Risk Assessments - What, Why and How    

4 April 2022

“Everything in life has some risk. What you have to actually learn to do is how to navigate it.” - Reid Hoffman

From the moment you wake up in the morning, you are constantly assessing levels of risk and implementing controls to remove or reduce the risk involved in that activity.

Many people struggle with the concept of Risk Assessment, especially when these need to be written down. This article will therefore provide you with the information on why we need to conduct Risk Assessment, along with the 5 steps which you need to follow, in order to produce a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.

What is a Risk Assessment?

A Risk Assessment is the systematic process of evaluating the potential risks that may be involved in a particular activity or undertaking.

Why do we need to conduct a Risk Assessment?

Risk Assessments are a vital tool in the management of Health and Safety for your business, as it allows for the documentation of risks that your workforce is being exposed to, along with the controls which need to be implemented in order to eliminate or reduce this risk.

From a legal perspective, as an employer, you are required to protect your employees and others from harm. Under the ‘Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999’, the minimum you must do is:

• Identify what could cause injury or illness in your business (known as hazards)
• Decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (known as risk)
• Take action to eliminate the hazard, or if this isn’t possible, control the risk

If, as an organisation, you have fewer than 5 employees, you do not have to write a Risk Assessment down. However, it is useful to do so, so that you can review it at a later date. Alternatively, if you have more than 5 employees, you are required by law to write it down.

Should you as an organisation fail to conduct a risk assessment in respect of a particular activity or undertaking, you are not only exposing your workforce to the risks associated with it, but if you have more than 5 employees, you will also be breaking the law.

Case study

The HSE reported that a recycling company had been fined after one of its employees was injured whilst clearing a blockage in a waste metal chute.

The Court heard how the employee was injured when he fell through a chute, approximately 4 meters above a concrete yard. Another employee, who was waiting in a telescopic handler to collect the waste metal in the machines bucket, moved the machine to try and catch him. The employee was hit by the bucket and sustained numerous injuries.

The HSE found that there was no risk assessment or safe system of work in place. Therefore, the company had not considered the risk of employees falling through the chute from that height. The company in question were found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and were fined £17,500.

5 steps to completing a Risk Assessment

Now we know what a risk assessment is and why they are needed, we will now turn our attention to the how you complete a risk assessment. There are 5 steps which need to be completed in order for a risk assessment to be produced

Step 1 - Identify hazards

Look around your workplace and think about what may cause harm (these are called hazards). Think about:

• how people work and how plant and equipment are used
• what chemicals and substances are used
• what safe or unsafe work practices exist
• the general state of your premises

Look back at your accident and ill health records as these can help you identify less obvious hazards. Take account of non-routine operations, such as maintenance, cleaning or changes in production cycles.

Think about hazards to health, such as manual handling, use of chemicals and causes of work-related stress.

For each hazard, think about how employees, contractors, visitors or members of the public might be harmed.

Vulnerable workers

Some workers have particular requirements, for example young workers, migrant workers, new or expectant mothers and people with disabilities.

Talk to workers

Involve your employees as they will usually have good ideas.

Step 2 - Assess the risks

Once you have identified the hazards, decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how serious it could be. This is assessing the level of risk.

Decide:

• Who might be harmed and how
• What you're already doing to control the risks
• What further action you need to take to control the risks
• Who needs to carry out the action
• When the action is needed by

Step 3 - Control the risks

Look at what you're already doing, and the controls you already have in place. Ask yourself:

• Can I get rid of the hazard altogether?
• If not, how can I control the risks so that harm is unlikely?

If you need further controls, consider:

• redesigning the job
• replacing the materials, machinery or process
• organising your work to reduce exposure to the materials, machinery or process
• identifying and implementing practical measures needed to work safely
• providing personal protective equipment and making sure workers wear it

Put the controls you have identified in place. You're not expected to eliminate all risks but you need to do everything 'reasonably practicable' to protect people from harm. This means balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control the real risk in terms of money, time or trouble.

Step 4 - Record your findings

If you employ 5 or more people, you must record your significant findings, including.

• the hazards (things that may cause harm)
• who might be harmed and how
• what you are doing to control the risks

Do not rely purely on paperwork as your main priority should be to control the risks in practice.

Step 5 - Review the controls

You must review the controls you have put in place to make sure they are working. You should also review them if:

• they may no longer be effective
• there are changes in the workplace that could lead to new risks such as changes to:
  • staff
  • a process
  • the substances or equipment used

Also consider a review if your workers have spotted any problems or there have been any accidents or near misses. Update your risk assessment record with any changes you make.

Click here for HSE ‘Managing risks and risk assessment at work’

For training on how to create risk assessments, please get in touch today.