How to improve

Risk Assessment
Skills?

10 observations from teaching

front-line workers identifying
hazards and error traps.
*STOCK PHOTOGRAPH

GIVE IT A GO:
1. How many hazards can you
identify?
a) visible
b) hidden
2. How many error traps can you
identify?
3. Can you differentiate between
hazards and error traps?
To help with hazard
identification, we used the list
of the energy sources* with
descriptions, e.g.:
• motion,
• electrical,
• gravity etc.

SOURCE: Hallowell, M., (2021), The Energy Wheel, The

Art and Science of Energy based hazard recognition
 #1
Connecting a hazard such as
a “dropped object”
to
“How could it realistically
happen during my task?”
requires a lot of cognitive
effort and is difficult to do.

Therefore, we see more

generic hazards identified
than specific hazards.
 #2
Three levels of quality:

LEVEL 1 - Using only a guide word, e.g.

“gravity”.
LEVEL 2 – Pointing to a generic risk, e.g.
“dropped object”.
LEVEL 3 – Pointing to contextual risk
associated with the situation, e.g.
“when we put the pallet on the top
shelf, the lighting is poor and the driver
can push the pallet too far, and it
could fall.”

Giving people a list of energies, increases the number of

energies identified (Level 1), but does not automatically
improve the quality (Level 3).
 #3
In line with the research, we
see a higher number of visible
hazards identified, such as:
• gravity (dropped object), or
• motion (hit by a forklift)
compared to the hidden
hazards, such as:
• pressure (hose can burst),
or
• electricity (live panel).
 #4
Identifying hazards related to
energies such as:
• pressure,
• chemical or
• radiation

requires technical
knowledge, more cognitive
effort and coaching.
 #5
Questions:

1. “What are the hazards here?”

vs
2. “What could kill you here?”

lead to different focus and

answers.
 #6
“Error traps” are a separate concept
not present in the mainstream safety
management.

We used our list of error traps with

descriptions, e.g.
• Procedures – Are the procedures
available, workable, and correct?
• Training – Did the training we
received prepare us well for this
task?
• Equipment – How can the
equipment design lead to problems
or errors?
 #7
Most “Error traps” such as:
• out of date procedure,
• difficult access to correct
tools,
• less time available than
needed,
are not directly observable
and require a conversation
with people doing the work.
 #8
Teaching how to identify
error traps requires:

1. explaining what they are,

2. showing examples,
3. practicing differentiating
from hazards,
4. using participants
experience and their own
scenarios.
 #9
Improving people’s ability to
identify hazards and error traps
needs to be supported by:
1. Team leaders and managers
able to nurture these skills
among their teams.
2. A process to escalate,
prioritise and resource
improvement actions.
3. Integration with existing
processes such as JSA.
 #10
Our training on HF / HoP in Risk
assessment resulted in:
• 50% increase in identified hazards
• 40% improvement in the quality of
hazards
• An increase in identified error traps
(from 0 to 5 per scenario – on
average)
• 50% improvement in the quality of
error traps
• New ability to identify critical steps
• Strengthen the Dynamic Risk
Assessment Skills
My name is
Marcin Nazaruk
and I’m
passionate
about helping
companies to
modernise
safety.

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