Health and Safety: Risk Assessments - Thinking Survival of the Safest

Posted by Steven Main on December 20th, 2022

Risk assessment plays a vital role in any workplace safety program. The process of identifying potential hazards in a location and assessing the risks that may take place as an outcome is known to be the risk assessment. It involves the identification and assessment of all the possibilities, dangers, and consequences. The right assessment according to the probability, environmental factors, dangers, past accidents, incidences, mishaps, and other factors could assist to avoid future illnesses, injuries, and accidents. This is why it is important to think about Risk Assessments and plan accordingly.

Importance of risk assessment 

The safety of employees, customers, and others involved in a workplace is of utmost importance. It is the primary objective of a health and safety risk assessment. It will also help to promote a culture, which prioritizes and adds value to health and safety aspects. With the health and safety risk assessment, people in the workplace will become aware of the real and current hazards that may have to face on every basis. If they are trained, then only they will be capable of handling those hazards and decreasing the risks and consequences associated. So, this is how the importance of health and safety risk assessment cannot be ignored at any cost.

What are the steps involved in risk management? 

OHS Risk Management Plan is an extremely essential process. Companies should understand that they are responsible for decreasing the risks that their workers are exposed to during any activity at the workplace. Every company is different and so are its health and safety risks. The commitment to health and safety at work is a joint responsibility shared by both employees and employers. So, if a company has made some rules in context with health and safety, then workers have to follow, cooperate with them, and get involved in the process. Steps include:

• First, define the scope, context, and criteria of the organization when it comes to risk assessment and management
• Understand the risks involved and the decisions and specific actions that need to be taken and this is why proper communication and consultation are needed
• It is also important to differentiate between risks and hazards, which makes risk assessment successful
• Analyzing the risk involves a detailed understanding of uncertainties, consequences, sources of risks, probability, events, controls, and their effectiveness
• Risk assessment needs to be done to compare the outcomes of the risk analysis with preset criteria to decide on the next required action
• What options to follow to resolve the risks
• Risk management is a continuous process, which needs monitoring and revising

Experts at Safe System can provide professional help for risk assessments.