RISK ASSESSMENT EXPLAINED

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this package is to provide information on the following:

1. Appreciate the value of risk assessment as a management tool;
2. Become familiar with the language and methodology of risk assessment;
3. Be able to apply the principle of risk assessment in the work place

RISK ASSESSMENT
Introduction
We all assess risk every day of our lives, when crossing the road or driving a car we all
make decisions based on the chance that an accident may or may not be avoided and
the severity of that accident if it is allowed to occur.
Risk assessment in industry is no different, it is a computation of the likelihood of a
situation occurring judged against the damaged or injury that may result if an accident is
not prevented.
The prime reason for undertaking risk assessments is to anticipate potential cause of
accidents and put in place measures to ensure that they are prevented or minimised.
Hazard, Risk, Severity, explained:
Hazard:
Hazard means anything with the potential to cause harm e.g. Chemicals, Electricity,
Working at height.
An example of hazard would be an unopened can of petrol.
Risk (probability)
Risk is the likelihood that someone or something will be harmed by the hazard, or put
another way, the probability that an accident may occur.
An example can be seen with the petrol can. Risk will vary depending on the
circumstances. The chance of the petrol catching fire will depend on many factors such
as, how the petrol is stored, whether the cap is secured and how likely is it to be
knocked over.
What is significant risk:
A significant risk would result in one or a combination of the following:

Repetitive minor injury

Major injury (Disease, General etc)
Fatal (Disease, Fatal accident)
Multiple fatalities
Catastrophic Fatalities
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Severity:
Severity is the consequences of a possible accident occurring, or put another way, the
damage or injury caused by an unplanned event.
In the case of the petrol can, severity is governed by a number of factors, namely how
much petrol is in the can and how many people would be affected if the fuel was split
and then ignited.
If the can is stored in a flame vault, the likelihood of it being knocked over is slim and
even it if was knocked over the contents would be retained by the flame vault.
Therefore, the risk would be reduced and damage severity would be minimised.
However, if the can was left open on a busy pavement with people moving about, and an
ignition source was close to hand e.g. work being undertaken with a cut-off-saw before
being refuelled, then the risk (chance) of a fire occurring would be high. If the can was
full of fuel and was knocked over spreading fuel over a large area then the damage
(severity) would be significant if the fuel ignites. This fire could involve members of the
crew using the cut off saw and members of the public and possibly involve property.
What is risk assessment?
Risk assessment can be described as being Common sense being applied to a safety
problem in a deliberate and systematic way so that risk can be minimised or eliminated.
There are three principle steps to risk assessment and control:

Identify
Evaluate
Control

The purpose of an assessment is to identify the types of hazard that are present in the
work place, especially those that are particularly dangerous or unnecessary. It is also to
identify action to be taken to comply with duties under the relevant Acts and
Regulations. The significant findings of the assessment must be recorded and include
any actions intended to eliminate or reduce the hazard.
An assessment will be seen to be suitable and sufficient if it:

Identifies significant risks arising out of work. Trivial risks, and risks arising from
routine activities associated with life in general can be ignored. However, where the
work activity compounds those risks, or there is significant relevance to the particular
work place, then the risks should be assessed.

Enables the employer to identify and give priority to the actions needed to ensure
full compliance with legislation.

Is appropriate to the nature of the work and will remain valid for some time.

Where statutory provisions are not specified, develop safe systems of work.
Assessing the Risk
All identifiable hazards (potential dangers) imply that there is a risk. When using the
risk assessment system in the work place you will realise that there are a number of
commonplace hazards. These are usually to do with physical safety and can be the
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result of over-familiarity. They are readily identifiable and, normally, easily dealt with. In
such cases, it is a simple matter to record the hazard to set in motion some action to
eliminate it. In others, estimating the risk needs an objective approach.
When risk assessments are carried out effectively and control strategies implemented
properly there are many advantages to be gained by the organisation.
Compliance with the law
Which means:
No prosecutions
No prohibition notices
No improvement notices
No difficult meetings with Factory Inspectors
It also means
No accidents
No injury to employees and others
No damage to company property, plant or equipment, or the customers, or anyone elses
No lost production time investigating accidents
Better work performance by employees
No money wasted repairing or replacing equipment
There is a third and equally important set of benefits
Safeguard reputation
Improve customer confidence
Chance of obtaining work
Lower insurance premium
No claims for accident damages
Uninterrupted production
Management confidence that a safe plant has been achieved.
A general assessment should be made of the work place before attempting individual
assessments. This is a matter of personal opinion and consideration, skill and
knowledge, intuition and experience, it is possible then to identify the areas where the
individual assessments should be made.
The wrong way to do it would be to go straight to the task of assessing the risks involved
in applying paint by brush or roller to the walls and overlook the larger risks.
It may be that if a water based emulsion was used for redecorating purposes that there
will be no risk to health. This is demonstrated by the COSHH assessments that
identified the product as presenting a low risk when the paint is used properly.
The risk assessment on the repainting of a large sports hall may therefore, come down
to a matter of checking COSHH assessments and concentrating on the development of
a safe system for the working at heights.

