Risk Assessment
The concept of ‘risk assessment’ runs throughout the legislation and can be related to health and safety in general. It is a common-sense approach that simplifies problem solving. Getting the process started can be time consuming and there is a certain amount of paperwork involved, but it does not have to be complex. Occupational health experts can assist employers in fulfilling their risk management responsibilities.
There are many helpful Health and Safety Executive publications aimed at employers, which emphasise that risk assessment is a sim- ple and practical exercise. It is a vital part of making workplaces health- ier and safer, using a systematic approach and involving people within the organisation to identify hazards and control risks (HSE 2006a).
The major information on risk assessment (including reference to pregnancy and work) is contained in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, which state that:
The purpose of the risk assessment is to help the employer or self-employed person to determine what measures should be taken to comply with the employer’s or self-employed person’s duties under the relevant statutory provisions (HSE 1992b).
This covers both the general duties in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the more specific duties in various regulations. These state that, having assessed the risks, arrangements for health and safety must be made by effective planning, organisation, control, mon- itoring and review. The regulations also refer to health surveillance requirements.
The concept of risk assessment is familiar in that this approach is required by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regula- tions (HSE 2004b) and is central to health and safety legislation. All employers are required to undertake a risk assessment of significant risks and to record the findings if they employ five or more people.
They are required to make risk assessments and to undertake any plan- ning, remedial works or changes in practice and information provision that should prove necessary (Figure 8.2).
The idea is that by taking a preventative approach, accidents are avoided. This is preferable to being reactive and only taking action after something has gone wrong. Managers are responsible for carrying out assessments, with the help of staff – they should know the job, what is entailed and how it is done in practice rather than in theory. A system needs to be set up for every workplace that is suitable and manage- able, so that those involved understand what is required and why it is
What is a hazard? A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm.
What is a risk? A risk is the likelihood that harm from a particular hazard is realised.
Risk assessment involves employers asking themselves the following questions:
r What hazards exist in the workplace?
r Do they pose a risk to anyone?
r How big a risk do they pose – is the risk significant?
r How can we reduce and control the risk and thereby make the workplace safer?
Figure 8.2 Risk Assessment: Some Basic Questions
important. The occupational health nurse can help with setting up such systems and working out the best way to approach risk assessment for a particular organisation. Managers will need adequate training in how to perform a risk assessment and the system to be used, and suggestions on how to involve their staff in the process.
Complex numerical formulae for risk assessment should not be nec- essary and may be unhelpful. Those doing the risk assessment need to look at literally everything that happens in the workplace: all activ- ities, procedures and equipment, and the people involved. The most time-consuming work is initiating the risk assessment in the work- place; thereafter, assessments must be updated, but this becomes a process with which people are familiar. Once initial risk assessments have been performed and documented, with clear allocation of respon- sibilities, and remedial action has been taken, the process becomes an integral part of ongoing work. Checklists should be as simple as possi- ble. Usually a simple system involving options of low, medium or high risk and indicating the control measures required and by what date is perfectly adequate. The HSE publication ‘Five Steps to Risk Assess- ment’ (HSE 2006a) includes a template recording form for basic risk assessments.
Some organisations with multiple sites carrying out similar tasks make generic risk assessments to assist managers and avoid duplica- tion. The idea is not to detract from managers’ responsibilities but to help them. Managers must check that the generic assessment is not invalidated by local differences, in which case a separate local risk as- sessment will be required. Staff need access to and information about the assessment and any working precautions necessary. Everybody at the workplace needs to be involved and on the lookout for hazards, and must ensure that these are reported. This is all part of engendering a health and safety culture within an organisation.
Risk assessment in relation to health and safety is part of an organi- sation’s overall risk management strategy. Good risk management can help reduce insurance premiums, as well as assisting marketing and public relations – all important factors in the protection and growth of a business.
