#5 - How To Conduct a Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment

Welcome to?How To EHS, a toolkit of practical strategies, tips and insights for current and aspiring Environmental, Health & Safety professionals.

As an EHS Professional, your core responsibility is to both identify and manage risk. Effective risk management starts with identifying and addressing hazards before incidents occur. Without a solid understanding of the hazards and risks your employees face with the tasks they accomplish each day, it’s impossible to keep them safe.

I have always preferred using the 5 x 5 Risk Assessment methodology, be it for Environmental, Health and Safety risks. This methodology is derived from the method of calculating and assigning a risk score, by multiplying one of the 5 Severity levels, against one of the 5 Probability levels. This is a framework suitable for complex or large organizations wanting to perform an in-depth risk analysis.

Step 1: Hazard Identification

One cannot manage what they don’t know exists, therefore your first step is to go hazard hunting and identify all hazards in the organization or in your target area. This process, I must mention, is not for you as EHS to conduct alone, but with the input and involvement of applicable stakeholders. These stakeholders could be equipment operators, technical specialist, quality controllers and managers with insights and experience in conducting the activities you’ll be risk analysing. Lastly, you will list and assign each of the identified hazards a reference, title, and an appropriate description.

Step 2: Who will be Harmed and How

For each hazard identified, and there may be many, you need to be clear about who might be harmed and how; this will help ascertain the best way of managing the risk. That doesn’t mean listing everyone by name, but rather identifying groups of people (e.g. ‘people working in the storeroom’ or ‘passers-by’). In each case, identify how they might be harmed, i.e. what type of injury or ill health might occur. For example, ‘shelf stackers may suffer back injury from repeated lifting of boxes’.

Remember:

• some workers have particular requirements, e.g. new and young workers, new or expectant mothers and people with disabilities may be at particular risk. Extra thought will be needed for some hazards;
• cleaners, visitors, contractors, maintenance workers etc., who may not be in the workplace all the time;
• members of the public, if they could be hurt by your activities;
• if the workplace is shared, think about how your work activities affect others present, as well as how their work affects your colleagues – talk to them; and
• ask workers if they can think of anyone that may have been missed.

Step 3: Evaluate the risks and determine their Risk Ratings

The risk formula goes like this: Level of Risk = Probability x Severity

You will now identify each hazards probability and potential impact, by entering the Probability rating from 1 – 5 and Severance rating from 1 – 5. Then multiply these two ratings to obtain your risk rating out of 25. The selection of both probability and severity is subjective but ensure these are realistic. For the severity rating, you should judge the foreseeable harm. If you are dealing with hazards such as electricity or working at height, then a rating of 5 (fatality) is justified.

Step 4: Assign Control Measures

The risk assessment team, inclusive of the workers, conducting the assessments helps to ensure that any proposed risk control measures will work in practice and won’t introduce new hazards. Also consider that the workers, including managers, will need to be trained in the control measures that are adopted to guarantee that they are used correctly.

When controlling risks, follow the hierarchy of controls, if possible, in the following order:

You’ll need to create a strategy to address these issues and institute?risk management initiatives?to reduce the potential risks that pose the highest threat.

This strategy should include:

• Urgent control measures to address high-risk issues
• An action plan to reduce the probability and impact of prioritized risks
• A long-term strategy to improve the business's overall risk level
• A contingency plan to deal with worst-case scenarios

Step 5: Assign Action Plans and agree Timelines

It is good practice to allocate responsibility of this to named individuals, as well as assigning a time frame for implementation. The date of implementation should also be recorded. Completing the risk assessment is an important step, but it is acting on the findings of the risk assessment that will make the difference in eliminating or minimizing work related hazards and risks.

It is likely that assessors will have identified a number of new control measures that are required and businesses may not have the resources to implement all at once. Some additional control measures can be implemented immediately with limited resource e.g. ensuring housekeeping improvements, removing/rerouting trailing cables etc. Others will have to be prioritized and this should be based on the degree of risk. Make a plan of action to deal with the most important things first.

A good plan of action often includes a mixture of different things such as:

• a few low-cost or easy improvements that can be done quickly, perhaps
• as a temporary solution until more reliable controls are in place;
• long-term solutions to those risks most likely to cause accidents or ill-health;
• long-term solutions to those risks with the worst potential consequences;
• arrangements for training workers on the main risks that remain and how they are to be controlled;
• regular checks to make sure that the control measures stay in place.

Step 6: Monitor Progress and Review

You will be needed to monitor the effectiveness of the control measures and one way of doing this is through workplace inspections. Indeed, the risk assessment team may identify in the need to conduct daily/weekly/monthly workplace inspections as one of the required control measures.

Few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, new equipment, substances and procedures may be brought in, and this could lead to new hazards. It makes sense, therefore, to review what is being done on an ongoing basis. Every year or so formally review whether the assessment is still valid, this will help to make sure that environmental, health and safety standards are still improving, or at least not sliding back. Look at the risk assessment again. Have there been any changes? Are improvements still needed? Have workers identified other issues? Have accident or near miss investigations identified weaknesses il safety and health management? Make sure the risk assessment stays up to date.

During the year, if there is a significant change, don’t wait. Check the risk assessment and, where necessary, amend it. It is best to think about the risk assessment when planning changes – this helps to ensure new hazards are not introduced and appropriate control measures are in place.

References:

• https://www.cascade.app/blog/risk-matrix-guide
• IOSH Managing Safely - Risk assessment project guidance v5.0
• International Labour Office Geneva: A 5 STEP GUIDE - for employers, workers and their representatives on conducting workplace risk assessments

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