Unit IG1- Management of Health and Safety

Element 3- Managing Risk – Understanding People and

Processes
 Practice questions
1. How can H&S culture at work be improved?
2. What are the indicator of positive H&S culture?
3. What are the factor influencing H&S behaviour at work & what individual factor
positively & negatively influence behaviour at work?
4. How an organization could improve H&S behaviour at work?
5. What is the meaning of competence?
6. What is communication and how its improve H&S performance of organisation?
a. What are the content of induction training programme.
b. How training can improve H&S performance of Organisation.
c. When an Organisation need to Provide training to employees.
d. what are the things to be consider when plan for H&S training.
7. A. What is the meaning of hazard, risk, risk assessment.
B. What are the steps of risk assessment.
C. what are the objective of risk assessment.
D. What types of workers might you need to consider in your risk assessment
E. How an organisation should make a risk assessment suitable and sufficient.
F. What are the Hierarchy of control measures.
G. What are the general principles of prevention method to reducing risk
8. A. What are the change identification in management of chance and what is MOC.
B. what are the control measures to mitigate the impact of change.
C. what are things to be reviewed to mitigate chances.
9. What are the types of signs used at workplace?
10. What are the limitations of PPE or Why it considers as a last option of protection?
11. A. What is SSSW and its Purpose.
B. Why workers involvement is important in development of SSW.
C. Why SSW should be in written down.
D. What are the type of control included in SSW as a hierarchies of risk control measures.
E. What are the Factors should be consider when developing SSW.
F. What are the content of SSW.
G. What are reasons for failure of SSW.
F. What types of information should be included in a written SSW.
12. A. What is PTW and what its role and function in H&S at work.
B. What are the content of PTW .
C. What are the limitation of PTW.
D. What types of work activities would you use a PTW system for.
F. Why is it a good idea to use a PTW system for some work activities.
G. What roles should be allocated in a PTW system.
H. What do you need to have in place for a PTW in practice.
13. A. What is Emergency and Crisis Management.
B. What are the Characteristics of Emergencies.
C. what are the types of emergencies that require urgent action at work place.
D. What are the arrangements require in an organisation to deal with Emergencies.
F. Why would you test emergency procedures through live practice exercise?
14. A. What is first aid and what are the purpose of it.
B. What are things to be consider when deciding first aid provision in the workplace.
C. What are the content of first aid records.
D. What types of information given to employees related to first aid facilities.
E. What an organisation should do to make effective arrangement of first aid treatment.
 HEALTH AND SAFETY CULTURE
• Safety culture can be defined as the
shared attitudes, values, beliefs and
behaviours relating to health and
safety.
 HEALTH AND SAFETY CULTURE AND PERFORMANCE

