The risk assessment is a systematic process to identify, analyze and evaluate risks at the workplace and decide the control measures. The control measures make sure to remove or reduce the risks of loss, injury or damage in the workplace. Legally, it is necessary for all companies to perform risk assessments. If an organization has more than five employees, it is important to prepare a written record.
The organization’s ability to remove or control risks rely on its expertise to anticipate dangers. Risk assessment is a dynamic and proactive process that prepares organizations for any kind of danger in advance. If you are wondering how to complete the risk assessment process, go through the steps listed below:
Step 1: Recognize the Hazards
If you want to identify hazards, it would be best to understand the basic difference between risks and hazards. A hazard is a source of potential harm whereas a risk is a probability of a person getting harmed. You can identify hazards by using different techniques like inspecting the workplace or taking employee feedback.
Step 2: Identify the Harm with Hazards
When you identify the potential hazards like heat hazards, chemical reactions and more, determine who will be affected the most. Also, determine the degree or kind of damage one will suffer. It helps you to set priorities and look for optimal solutions related to different risks.
Besides the extent of possible damages, make sure to take into account the vulnerability of employees in different workplaces. Moreover, do not forget to consider pregnant ladies and disabled people.
Step 3: Evaluate the Potential Risks and Decide the Control Measures
Once you gather the list of potential harms, examine how likely that danger will appear. Also, consider the seriousness of the consequences. These risk estimations will allow you to find where you should minimize the risk level and what are the potential dangers. It is better to create a risk assessment chart for smooth learning.
Step 4: Record All Findings and Implement Them
It would be best if you create a proper record of all the risk assessments. It can help the organization to maintain track of risks, hazards and effective control measures. Proper documentation means a detailed description of processes in risk assessment, detailed explanations on the conclusions, proper draft of evaluations.
You can use a risk assessment template to record your findings. Then, share the proper risk assessment report and key findings with the department who can implement the necessary changes.
Step 5: Review the Risk Assessment Report
If there are any significant changes in the workplace, it is necessary to re-evaluate the risk assessment and update them. Sometimes employees notice a new issue, improvements, or any accidents that occurred after the implementation of changes. Moreover, all these factors must be updated and re-evaluated for designing proper control measures.
Conclusion
A risk assessment is important to create a safe workplace and prevent accidents. So, awareness of potential hazards is a must. It is a team responsibility that needs proper participation of upper management, employees, front-line management, and industrial hygienists.
By putting proper time and effort into these safety initiatives, you can make a good investment. Also, when employees are safe then only productivity can be improved.