How you will follow up on the risk assessment to check that the actions have been carried out

You may walk around your workplace to observe processes, operations and work activities. Look out for safety and health risks that could harm your employee or affect their health and well-being. You should consider the following hazard categories:

Hazard category

Example

Physical

• Fire
• Noise
• Ergonomics
• Heat
• Radiation

Mechanical

• Moving parts
• Rotating parts

Electrical

• Voltage
• Current
• Static charge
• Magnetic fields

Chemical

• Flammables
• Toxics
• Corrosives
• Reactive materials

Biological

• Pathogens

Psychosocial

• Mental stress and fatigue
• Remote or isolated work

You may need to provide additional considerations if you employ individuals who are more susceptible to work hazards. This includes individuals with medical issues or conditions, aged individuals and pregnant women. Also, you should consider the following work-related factors when identifying potential hazards:

Work-related Factors

Examples

Proximity of hazardous activities to one another

Employees doing assembly work next to noisy stamping machines may be exposed to excessive noise too.

Compatibility of work activities

Hot work and spray painting are incompatible work activities. There is a fire risk if they are carried out near to each other.

Non-routine work activities and situations

Maintenance work and shut-down operations may introduce additional hazards that have not been identified as part of routine work activities.

Work environment

Working outdoors during adverse environmental conditions such as haze may cause respiratory problems among employees.

Risk Control

After you've evaluated the risks of each hazard, you should take appropriate action to eliminate or minimise those risks. Reasonably practicable measures should be taken to protect people from harm.

You should select your risk control measures based on the Hierarchy of Control. Upstream risk controls (e.g. elimination, substitution and engineering controls) are more effective in reducing or controlling risk, and should be considered first.

Above: Hierarchy of Control.

You should consider using a combination of control measures from the Hierarchy of Control as no single measure is usually sufficient to control the risk. For example, engineering controls need to be implemented together with administrative controls such as training and safe work procedures to address the hazard sufficiently.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) should be explored only after upstream risk controls have been considered, as a short-term contingency during emergency, maintenance, repair or as an additional protective measure against residual risks. The effectiveness of PPE depends greatly on whether it is chosen and fitted correctly, worn at all times and maintained properly.

For hazards that cannot be controlled immediately, interim control measures should be implemented while establishing longer term measures to reduce the risk level. Work should not start if the risk remains high.

At EU-level there are not fixed rules about how risk assessments should be undertaken (you should check the specific legislation relating to risk assessment in your country). However, there are two principles which should always be borne in mind when approaching a risk assessment:

• to structure the assessment to ensure that all relevant hazards and risks are addressed (e.g. not to overlook tasks, such as cleaning, that might take place out of normal working hours, or ancillary departments such as waste compacting);

• when a risk is identified, to begin assessment from first principles by asking whether the risk can be eliminated.

A stepwise approach to risk assessment

The European Guidance on risk assessment at work proposes an approach based on a number of different steps. This is not the only method of carrying out a risk assessment, there are a variety of methodologies for achieving the same objective. There is no single "right" way to do a risk assessment and different approaches can work in different circumstances.

For most businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, a straightforward five-step approach (incorporating elements of risk management) such as the one presented below should work well.

Step 1. Identifying hazards and those at risk

Looking for those things at work that have the potential to cause harm, and identifying workers who may be exposed to the hazards.

Step 2. Evaluating and prioritising risks

Estimating the existing risks (the severity and probability of possible harm...) and prioritising them in order of importance.

Step 3. Deciding on preventive action

Identifying the appropriate measures to eliminate or control the risks.

Step 4. Taking action

Putting in place the preventive and protective measures through a prioritisation plan.

Step 5. Monitoring and reviewing

The assessment should be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure that it remains up to date.

However, it is important to know that there are other methods that work equally well, particularly for more complex risks and circumstances. Which approach to assessment is applied will depend upon:

• the nature of the workplace (e.g. a fixed establishment, or a transitory one);

• the type of process (e.g. repeated operations, developing/changing processes, work on demand);

• the task performed (e.g. repetitive, occasional or high risk);

• technical complexity.

In some cases a single exercise covering all risks in a workplace or activity may be appropriate. In other cases, different approaches may be appropriate to different parts of a workplace.

Documenting the risk assessment

A record of the results of risk assessments at work should be kept. Such a record can be used as a basis for:

• information to be passed to the persons concerned;

• monitoring to assess whether necessary measures have been introduced;

• evidence to be produced for supervisory authorities;

• any revision if circumstances change.

A record of at least the following details is recommended:

• name and function of the person(s) carrying out the examination;

• the hazards and risks that were identified;

• the groups of workers who face particular risks;

• the necessary protection measures;

• details of the introduction of the measures, such as the name of the person responsible and date;

• details of subsequent monitoring and reviewing arrangements, including dates and the people involved;

• details of the involvement of workers and their representatives in the risk assessment process.

The records of assessments should be drawn up with the consultation and participation of workers and/or their representatives and made available to them for information. The workers concerned should, in any case, be informed of the outcome of each assessment that relates to their work station, and the action to be taken as a result of the assessment.

What action should be taken if a risk assessment shows that an activity carries a very low risk?

How the risk assessment was carried out?

How many steps are there to follow when conducting a risk assessment?

How are risk assessments monitored and reviewed?