In organisation with a positive safety culture,

• Health and safety is important to everyone
• There is a strong policy and leadership
• Health and safety performance is good:
People work safety
There are fewer accidents and ill-health events
HEALTH AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE
In organisation with a negative safety culture
• Most feel safety is not important
• There is a lack of competence
• Safety is low priority
• Health and safety performance is poor
There is a lack of care and poor behavior
Accident and ill-health occur as a result
 FACTOR TO BE CONTRIBUTE NEGATIVE
IMPACT ON HEALTH AND SAFETY CULTURE
• Lack of leadership from management
• Presence of a blame culture
• Lack of management commitment safety
• Health and safety receiving lower priority than other business
• Organisational changes
• Lack of resource
• Worker consultation
• Interpersonal issues influence of peers
 SAFETY CULTURE INDICATORS
•Accidents
•Absenteeism in terms of sickness rates
•Staff turnover
•Compliance with health and safety related
requirements
•Complaints from workers about working condition
 FACTORS INFLUENCING SAFETY-RELATED BEHAVIOUR
• Organizational factors:- The health and safety culture of
the organisation, commitment and leadership of
management, resource, work pattern, consultation and
worker involvement, training, level of supervision.
• Job factors:- The task, workload, environment, and
procedure.
• Individuals:- competence, skills, knowledge, experience,
attitude & motivations.
 COMMUNICATION
• Verbal:- such as:- face to face conversation, training
sessions, instructions, interview, meetings, lecture etc.
• Written communication:- such as:- reports, email, risk
assessment, letters, notice, safety policy.
• Visual/graphic communications:- such as: video, computer,
posters, safety signs.
 VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Advantage Disadvantage
• Direct • Language barrier
• Two way • Jargon may not be understood
• Quick • Background noise
• Instant feedback • Recipients may have poor hearing
• Flexible  May miss information
• Allow for checking of  May forget information
understanding  No written as a proof
• No record
• No reference
• Limited audience
 WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Advantage Disadvantage
• Permanent record • Indirect
• Reference • May not be read
• Broad audience • Often not feedback
• Language barrier
• Question cannot be asked
• May contain jargon &
abbreviations
• Recipient may have
impaired vision.
 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
Advantage Disadvantage
• Jargon free • Can only convey simple
• May be eye catching messages
• Visual • Might be expensive to buy or
• Quick to interpret produce
• No language barrier • May not be looked at
• Large group • Question cannot be asked
• Recipients may have impaired
vision
• Symbols or pictogram may be
unknown
• No feedback
 MEANS OF PROVIDING INFORMATION
• Noticeboards
• Posters
• Film or videos
• Tool Box Talk
• E-Mails
• Workers handbook
TYPES OF INFORMATION POSTED ON NOTICE BOARDS
• Health and safety policy.
• Evacuation procedures.
• First-aid arrangement.
• MSDS.
• Specific hazards and risk.
• Emergency contact numbers.
 TRAINING
NEED FOR TRAINING
• On joining the company (induction)
• Job changes
• Process change
• New technology
• New legislation
• For Specific job and After accidents.
 TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
Types of function of the organisations
Hazards and risk profile of the organisation
Accidents history of the organisations
Any statutory training requirement
Risk assessment
 NEW EMPLOYEE INDUCTION TRAINING TOPICS
• Health and safety policy
• Fire and other Emergency procedures
• First-aid facilities and personnel
• Welfare facilities
• Accident and incident reporting
• Safety rules
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Introduction of safe system of works.
• Introduction of Risk assessment system and Permit to work system.
• Responsibility of individual towards health and safety.
 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
Meaning and definitions of terms
Hazard: A hazard is anything that has potential to cause harm,
e.g. injury to people or damage to property or something with
the potential to cause harm
Ex:- Workplace hazards including work at height, fire ,
electricity, manual & mechanical handlings, noise, dust and
hazardous gases or chemicals
Risk: The risk is combination of likelihood of occurring harm
and consequence of the event.
Residual risk: The level of risk remaining after controls have
been adopted.
 Risk

Risk is the combination of likelihood of occurring harm and

consequence of that events.
Or
Risk is the chance of occurring harm from hazard.
 Risk is often shown or rated or evaluated.
Risk = Likelihood x Consequence = Risk value
 Risk assessment

Risk assessment is a careful examination of anything in the

workplace could cause harm to people.
Or
Risk assessment is a process of identifying the significant
hazards, assessing risk and then either eliminating or
controlling the risk in acceptable level.
HAZARDS CAN BE BROADLY CLASSIFIED AS
•Physical
•Chemical
•Biological
•Ergonomic
•Psychological
 TYPES OF RISK ASSESSMENT

•Quantitative ( By Number ).
•Qualitative ( By Word ).
 OBJECTIVES OF RISK ASSESSMENTS

•To prevent injuries and ill-health

•To fulfill legal requirement
•To prevent direct and indirect costs that
follow on from accident
 RISK ASSESSOR
Competent
Experience and relevant training and risk assessment
 Team approach is beneficial
Workers familiar with task
Health and safety specialists
Technical specialists
Line managers
Worker safety representatives
 SUITABLE AND SUFFICIENT RISK ASSESSMENT
A suitable and sufficient Risk assessment should
• Identify the significant hazards and risks arising out of work.
• Identify all those persons who could be risk, including workers and others
such as visitors. Vulnerable people such as young persons should also be
identified.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of any current controls.
• Provide additional control measure.
• Be appropriate to the nature of the work .
• Employees and their representatives were consulted in the process.
• Risk Assessment and Review date.
 THE FIVE STEPS/STAGE TO CARRY OUT RISK
ASSESSMENT
• Risk assessment can be described as a 5-step process.
1. Identify the hazards.
2. Identify the people who might be harmed and how.
3. Evaluate the risk and decide the control measures.
4. Record the significant findings and implement them.
5. Review and update as necessary .
 Steps of Risk Assessment

