Risk Assessment

FTS Safety Solutions, in association with local Health and Safety advisors, are able to provide risk assessments which is an important step in protecting your workers and your business, as well as complying with the law. It helps you focus on the risks that really matter in your workplace – the ones with the potential to cause harm. In many instances, straightforward measures can readily control risks, for example, ensuring spillages are cleaned up promptly so people do not slip or cupboard drawers kept closed to ensure people do not trip. For most, that means simple, cheap and effective measures to ensure your most valuable asset – your workforce – is protected. The law does not expect you to eliminate all risk, but you are required to protect people as far as is ‘reasonably practicable’.

Workplace Risk Assessment

This is not the only way to do a risk assessment, there are other methods that work well, particularly for more complex risks and circumstances. However, we believe this method is the most straightforward for most organisations.

What is Risk Assessment?

A risk assessment is a careful examination of what, within the workplace, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control measures.

Accidents and ill health can ruin lives and affect your business if output is lost, machinery is damaged, insurance costs increase or you have to go to court. You are legally required to assess the risks in your workplace so you must put plans in place to control risks.

How To Assess The Risks In Your Workplace

The HSE have produced a leaflet which will enable you to assess the risks: - Five Steps to Risk Assessment

1. Identify the hazards
2. Decide who might be harmed and how
3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precaution
4. Record your findings and implement them
5. Review your assessment and update

In many organisations, the risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply so don’t over complicate the process. You probably already know whether, for example, you have employees who move heavy loads and so could harm their backs or where people are most likely to slip or trip. If so, check that you have taken reasonable precautions to avoid injury.

If you run a small organisation and you are confident you understand what’s involved, you can do the assessment yourself. You don’t have to be a health and safety expert, the HSE has produced a template to get you started and save time. The template brings together the risk assessment, health and safety policy and record of health and safety arrangements into one document.

When thinking about your risk assessment, remember:

• a hazard is anything that may cause harm, such as chemicals, electricity, working from ladders, an open drawer, etc; and
• the risk is the chance, high or low, that somebody could be harmed by these and other hazards, together with an indication of how serious the harm could be.