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In some cases it may, in a single exercise be possible to cover all the risks in a work
place or in an activity and at other times individual, separate assessments will be
necessary.
Whatever the case a disciplined and structured approach is needed, A good risk
assessment should always:
1. Ensure that all relevant hazards and risks are clearly addressed:

Do not obscure risks by concentrating on trivial issues.

Do not amass excess, unnecessary information
Identify the hazards with the greatest potential to cause harm.
Identify legislative requirements
Check what existing controls are in place

2. Address what actually happens at the work place:

What people do may differ from what they are expected, or supposed, to do.
Consider non routine events, maintenance, breakdowns, stopping and starting,
loading or unloading.

What is the effect of other interruptions or enforced changes to the schedule of

work.
3. Make sure that all employees are covered:

Day shift, night shift, weekend or overtime workers.

Cleaners, visitors (lawful and unlawful) maintenance staff and visiting engineers
e.g. telephone, fax, photocopier etc.

Special groups, young workers, females, new staff

The risk assessment should identify all of the hazards present in the work activity or the
work place and the total extent of any risks.
Generic Assessments
Definition of generic risk assessment:
Generic means belonging to the same class or group so generic assessments are
assessments of materials or substances that are similar to each other and in the same
general groups.
A good example is cement.
Crown Portland Cement is in the same generic group as Rugby Cement. Make an
assessment for one and you have made it for the other.
Another is paint.
Red oil based gloss paint made by ICI is in the same generic group as black oil based
paint gloss made by Berger or someone else.
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One can also say that to a certain degree all fine dust or powders are in the same
class. All emulsion paints are all in the same class and all acetylene welding fumes are
in the same class.
This means that once you have done risk assessment on one item from a group you can
use it for the rest of the group provided that it is fully appropriate in all of the
circumstances.
Another approach is to do worst case assessments. Using a solvent based paint
indoors, in a small room is obviously worse than using it outdoors. The same applies
to using a power saw and creating sawdust, or welding and welding fumes.
If a risk assessment is carried out the worst case scenario and the appropriate control
measures are developed accordingly, then those control measures will cover any other
use of the same materials provided that you satisfy yourself that the assessment is still
relevant.
Trivial Risks
You can ignore trivial risks.
The difficult part is to decide what is trivial and what is significant.
The wisp of fume from a soldering iron may look trivial, but does it contain cadmium and
how often does it occur.
Trivial risks can usually be ignored as can risks arising from routine activities
associated with life in general, unless the work activity compounds those risks.
So having said that, then everything else must be a significant risk.
A single drop of water leaking through a ceiling may be trivial matter but if the tank
above the ceiling holds two or three hundred gallons that is a significant problem.
One reason for ignoring trivial risks is that they can tend to cloud ones judgment or
obscure more important or significant risks.
However, there are advantages in assessing and recording all trivial risks, especially in
the first instance during the learning stages of developing risk assessment skills and
through proof of a good health and safety system.
The main advantages are:

All risks covered

Nothing can have been overlooked
You can shown HSE good records
Useful when it comes to re-assessment
Incorrectly described trivial risk can be corrected
No need to force a trivial decision
When planning controls, decision will be based on all risks
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So risk assessment should identify hazard and risk and again can be a benefit to the
organisation.
Risk Categorisation
The following probability X severity scale provides the basis on which a risk category is
reached. The risk category used on the risk assessment form, which can be found at
the back of this booklet, is based on two areas, namely, Probability (risk) on a scale of 15 being multiplied by severity, again on a scale of 1-5.
Probability Scale
1. Improbable Occurrence
2. Remote Occurrence
3. Possible Occurrence
4. Probable Occurrence
5. Certainty Occurrence
Severity Scale
1. Negligible
2. Minor
3. Significant / Serious
4. Major
5. Catastrophic

very minor injury

minor injury
over 3 day injury
major injury
fatality / multi fatalities

This gives the opportunity to segregate our 25 possible numbers into five groups for the
purposes of deciding action.
Risk Category
Low 0-4

Work can go ahead with caution.