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

• Identify the • Decide • Evaluate • Record the • Review
hazards who might the risk and findings assessment
be harm existing and revise
and how control if
they will be measure, necessary
harm and select
additional
controls.
 STEP – 01
IDENTIFY THE HAZARDS
• The first step in the risk assessment process is to identify the
significant hazards associated with the work.
• It is important to identify both the safety hazards that might
give rise to immediate physical injury, and the health hazards
that might cause disease or ill health.
• Hazards identification should be done through inspection of the
work area, interacting with the operators employees , engineer
and supervisor , source of information like legislation , MSDS ,
incidents data and manufacturers and suppliers manuals book
and task analysis.
 STEP 02
IDENTIFY THE PEOPLE AT RISK
• When identifying people at risk, think not only of those
carrying out particular activities but also of those who may be
affected by those activities . Individuals do not need to be
named; rather general groups or populations identified such
as workers/operators, maintenance staff, cleaners, contractors,
visitors, members of the public.
• Specific focus has to be applied who is more vulnerable group
such as young people, new and expectant mothers, disabled
workers and lone worker.
 STEP-03
EVALUATE THE RISK AND DECIDE ON PRECAUTIONS
• Having identified a particular hazards and the people who might
be harmed by it, the next step in the risk assessment process is to
answer a simple question : is the level of risk generated by the
hazards acceptable, or does it need to be reduced ?
• Risk should be evaluated and rated through likelihood and
consequence.
 Likelihood Severity
5 = Certain imminent 5 = Fatality Very high

4 = Very likely 4 = Disability High

3 = Likely 3 = Lost time injury Medium

2 = Unlikely 2 = Minor injury Low

1 = Very unlikely 1 = Insignificant-no Insignificant

injury
  Risk Rating
1. Multiplied between likelihood x consequence to get the risk score.
2. This will give a number on scale/score of 1-25.
3. These figures offer an indication of top priority and the level of risk,
higher the number, higher the risk.
• 15 to 25 = high risk
• 08 to 15 = medium risk
• 01 to 07 = low risk
 Selecting/deciding control measure
 When hazards are identified through risk assessment process, it is
necessary to decide the precautions
A useful approach can be to used a Risk control hierarchy.
 TOPIC FOCUS
The general hierarchy of risk control (based on ISO 45001
and ILO-OSH 2001):
Elimination

1. Elimination.
substitution
2. Substitution.
3. Engineering controls. Engineering controls

4. Administrative controls. Administrative

controls
5. PPE
PPE
 ELIMINATION
If a hazard can be eliminated, then the risk created
by that hazard disappears. This might be done by
completely avoiding an activity that gives rise to risk.
For example, purchasing readymade fabricated steel
in order to avoid the risks inherent in welding
operations. Lifting equipment such as hoists and lifts
can be used to completely eliminate manual handling.
 SUBSTITUTION
Sometimes, hazard elimination cannot be achieved, but
it is possible to substitute one hazard with another that
creates less risk. For example, one hazardous substance
classified as ‘Toxic’ is substituted with one that is
‘irritant’. A handling aid such as a trolley does not
eliminate manual handling, but it does reduce the risk
of injury associated with moving boxes around in a
workplace.
 ENGINEERING CONTROLS
• Engineering controls involve the use of an engineering
solution to prevent exposure to the hazard.
This might be done by:
• Isolation or total enclosure.
• Separation.
• Safety devices For example, interlock switches are fitted
to movable guards on machinery to ensure that, when
the guard is open, the machine will not operate (but
when the guard is closed, it will).
 ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS
Administrative controls are those that rely on
procedures and behaviour, such as:
Safe system of work – this is a formal procedure
which defines a method of working that
eliminates hazards or minimises the risks
associated with them.
Information, instruction, training and supervision
• Reduce exposure – if the degree to which a worker is
exposed to a hazard can be reduced, then that worker
is far less likely to have an accident with that hazard.
For example, an engineer who spends all day working
on machinery with hazardous moving parts is more
likely to suffer injury than an engineer who only
spends one hour of their working day exposed to the
same hazard. The duration of each exposure (e.g. for
10 minutes or for 8 hours) and the frequency of
exposure (e.g. once a week or 10 times a day) will
both play a part here – the less time and the lower
frequently, the better.
 SAFETY SIGNS

