Risk Assessment:

“A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what in your work, could

cause harm to people, so that you
can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent
harm.”
Steps of Risk Assessment: (IDERR)
 Step 1: Identify the hazards.
 Step 2: Decide who might be harmed and how.
 Step 3: Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.
 Step 4: Record your findings and implement them.
 Step 5: Review your assessment and update if necessar

Step 1: Identify the hazards

A. Observation
 It is an analysis of work being done, working conditions and worker’s act to find
out
Actual and potential hazards
Less obvious 'invisible' hazards
Behavioral aspects of workers at the workplace.
 Rely on observation by the assessor(s) and are dependent on the experience and
knowledge of the assessor.
 Safety Inspection: It is a process of looking for safety hazards, unsafe acts and
unsafe conditions at the work
place.
B. Failure Tracing Techniques
 This breaks down a system such as a chemical process into different sections and
then systematically asks
what could go wrong in that section, what would be the consequences, and what
measures could be
introduced to reduce the likelihood of the failure occurring or, if it does fail,
might mitigate the
consequences.
 Example: Hazard and Operability Study (or HAZOP)
C. Task Analysis
 The process of dividing the task into a number of steps, considering each step
separately, and analyzing
safety aspects of each of the steps to develop safe working procedures.
 Example: JSA( Job Safety Analysis)
D. Incident Reports
 This is a technique of using reactive data.
 Rely only on the reported or noticeable incident, accident and incident reports.
E. Checklists
 To ensure a consistent and comprehensive approach to check all the safety
elements to be covered during
an inspection, a checklist or inspection form is usually developed which covers the
key issues.
RISK ASSESSMENT

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 One helpful method of structuring a checklist is by using the “4 Ps”, as
recommended by the UK Health and
Safety Executive (HSE):
 Premises, including: – Access/escape. – Housekeeping. – Working environment.
 Plant and substances, including: – Machinery guarding. – Local exhaust
ventilation. –
Use/storage/separation of materials/chemicals.
 Procedures, including: – Permits-to-work. – Use of personal protective equipment.
–
Procedures followed.
 People, including: – Health surveillance. – People's behavior. – Appropriate
authorized
person

Step 2: Decide Who Might be Harmed and How

 The categories might include
 Workers carrying out a task, e.g. operating a lathe
 Other workers working nearby who might be affected
 Visitors/members of the public
 Maintenance staff
 New/young workers
 Persons with a disability
 Persons who work for another employer in a shared workplace

Step 3: Evaluate the Risks and Decide On Precautions

Risk = Likelihood × Consequence
Likelihood: measure of frequency at which the hazardous event occur.
Severity: measure of adverse effects/outcomes of the event.
Risk estimation:
Risk estimation is determining the magnitude of the size of the risk. This may
range from being a relatively crude
estimation, e.g. high, medium or low, to a more accurate estimation based on data.
“Estimation” is used because
risk deals with uncertainty and even the most detailed risk assessments have to
make a number of assumptions.
Evaluation:
Evaluation is the decision-making process whereby we decide, on the basis of the
risk we have estimated, as to
whether it is acceptable or otherwise.
 Evaluating the risk is done by comparing one’s practices with recognized
guidance.
Decide on Precautions:
When deciding on what action to be taken always follow the hierarchy of controls.
ERICDP
 Elimination - Hazard elimination is a hazard control strategy based on completely
removing a material or
process C)
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65
 Substitution - Hazard substitution is a hazard control strategy in which a
material or process is replaced
with another that is less hazardous. Ex- Replacing silica sand or coal slag with
alternative less toxic blasting
material like sodium bi carbonate, Dry ice etc.
 Engineering Control – Engineering controls are strategies designed to protect
workers from hazardous
conditions by placing a barrier between the worker and the hazard or by removing a
hazardous substance
through air ventilation. Ex- machine guards, positive ventilation system etc.
 Administrative Control – Administrative controls are training, procedure, policy,
or shift designs that lessen
the threat of a hazard to an individual. Ex- job rotation, safe system of work etc.
 Discipline- rely on the competence of the individual.
 Personal protective equipment (PPE) – The purpose of PPE is to reduce employee
exposure to hazards. It
is used in combination with other more effective control measures. PPE does not
eliminate the hazard and
may result in employees being exposed to hazards if the equipment fails.
 Welfare arrangements - provide washing facilities to remove contamination and
first aid facilities.

Step 4: Record your findings and implement them.

It is good practice to record the details of risk assessment. The significant
findings should include:
 A record of the preventive and protective measures in place to control the risks
 What further action, if any, needs to be taken to reduce risk sufficient level?
Timing/Review of Risk Assessment:
 Performing a non-routine task
 Performing a new task
 When new people are involved
 When third party people are involved
 When significant changes in process or system.
Examples of Risk Assessment:
1. HAZID (Hazard identification)
2. HAZOP (Hazard operability )
3. FMEA (Failure mode and effect analysis)
4. FTA (Fault tree analysis)
5. TRA (Task Risk Assessment)
6. What-if Analysis
7. Checklis