether the safety features are functional, and what experience or training the employee has.

In many cases, anticipating the severity (or consequences) of harm occurring can be more straightforward. Contacting the rotating blade of a circular saw would result in a fairly significant injury. Allowing corrosive glue to come into contact with bare skin could cause significant irritation or burns.

Employers may also need to consider the different groups of individuals who might be affected:

• Employees involved in the activity (operatives, supervisors, managers)
• Employees who may be affected by the activity (maintenance workers, cleaners, security staff)
• Non-employees – Visitors (contractors, delivery drivers, customers)
• Others (members of the public, passers-by, neighbours, road users)

Some hazards may present a particular risk to certain individuals or groups, and it may be necessary to conduct additional risk assessments to ensure that these vulnerable groups are suitably protected.

• Young people (link to Quick Guide to Risk Assessment for Young People at Work
• New and expectant mothers
• Individuals with disabilities / medical conditions
• New employees
• Home workers
• Lone workers

The purpose of the risk assessment process is ultimately to ensure that the risks posed by the hazards previously identified have been addressed and adequately controlled. To do this, we must express ‘risk’ in a way that allows managers and employees to understand quickly which are the priority areas for intervention and take action accordingly.

This is often done using a numerical matrix or by expressing the risk rating as high, medium, or low.

Step 3: Evaluate Risks and Implement Control Measures

This step of the risk assessment process continues by introducing the hierarchy of control. This is the concept that there is a preferred order in which we might consider the various control measures that we could implement.

1. Elimination: The best thing we can do with a hazard is to get rid of it – elimination. Although top of the hierarchy of control, elimination is not always possible. Sometimes we need to use the items that introduce the hazard to do a specific job or task. If we need to cut a piece of wood, it’s fairly obvious that we are going to need to use that saw.
2. Substitution: This is the next best option, not entirely eliminating the problem, but reducing the impact. Substitution can often be best illustrated when considering hazardous substances. If a cleaning agent is needed to do its job, to clean or disinfect, it’s likely to have certain hazardous chemicals within its composition. The current material might be corrosive. If we were to substitute this for another formulation, even though this second product might still be deemed an irritant, we’ve decreased the relative harm that the hazardous substance can do and thereby reduced the risk.
3. Isolation: Isolation typically involves keeping the hazard and any person likely to be exposed to it separate. The use of barriers or physical guards can do this, particularly relevant at keeping the general public or maybe even customers away from certain hazardous areas on site.
4. Time: This can be an effective administrative control. In noisy or cold environments, where once again it’s not possible to remove the source of the hazard, by limiting the time an individual is exposed to it, we reduce the overall risk.
5. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): This is the last line of defence. It should be the last control measure under consideration and never the first. Attempts to eliminate or substitute identified hazards should be undertaken before PPE is provided as a control measure.

Step 4: Record Findings

To complete the 5 steps to risk assessment, Step 4 involves recording the risk assessment. Documenting it ensures that it can be communicated to all interested parties and ensures that a permanent record of the risk assessment having taken place exists.

Step 5: Review and Update

This requires that the risk assessment be reviewed. This should take place if a significant change has occurred, but also after certain other trigger events – perhaps changes to work processes, equipment, or personnel, and most definitely after an accident or several near misses.

It is vitally important that the risk assessment is communicated to ALL persons involved in the job – this is also a legislative requirement. Employees conducting particular tasks should confirm that the document has been ‘read and understood’.

6 Tips for Effective Risk Assessments:

1. Monitoring Control Measures: The risk assessment must not rely on a number of control measures that make the document look good and read well, but in the real world are not available or being provided. All control measures must be monitored by the persons performing the task, working in a particular area, as well as those with management responsibility. Any errors or deviations must be rectified immediately.
2. External Risk Assessments: In certain operating environments, consideration will need to be given to risk assessments of external origin (i.e., those that might be provided by subcontractors).
3. Safe System of Work (SSOW): In addition to risk assessments, a number of Safe System of Work (SSOW) documents may also have been produced or be necessary for a particular task. The SSOW expands upon the controls section of the risk assessment, essentially breaking a particular task down into its component steps. If these steps are followed and all items of work equipment / PPE mentioned with the SSOW are provided and used correctly, then the task as a whole should be completed safely.
4. Comprehensive Coverage: The key to the whole risk assessment concept in safety management is to have sufficient risk assessments to ensure that all significant hazards have been identified, all the relevant risks have been determined, and all appropriate control measures have been selected and implemented. No set number will be required for a particular company – if you have multiple workplaces or very large and complicated facilities, you may need several workplace risk assessment documents to fully cover all relevant hazards.
5. Workplace-Specific Assessments: The same goes for task-specific risk assessments. No set number will be required. If you have multiple different activities going on within your business operations, you’ll probably need a number of different task-specific risk assessments.
6. Continuous Improvement: It is important to remember that a risk assessment is a dynamic process, and the completed document should not simply be filed away or left to gather dust. It should not just sit in a drawer. It is important to improve it over time. As your organisation or work activities change, so should your risk assessments.

Risk assessment is a cornerstone of health and safety management. It’s not just a legal requirement; it’s essential for ensuring your workplace is safe and compliant. Without it, you can’t be confident that you’re effectively protecting your employees and meeting regulatory standards.

If you are an Avensure client, enquire about Avensure Plus H&S onsite for risk assessment, fire risk assessment, or H&S training for you and your workforce.

If you’re not sure whether you have all the necessary control measures in place, get in touch with Avensure H&S experts for advice. Simply click here: Avensure Contact!