Moderate 5-10

Supervision required. Plan for improvement in

the medium term.

High 12-25

Reduce risk. Immediate action required. Do not

let work proceed

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Severity Value

The following is an explanation of injuries and diseases reportable under RIDDOR which
is used as part of the severity scale for risk assessment.
Severity Scale
Significant: Where a person could be incapacitated from normal work for 3 days, not
including the day of the accident, but including days which fall over a weekend.
Major: A major injury is classified as any of the following:
Fatal Accident
Fracture of the skull, spine or pelvis.

Fracture of any bone in the arm, wrist, leg or ankle (but excluding a bone in the
hand or foot).

Amputation of a hand or foot.

Amputation of a finger, thumb or toe, or of any part of these if the bone/joint is

completely severed.

The loss of sight of an eye, a penetrating injury to an eye, or a chemical or hot

metal burn to an eye.

Either injury (including burns) requiring immediate medical treatment or loss of

consciousness, resulting in either case from an electric shock from any electrical
circuit or equipment, whether or not due to direct contact.

Loss of consciousness resulting from lack of oxygen.

Decompression sickness requiring immediate medical treatment.

Any acute illness requiring medical treatment, plus any loss of consciousness
resulting from the absorption of any substance by inhalation, ingestion or through the
skin.

Acute illness requiring medical treatment where there is reason to believe that
this resulted from exposure to a pathogen or infected material.

Any other injury which results in the injured person being admitted immediately
into hospital for more than 24 hours.
A disease which falls under the major severity classification will be any one of the
following:

Poisonings: acrylamide monomer, arsenic, benzene, beryllium, cadmium, carbon

disulphide, dethylene dioxide (dioxan), ethylene oxide, lead, manganese, mercury,
methyl bromide, nitrochlorobenzene (or a nitro- or amino- or chloro-derivative of
benzene or of a homologue of benzene), oxides of nitrogen, phosphorous.
Skin disease: chrome ulceration of the nose, throat or skin of the hands/forearm;
folloculitis; acne; skin cancer; inflammation, ulceration or malignant disease of the
skin.
Lung diseases: occupational asthma, extrinsic alveolitis, including Farmers lung.
Pneumoconiosis, byssinosis, mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, cancer of a
bronchus/lung.
Infections: leptospirosis, hepatitis, tuberculosis, any illness caused by a dangerous
pathogen, anthrax.
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Other conditions: malignant disease of the bones, blood dyscrasia, cataract,

decompression sickness, barotraumas, cancer of the nasal cavity or associated air
sinuses, angiosarcoma of the liver, cancer of the urinary tract, vibration white finger.

Glossary
Accident

An uncontrolled and unplanned event in which the action or

reaction of an object, substance, person or radiation, results
in personal injury or property damage. (Heinrich H.W.)

Hazard

Something with the potential to cause harm, for example a

trailing cable is a hazard, not a risk.

Risk

The likelihood or probability of the hazard causing harm e.g.

there is a risk (probability) of tripping over a trailing cable.

Direct Cost

The cost directly resulting from a particular event, for

example the cost of replacing a broken window.

Indirect Cost

The hidden costs connected with an accident, which

although not immediately obvious, can still affect the running
costs and profitability of your organisation. Loss of potential
sales through accident related downtime is one example.

Controlling Risk
Preventive and protective measures
If possible avoid risk altogether.

Combat risk at source.

Wherever possible adapt work to the individual.

Take advantage of technological and technical process.

Risk prevention need to form part of a coherent policy and approach.

Give priority to those measures which protect the whole work place.

Employees and self employed need to understand what they need to do.

An active health and safety culture affecting the organisation as a whole needs to be
assured.

