RISK ASSESSMENT

What is RISK?
- is the chance or probability that a person will be
harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a
hazard. It may also apply to situations with property or
equipment loss, or harmful effects on the environment. Risk are
expressed as a probability or likelihood of developing a disease
or getting injured, whereas hazard refers to the agent
responsible.

Factors that influence the degree or likelihood of risk are:

• the nature of the exposure: how much a person is exposed

to a hazardous thing or condition (e.g., several times a day
or once a year),
• how the person is exposed (e.g., breathing in a vapor, skin
contact), and
• the severity of the effect. For example, one substance may
cause skin cancer, while another may cause skin irritation.
Cancer is a much more serious effect than irritation.
 Common health risks
Some of the most common health risks
associated with workplace hazards
include:

• breathing problems;
• skin irritation;
• damage to muscles, bones and joints;
• hearing damage;
• reduced wellbeing.
Occupational risk assessment
- is a method for estimating health risks from
exposure to various levels of a workplace hazard.
Understanding how much exposure to a hazard poses health
risks to workers is important to appropriately eliminate, control,
and reduce those risks.
The aim of a risk assessment is to answer three basic questions:
• What can happen?
• How likely is it to happen?
• What are the consequences if it does happen

Methodology

- Workers should be protected from occupational risks they

could be exposed to. This could be achieved through a risk
management process, which involves risk analysis, risk
assessment and risk control practices. In order to carry out an
effective risk management process, it is necessary to have a
clear understanding of the legal context, concepts, risk analysis,
assessment and control processes and the role played by all
involved in the process. It is also desirable to base risk
management on solid and tested methodologies.
RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS
• Risk assessment
- It is the process of evaluation of the risks arising
from a hazard, taking into account the adequacy of any existing
controls and deciding whether or not the risks is acceptable and it
is also the overall process of hazard identification, risk analysis, and
risk evaluation.

• Risk Control
- is the stage where the actions to identify and
implement safety measures to control risks are performed having
in mind the protection of workers’ health and safety, as well as
their monitoring over time. The safety measures implemented
should be the ones that best protect everyone exposed to the risk.
However, it is important not to forget that additional or different
safety measures may be required to protect workers belonging to
special groups, namely workers with special needs (such as
pregnant women, young workers, aging workers and workers with
disabilities) and maintenance workers, cleaners, contractors and
visitors. It is very important to take account of the number of
individuals exposed to the risk when setting priorities and
timescales to the implementation of safety control measures. Risk
control includes design, planning and implementing of safety
control measures, as well as training and workers information.

• Risk Analysis
- a process for comprehending the nature of hazards
and determining the level of risk. It provides a basis for risk
evaluation and decisions about risk control and includes risk
estimation.
 Why is risk assessment important?
Risk assessments are very important as they form an integral part of an occupational health and safety
management plan. They help to:

• Create awareness of hazards and risk.

• Identify who may be at risk (e.g., employees, cleaners, visitors, contractors, the public, etc.).
• Determine whether a control program is required for a particular hazard.
• Determine if existing control measures are adequate or if more should be done.
• Prevent injuries or illnesses, especially when done at the design or planning stage.
• Prioritize hazards and control measures.
• Meet legal requirements where applicable.
 What is the goal of risk assessment?
The aim of the risk assessment process is to evaluate hazards, then remove that hazard or minimize the level of
its risk by adding control measures, as necessary. By doing so, you have created a safer and healthier
workplace.

The goal is to try to answer the following questions:

a) What can happen and under what circumstances?

b) What are the possible consequences?
c) How likely are the possible consequences to occur?
d) Is the risk controlled effectively, or is further action required?

When should a risk assessment be done?

There may be many reasons a risk assessment is needed, including:

• Before new processes or activities are introduced.

• Before changes are introduced to existing processes or activities, including when products, machinery,
tools, equipment change or new information concerning harm becomes available.
• When hazards are identified.
 How do you plan for a risk assessment?
In general, determine:

What the scope of your risk assessment will be (e.g., be specific about what you are assessing such as the lifetime
of the product, the physical area where the work activity takes place, or the types of hazards).
The resources needed (e.g., train a team of individuals to carry out the assessment, the types of information
sources, etc.).
What type of risk analysis measures will be used (e.g., how exact the scale or parameters need to be in order to
provide the most relevant evaluation).
Who are the stakeholders involved (e.g., manager, supervisors, workers, worker representatives, suppliers, etc.).
What relevant laws, regulations, codes, or standards may apply in your jurisdiction, as well as organizational
policies and procedures.

How is a risk assessment done?

- Assessments should be done by a competent person or team of individuals who have a good working
knowledge of the situation being studied. Include either on the team or as sources of information, the
supervisors and workers who work with the process under review as these individuals are the most familiar with
the operation.
 HAZARD CHECKLIST
(QUALITATIVE)
What is a hazard?
- The meaning of the word hazard can be confusing.
Often dictionaries do not give specific definitions or
combine it with the term "risk". For example, one
dictionary defines hazard as "a danger or risk" which
helps explain why many people use the terms
interchangeably.
There are many definitions for hazard but the most
common definition when talking about workplace
health and safety is:
A hazard is any source of potential damage, harm or
adverse health effects on something or someone.
Basically, a hazard is the potential for harm or an
adverse effect (for example, to people as health effects,
to organizations as property or equipment losses, or to
the environment).
 What are workplace hazards?
- Simply put, workplace hazards are any aspect of work that cause health and safety risks and have
the potential to harm. Some hazards are more likely to be present in some workplaces than others, and
depending on the work that you do, there will be hazards that are more or less relevant to your business.

What are the most common workplace hazards?

