The Importance of Risk Assessments
By law, The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires organisations to protect employees and others from harm in the workplace.
Section 3 of this regulation requires every employer by law to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of:
- The risks to the health and safety of employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work
- The risks to the health and safety of persons not in their employment whilst visiting your place of work.
To do this, employers need to think about what might cause harm to people and decide whether they are taking reasonable steps to prevent harm.
Risk assessment is the approach to preventing harm and occupational accidents by identifying the hazards that exist or may appear in the workplace.
A risk assessment identifies which workplace hazards are likely to cause harm to employees and visitors and what reasonable measures to put in place to control the risks in your workplace.
Risk Processes and Procedures
Keep it Simple….
Businesses with five or more employees, should have processes and procedures in place to meet the legal requirements, as a minimum:
- A documented health and safety policy
- Documented instruction and training for employees about the risks in your workplace and how they are protected
- Access to competent health and safety advice
Organisations should regularly take a thorough look at their workplace to identify potential hazards and risk factors that may negatively impact, cause injury to individuals, harm assets, or the environment to avoid hefty fines.
Risk Events
A Risk is the chance, high, medium, or low, that someone could be harmed by a hazard.
Risks events may be classified into four main categories:
The full guide describes the steps needed to conduct a risk assessment.
