Risk Assessment Database Help

How to do a Risk Assessment

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) advocates a '5 steps to risk assessment' approach:

  • Identify the hazards;
  • Decide who might be harmed and how;
  • Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions;
  • Record your findings and implement them;
  • Review your assessment and update if necessary.

A wealth of additional guidance on risk management and risk assessment is available on the HSE web site.

We use the Risk Assessment Database for recording our risk assessments. We have different risk assessment formats for different types of work but the basic principals apply no matter what template you are using. The important thing is that your assessment includes the significant hazards/risks and that you have identified sufficient controls to minimise the risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Significant hazards/risks are those that are not trivial in nature and are capable of creating a real risk to health and safety which any reasonable person would appreciate and would take steps to guard against. Doing what is reasonably practicable means that you have to take action to control the health and safety risks in your workplace except where the cost (in terms of time and effort as well as money) of doing so is grossly disproportionate to the reduction in the risk.

The Database contains many completed assessments that you can use as they are or as a worked example/template for your own assessment. Lab Managers and the SLS Safety team are on hand to assist in the risk assessment process and Safety Services can be called in to give advice when necessary.

 

Risk Assessment Q & A

What is a hazard?

A hazard is something (e.g. an object, a property of a substance, a phenomenon or an activity) that has the potential to cause harm. For example:

  • Loud noise is a hazard because it can cause hearing loss.
  • Asbestos dust is a hazard because if inhaled it can cause cancer.
  • Working at height because if you fall you may sustain life threatening injuries
  • UV radiation is a hazard because it can cause skin/eye burns (acute effects) and possibly cataracts and skin cancer (chronic effects).

What is risk?

Risk is the likelihood that a hazard will actually cause harm together with an indication of how serious the harm could be. When deciding how serious the harm could be consider the nature of the injury/illness that may occur and how many people might be affected. For example:

  • It's very likely that a technician repeatedly working with a known asthmagen on the open bench will develop asthma. Others working in the immediate vicinity may also be affected.

What is risk assessment?

Risk assessment is the process of identifying and characterising the hazards, analysing and evaluating the risks and identifying appropriate control measures. In practice, it boils down to a careful examination of what, in your workplace, could cause harm, so that you can decide whether enough precautions have been taken or whether you need to do more to prevent harm. Taking the asmathgen example above:

  • It's obvious that this is high risk and action needs to be taken immediately. Controlling the risk might be cheap and easy, e.g. substitute the asthmagen for a less hazardous substance, or it may be expensive, e.g. install a fume hood. In this case, given the level of risk, clearly, the cost would be justified.

What things do I have to include in my risk assessment?

You must include all risks arising from, or in connection with, your work activities

When is an assessment appropriate?

You should carry out an assessment before you do the work that gives rise to the risk, and review it as necessary.

When should I review my risk assessments?

You should review your risk assessments when you bring in new machinery, substances, processes or procedures which could lead to new hazards and/or a change in risk. In any case, it is good practice to review your risk assessments from time to time, to make sure that the precautions are still working effectively.

I have been told I need to assess the risk from my fax machine (or other non-hazardous item/substance). Is this true?

This is clearly nonsense. You should check for obvious problems, but you need only assess (in detail) risks that are significant and reasonably foreseeable. You do not have to assess everything, no matter how trivial; nor everything that could theoretically go wrong, however improbable. The level of detail in a risk assessment should be proportionate to the risk.

Do I have to record the findings of the risk assessment? If so, why? Isn't that just bureaucracy?

It makes sense to keep a record of the assessment so that when you come to review it, you can check back to see if anything has changed. It is also useful to keep a record so that you can share the findings with your colleagues/staff. Finally, it proves that you have carried out the process if a health and safety inspector asks about it. Health and safety law requires that you keep a record of the significant findings of your assessment if your company/organisation employs five or more people.

Isn't risk assessment nonsense? Everybody is grown-up in my firm and can look after themselves.

Risk assessment is common sense. It helps businesses take sound business decisions about how to manage risks to employee health and safety. It can save businesses money, both in avoiding wasted expenditure and (assuming action is taken in response to the assessment) in preventing losses. Where risks are insignificant, health and safety law does not require further action. Where risks are significant, society expects (and the law requires) the person who creates the risk to examine whether there is any further reasonable action they can take to reduce it and, if there is, to take it. That isn't being unreasonable. It is being fair. Of course, as with all workplace issues, health and safety is a matter of partnership. Employees cannot reasonably expect to have everything done for them; they have their own role to play as well. They must cooperate with their employer and use equipment provided for their safety and health.

Doesn't risk assessment just lead to more and more safety measures - most of which aren't necessary?

No. If risk assessment is done properly, it should identify the measures that are needed to reduce the risk to as low as reasonably practicable, and not further. It is important to remember that risk assessment can show that a process is safe enough with the measures you already have in place, and no more need be done.

What is the Precautionary Principle?

The precautionary principle says that where you have good reason to believe that something might cause harm but there isn't enough scientific knowledge to carry out a full risk assessment, this should not be used as an excuse to do nothing to prevent harm. HSE suggests that what you should do is make reasonable assumptions based on what you do know and what experience elsewhere tells you is likely to be the case, and then decide what would be reasonable precautions to take.

Is risk assessment just about preventing harm to people?

Risk assessment in the laboratory environment is primarily about preventing harm to people but you should also think about how to prevent damage to equipment, fixtures, fitting, etc. For example, a rotor crash within a modern centrifuge is highly unlikely to cause harm to people but it can cause many thousands of pounds worth of damage to the equipment. Controls to prevent this should be identified and noted.

How do I ensure my assessment is clearly understood?

It is important to think about whom the risk assessment will be shared with, if anyone, and to write it in a way the audience will clearly understand, taking into account their level of relevant experience and knowledge, previous training and first language. The reader should not require a key, matrix or dictionary in order to understand the risk assessment. Use plain language and be unambiguous and succinct. Talking someone through an assessment may more appropriate than simply giving them a copy to take away and read.

MS Word/PDF Risk Assessment/SOP Forms

If you have problems accessing and using the Risk Assessment Database, there are Microsoft Word or PDF forms available (see below) for you to download and complete. Once complete, please email the form to SLS Safety for approval. SLS Safety will import the finalised, approved assessment/procedure into the Database for you.