Principle Risk Control Techniques

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Eliminate
It is always best, if possible, to avoid the risk altogether. If there is a hazardous
operation, such as gaining access to dose a cooling tower with chemicals, then perhaps
it can be re-engineered, in this example by installing automatic dosing equipment.
Substitute
Selecting safe working arrangements, and using available technology, may well reduce
risks at source. If heavy work threatens operatives backs, the use of mechanical aids
and small loads may be an effective means of control. Adapt work to the individual.
Isolate
Always try to protect staff/trainees by collective means, personal protection is a last
resort. So if workers can be kept away from noisy areas by acoustic enclosures or
distance them this is better than displaying warning signs and providing hearing
protection.
Engineer
Try to make the work safer by design. For example guarding machinery or building in
ventilation systems.
Work Practices
If access ways become slippery, create the attitude that gritting is better than shouted
warnings. Encourage all employees to adopt the best of the available ways of working
with plant, equipment and materials.
Housekeeping
Looking after the work place, keeping equipment in good order and clearing up
materials is an important element of safety.
Personal Protection
Although this should be seen as a last resort, with an emphasis on collective protection
and the use of available technologies to reduce risk, in practice during construction
activities personal clothing and equipment will continue to play a great part in protecting
individual health and safety.
Information
Employees must be informed so that they know the risks, and instructed so that they
know what they are to do.

Management Strategy

We need company procedures for the normal range of typical work. The procedures will
embody the assessment, and make explicit the precautions to be followed. Where this
is already a specific legal requirement, such as the rules for scaffold safeguards, this will
stand itself as a sufficient record of an assessment. In a sense, the legislators have
evaluated the risks of workers falling off scaffolds, and have stated the minimum
requirements for good practice to limit and manage those risks. Such regulations still
require effective company action to implement and comply.
The new regulations require assessments for the other risks that have not been dealt
with in previous, detailed pieces of legislation. The risks review will, therefore, need to
list the relevant laws, and also look at the organisation procedures and controls that,
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when followed, minimise risks and embody the risk assessments. Wherever there are
identifiable gaps - no laws or organisational rules, new procedures should be created.
In other words, if there are no statutory controls which fully address the risks, safe
systems of work should be produced.
The management strategy, therefore, is to identify the standard hazards encountered
during typical work and draw up a suitable assessment record of the findings. The
assessment record should be fully completed and reflect the standard of the work
activity or process with regard to health and safety.
This will then be used to prioritise the risk associated with the process and conclude
whether statutory controls are being fully implemented or if further action is required to
ensure that safe systems of work are implemented.
This may include the need for procedures to be reviewed or written and may expose the
need for training/instruction.
The risk assessment system is a management tool which will allow health and safety
procedures/systems to be properly evaluated and remedied prior to an accident or
damage occurring.
The system ensures a proactive strategy for preventing unnecessary hidden and indirect
cost associated with damage and wastage caused by accidents by the elimination or
control of work place hazards.
The following page outlines in a flow chart the action that should be taken to ensure that
risk assessment and management is fully and effectively implemented within the work
place.
In addition, the risk assessment decision curve graph graphically outlines the action
stages in relation to risk classification and provides a basis for provisioning resources in
accordance with the potential risk classification to ensure proper prioritisation.

Flow Chart
The Flow Chart is a proposed method for identifying hazards, evaluating risk and
managing controls to safeguard the health and safety of employees and anyone who
may be affected by their work. It does not only address those risks that are specifically
identified by Statute such as asbestos or noise. The approach recommended
represents a way of implementing the requirements of risk assessment in the
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and should be seen as a
tool to manage health and safety in the work place.
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Management Action
Allocate Responsibility
Identify Work Method
Identify Hazard
Assess Risk
Unacceptable Risk

Yes

Statutory Requirements

Significant Risk

No

In-house Procedures
sufficient
Yes

No Action Required
No

In-House Procedures to be
developed

Document Controls
and Procedures
Consult
Employees
Implement Controls and Procedures
Inform
Monitor
Review

ACTION POINTS
First Action Point
Identify

Draw up list having regard for hazard potential.

Address by process of activity where possible
Only consider significant hazard potential.
Examine by:
Undertaking tour of site.
Ask questions of staff.
Brainstorm in groups.

Second Action Point

Complete documentation.
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Categorise risk. consider:

Risk probability

Risk severity
Prioritise risk activities deal with very high and high-risk activities first.
Very high
Manager and
and high
H & S Manager to
consider
Moderate
Assessment personnel
& manager
Identify legal standards and implement where appropriate.
Identify approved codes of practice:
Guidance notes/British Standards - implement where appropriate.
Review when changes to assessed practice occur.

Third Action Point

Implement control measures in accordance with hierarchy of control measures.

Identify and implement training and instruction where necessary.
Draw up procedures and emergency procedures where necessary.
Devise safe systems of work where there are no legal standards.
Formulate long term health and safety control strategy, having regard for
information from the assessment process.

Initiate health and safety improvements.

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