Have You Reviewed Your Health And Safety Risk Assessments?
26 October 2021
A risk assessment is a systematic method of looking at work activities, considering what could go wrong, and deciding on suitable control measures. These control measures are designed to eliminate, reduce or minimize the risks of loss, damage or injury in the workplace.
It is a legal requirement for all organisations to carry out a risk assessment. If you have five or more employees you must also keep a written record of it.
When carrying out risk assessments you should:
- Identify the hazards
- Establish who might be harmed and how
- Evaluate and decide on precautions
- Record and share key findings
- Review regularly
Once you have created your risk assessment, you should aim to review and revise it on a regular basis.
Why Risk Assessments Need To Be Regularly Reviewed
It's important to review and update your risk assessment because of the everyday changes that happen in all businesses. Few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, you will bring in new equipment, substances and procedures that could lead to new hazards so it makes sense to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis.
You must regularly review your risk assessments to make sure that they are still valid. It is recommended that you review them at least once a year. You should also review them before changes to the following take place:
- Equipment
- Materials
- People
- Premises
- Processes
It is also important to review your risk assessment after an accident or near miss. This can help prevent them happening again.?
How To Review Your Health And Safety Risk Assessment
Look at your risk assessment again:
- Have there been any changes?
- Are there improvements you still need to make?
- Have your workers spotted a problem?
- Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses?
Make Sure Your Risk Assessment Stays Up To Date
When you are running a business it's all too easy to forget about reviewing your risk assessment - until something has gone wrong and it's too late. Why not set a review date for this risk assessment now? Write it down and note it in your diary as an annual event.
Alban Safety Consultants have considerable knowledge and experience in developing risk assessments or we can train your staff so that they can carry out their own risk assessments.
For further advice, please get in touch today.