The standard safety signs are divided into five categories:

• Prohibition – directed at stopping dangerous behaviour,
e.g. ‘No smoking’. The signs are circular with a black
pictogram on a white background with a red border and
red diagonal cross bar.
• Warning – tell people to be careful of a particular hazard,
e.g. ‘Forklift trucks operating in the area’. The signs are
triangular with a black pictogram on a yellow
background with a black border.
• Mandatory action – instruct people to take a specific action, often
relating to wearing personal protective equipment, e.g. ‘Eye protection
must be worn’. They are circular with a solid blue background and a
white pictogram.
• Safe condition – identify about safety conditions or places of safety,
e.g. ‘First-aid station’. They are rectangular or square with a white
pictogram on a green background.
• Fire-fighting equipment – identify particular items of equipment, e.g.
‘Hose reels’. They are rectangular or square with a white symbol or
pictogram on a red background.
 PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE)
Equipment or clothing that is worn or held by a worker that protects them
from one or more risks to their safety or health.
There are instances where none of the above control measures can be used
and there are times when some of them can but residual risk still remains. If
this is the case, then it may be necessary to use PPE. Many different types
of PPE are available, such as:
• Ear defenders for noise.
• Gloves to prevent contact with substances hazardous to the skin.
• Respiratory protection against substances hazardous by inhalation
(breathing in).
• Eye protection against hazardous chemical, mists, sprays and dusts and
radiation including laser lights.
 STEP 4
RECORD SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS AND IMPLEMENT
• Identification of the activity/area assessed and of the significant
hazards.
• Identification of groups at risk and those especially at risk.
• Evaluation of the risks and the adequacy of existing control
measures.
• Action plans for implementing further precautions needed.
• Date of assessment and name of the competent person carrying out
the assessment.
• Review date.
 STEP 5
REVIEW AND UPDATE
•A risk assessment must be reviewed and
amended as necessary if there is reason to
suspect that it is no longer valid or if there
has been a significant change
 TOPIC FOCUS
A NUMBER OF SITUATIONS CAN TRIGGER A REVIEW OF
A RISK ASSESSMENT
Significant change to something that the risk assessment relates to:
• Process.
• Substances.
• Equipment.
• Workplace environment.
• Personnel.
• Legal standards.
There is reason to suspect that the assessment is not
valid:
 Accident.
 Near miss.
 Ill health.
Hazard Who might be harmed What are you already doing? What further controls/actions are Timescales for Responsible
category and and how? required? further actions person’s job
hazard to be role
completed
(within…)
 SPECIAL CASES AND VULNERABLE WORKERS
YOUNG PERSONS
A young person is often defined by local law (e.g. in the UK a young person is
anyone under the age of 18 years).
There are several reasons why a young person might be more vulnerable to
risk in a workplace:

• Lack of experience in workplaces in general.

• Physical and, perhaps, mental immaturity.
• Poor perception of risk.
• Heavily influenced by peer group pressure.
 FOR THESE REASONS, YOU OFTEN NEED TO THINK MORE
CAREFULLY ABOUT THE WORK THAT A YOUNG PERSON IS
DOING. IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO
• Carry out risk assessments specifically with young persons in mind.
• Prohibit a young person from carrying out certain high-risk activities
(e.g. operating complicated machinery).
• Restrict their work patterns and hours (no night-shift work or
overtime).
• Train and supervise them more than other workers.
• Provide mentors to monitor and supervise young persons more
closely than other workers and to provide clear lines of
communication.
• Provide specific health surveillance.
 NEW AND EXPECTANT MOTHERS