The Competent Person
The regulations stress the importance of developing safety cultures in which management of health and safety is integrated within the organisation. The emphasis is on managers taking responsibility for health and safety in their departments, with the support of competent advice. Kloss (2005), referring to the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, says, ‘The employer must appoint one or more competent persons to assist him (Regulation 7). This provision puts more pressure than before on employers to appoint safety advisers and occupational health personnel with recognised specialist qualifications (though there is still no statutory requirement).’
Health and safety experts within organisations are generally known as health and safety ‘advisers’ rather than ‘officers’. Their role is to ad- vise people and help them to take responsibility for health and safety within their own areas as an integral part of their jobs as managers and employees. Traditionally, the health and safety officer was from an engineering or operations background, with the emphasis on tech- nical knowledge of machinery and engineering issues and on enforc- ing legal requirements. These are, of course, crucial for safe working, but the technical aspects are part of engineering management. Or- ganisation of safe and regular maintenance systems of work should be occurring in any case. The engineering services manager will, and should, know more about the safety requirements in the boiler room than health and safety advisers, who may come from a variety of backgrounds.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require that the person advising on risk assessment is ‘competent’. The Health and Safety Executive recommends that this person be a manager who has been properly trained to do risk assessment, unless the risks are complicated, in which case outside advice may be needed. The ‘com- petent person’ referred to in the regulations is not therefore necessarily an outside expert, but is the best person for the job depending upon the circumstances. It is for management at the local level to decide who is competent to do the job.
Under the sub-heading ‘Competent Advice’, the Health and Safety Executive states:
Although you can probably find out most of what you need to know for yourself, you might find that you are dealing with issues that need technical knowledge you have not got. In that case, you need to have a source of competent advice.
If not already available in-house, there are many people you can turn to for help – employers’ organisations, trade associations, chambers of commerce, local training organisations, local health and safety groups,
trade unions, insurance companies, suppliers of plant, equipment and chemicals, and consultants.
You can get information on specific issues by ringing HSE’s infoline (tel: 0845 345 0055) (HSE 2006b p. 4).
A number of safety training courses are available, the basic level being the National Examination Board for Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) certificate, with more specialist training available at NEBOSH diploma level.
Health and safety belongs to us all – total responsibility cannot be delegated to a health and safety consultant or a safety adviser who comes around at intervals with a checklist. Specialists can be invalu- able for technical advice, support and policy development, updating and strategic advice. They may also help with more difficult issues and with problem-solving and technical aspects, such as air sampling mea- surements and so on. The people doing the job need to be aware and informed of the hazards to which they are exposed, and involved in protecting themselves and others from coming to any harm. The audit process needs to be locally driven.
As discussed, nowadays the emphasis in health and safety law is on managers recognising responsibilities for their areas, and being involved with and aware of hazards and risks and health and safety management.
The onus is on the employer to demonstrate how they decided that the person they appointed as ‘competent person’ was worthy of that title.
The Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council v J. Sainsbury plc (1998) case, relating to a fatal accident, emphasises this point. Davies (1999) states: ‘The depot safety adviser at the time of the accident was a nurse who had been placed in the role of “occupational health and safety adviser”. She was expected to perform work which should have been undertaken by someone with considerably more training and experi- ence in safety.’ Davies goes on: ‘the case cannot illustrate enough the need for all employers to engage a competent health and safety adviser relative to the type of business they operate.’
The occupational health nurse should be able to help to advise man- agement, in conjunction with the health and safety adviser, on who would be competent for which piece of legislation. It may be that the health and safety adviser is competent for some of the legislation, the occupational health nurse for other parts, and that some outside ad- vice is also needed for certain aspects. This all needs to be planned at a local level within an organisation. The occupational health nurse may be competent, for example, to advise in the office setting but not in the construction industry. Advising on health-related legisla- tion is part of the job, so keeping up to date by whatever method is appropriate and effective, including extra training where necessary, is essential.
It is up to all professionals to be clear and assured about their com- petencies, and aware of the limitations of their knowledge. As well as knowing where to obtain information, it is also crucial to know what, and to whom, to refer when you do not have the relevant competency.