There are many types of workplace hazards, which tend to come under four main categories:

• physical hazards – the most common workplace hazards, including vibration, noise and slips, trips and falls;
• ergonomic hazards – physical factors that harm the musculoskeletal system, such as repetitive movement,
manual handling and poor body positioning;
• chemical hazards – any hazardous substance that can cause harm to your employees;
• biological hazards – bacteria and viruses that can cause health effects, such as hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and
Legionnaire’s disease.
 WHAT IS HAZARD CHECKLIST?
• A Hazard checklist contains questions or topics intended to prompt
consideration of a range of safety issues. It can also be used in
combination with structured hazard identification techniques.
• Checklists can be created from previous risk assessments, and provide
an efficient means of generating a list of standard hazards suitable for
all phases of development.
• The checklist should be constructed to address a range of safety issues
including presence of hazardous materials or functions, functional
performance, interaction with other systems, and personnel safety. If
Hazard Analysis or Safety Assessment has already been carried out on
a similar system, any available and relevant information should be
incorporated into the Checklist.
 When it might be used?
A Hazard Checklist can be used from the earliest stages of a project, although the technique is most readily
applied when design information is sufficiently well defined to know what technologies will be used. Generally,
Hazard Checklists are better at identifying Physical Hazards (depending on system components and location),
than Functional Hazards.

When setting up and using a Hazard Checklist, the following points should be considered:

• A Hazard checklist is useful for most risk assessments.

• The topics presented in any Hazard Checklist should not be considered to be comprehensive; they are for
guidance, and are the minimum that should be considered.
• For greatest benefit, Hazard checklists should be applied in an imaginative way by those with a good
understanding of the system design, operation, location, upkeep and interactions.
RISK ASSESSMENT REPORTING
- A risk assessment report is the document that presents
and summarizes the results of a risk assessment so that the information
can be used to help make a decision about what to do next.
Based on knowing what the report is for helps you figure out what
actually needs to be presented. Knowing who the report is for helps you
figure out what level of detail should be included, the way that
information should be presented and the language and terms that
should be used.
The format of the report could vary from a single slide to a very lengthy
document depending on what the decision is and the exact scope of the
assessment.

Why is it important to review and

monitor the assessments?
- It is important to know if your risk assessment was
complete and accurate. It is also essential to be sure that any changes in
the workplace have not introduced new hazards or changed hazards
that were once ranked as lower priority to a higher priority.
It is good practice to review your assessment on a regular basis to make
sure your control methods are effective.
 What documentation should be done for a
risk assessment?
Keeping records of your assessment and any control actions taken is very important.
You may be required to store assessments for a specific number of years. Check for
local requirements in your jurisdiction.

The level of documentation or record keeping will depend on:

• Level of risk involved.
• Legislated requirements.
• Requirements of any management systems that may be in place.

Your records should show that you:

• Conducted a good hazard review.
• Determined the risks of those hazards.
• Implemented control measures suitable for the risk.
• Reviewed and monitored all hazards in the workplace.
What to Include?
If your objective in performing a risk assessment is to enable making a decision, then there’s a few things that
MUST be part of the report:

• What is the scenario, goal, objective or event being assessed

• What is explicitly included and excluded from the scope of the assessment
• A statement describing the formality of the assessment
• A statement describing the confidence in the information used as the basis of the assessment
• A statement indicating the time period analyzed as part of the assessment (also known as the “holding period” of
the risk)
• A description of the consequence or impact scales used during the assessment
• A description of the likelihood/frequency scales used during the assessment
• Thresholds in each relevant consequence scale for the risk capacity, risk appetite, and risk tolerance levels
• A statement of any assumptions made in relation to the assessment
• A list of prioritized external factors/scenarios considered as part of the assessment (the threats and opportunities)
• A list of prioritized internal factors considered as part of the assessment (the strengths and weaknesses or the
controls and vulnerabilities)
• A description of the relevant contextual environment associated with each of the risk and opportunity scenarios
including the motivation, event actor, capabilities and relevant situational factors
• An evaluation of the potential risk exposure in terms of likelihood and impact of each of the prioritized threats and
opportunities in the absence of any controls within the targeted environment (inherent risk assessment)
• An evaluation of the potential risk exposure in terms of likelihood and impact of each of the prioritized threats and
opportunities in light of the strengths/controls present in the current environment
• A summary of the expected control value of the current environment
• A summary of the scenarios with impacts mapped to the defined risk capacity, risk appetite and risk tolerance
levels
• Identification of the individual risk owners associated with each of the impacts in the assessment
• Suggested risk treatment strategies and objectives for reducing the risks exceeding stakeholder risk tolerance
Depending on the particular organization and the capabilities of the assessor, the risk assessment report MAY
also include:
• Risk treatment or remediation recommendations based on known controls
• Cost estimates associated with each of the suggested remediation recommendations
• Systemic risk impact analysis based on both potential impact and potential remediation scenarios
• Descriptions of risk aggregation approaches and weightings
• Identification of prerequisites and dependencies of and between proposed risk treatments
• Financing strategies associated with the recommended mitigation plans
• Indicators, measurements and metrics for detecting the risk scenarios and/or changes in the internal or
external environment
• A list of “obvious” or anticipated internal and external factors expected by the recipients of the report that
were either not in scope or de- prioritized and why they were not included in the assessment
How you want to present the required and optional elements identified above is dependent on the scope, level
of detail and audience of the report. Some audiences (internal or external) have pre-defined templates they
expect to be used, so you need to associate the above points with the right template areas and augment those
templates if required to include anything else that doesn’t naturally fit.

Either way, the recipients of the report should have everything they need to understand what factors were and
were not evaluated, an indication of the accuracy and confidence of the assessment and whether the gaps
identified in the risk assessment are ethically, technically and financially feasible to manage or if an alternative
course of action must be found.
-END-