•Pregnant women and new mothers

(while breastfeeding, or for the first six
months after giving birth) are more at
risk from certain types of hazard.
 TOPIC FOCUS
HAZARDS THAT PRESENT GREATER RISK TO PREGNANT WOMEN INCLUDE
• Certain hazardous chemicals (e.g. lead).
• Certain biological agents (e.g. the rubella virus).
• Manual handling, especially later in pregnancy.
• Extremes of temperature.
• Whole-body vibration.
• ionising radiation.
• Night shift work.
• Stress.
• Violence.
IN ALL CASES WHERE A WOMAN REPORTS THAT SHE
IS PREGNANT, A RISK ASSESSMENT SHOULD BE
CARRIED OUT FOCUSING ON THE WORK THAT SHE IS
DOING AND THE HAZARDS THAT MIGHT INCREASE
RISK TO HER AND THE CHILD. IT MAY THEN BE
NECESSARY TO
• Change the type of work or the way that it is done.
• Change the hours of work.
• Suspend the woman from the workplace
 DISABLED WORKERS

General workplace considerations

Provision of additional facilities include,
 Proper access and egress for wheelchair users .
Physical signs for visually impaired people.
Visual emergency alarms for hearing-impaired people.
 LONE WORKERS
Working in an area or in scenarios where there are no any other
employees present.
examples of lone workers
Cleaners
Security staffs
Service/ maintenance engineers
Confined space entrant persons
Health care worker
 LONE WORKERS

• They may be more at risk if they are injured or fall ill. Certain
types of work involve a high risk of personal injury or ill
health (e.g. confined space entry). In these situations, lone
working may be inappropriate or additional precautions may
be necessary to protect the individual.
 EMERGENCY PROCEDURE
An organisation has to develop procedures to deal
with foreseeable incidents.
• Fire
• Bomb threat
• Release of toxic gases
• Spillage of a hazardous chemical
• Severe weather or flooding
• Terrorist incident.
 EMERGENCY PROCEDURE ARRANGEMENT
 Context of the organisation.
 Raising Alarm
Procedures to be followed.
Provision of suitable equipment.
Nomination of responsible staff.
Dealing with the media.
Arrangements for contacting emergency services.
 FIRST-AID REQUIREMENTS
An employer has a duty to provide appropriate first-aid services for their
employees. This is to allow an immediate emergency medical response to
foreseeable injuries that might occur in the workplace. Three elements
must be provided:
Facilities – an appropriate location where
first-aid treatment can be given.

Equipment – suitably stocked first-aid kits and

other equipment as necessary.

Personnel – staff with appropriate training to

deliver first-aid treatment.
 FIRST-AID FACILITIES
Suitable facilities should be provided where first-aid treatment
can be given. As a minimum, this might consist of a room that is
used for other purposes but can be quickly converted into a
treatment area. In a larger workplace, a dedicated treatment room
should be provided.
This room should be:
• Centrally located in an area that can be accessed by the emergency
services.
• Clean and adequately heated, ventilated and lit.
• Provided with hand-wash facilities, a chair and a clinical waste bin, etc.
 FIRST-AID EQUIPMENT
As a minimum, one fully stocked first-aid kit (box) might be provided for
a small, low-risk workplace
In larger workplaces, multiple first-aid kits should be positioned at various
locations throughout the workplace, as well as:

• Eye-wash stations. • Stretchers.

• Emergency showers. • Wheelchairs.
• Blankets. • Other equipment, as required..
• Splints.
• Resuscitation equipment.
 FIRST-AID PERSONNEL
Role of First Aiders
The essential role of first aiders is to keep the injured
casualty alive until professional medical assistance can take
over. This is sometimes referred to as the three Ps:
• Preserve life.
• Prevent deterioration.
• Promote recovery.
First aiders also provide simple treatment for minor injuries that do not
require professional treatment.
Factors to consider when deciding first-aid provision and
number of first aiders:
• General risk level of the workplace.
• Hazards present in the workplace.
• Accident history.
• Presence of vulnerable persons.
• Number of workers in the workplace.
• Work patterns and shift systems of workers.
• Geographic location of the workplace.
• Spread of the workplace.
 WORK PERMIT SYSTEM
• Introduction:- Permit to work system is a formal, documented safety
procedure, forming part of safe system of work, which ensure that all
necessary action are taken before, during and after particularly high risk
work.
If the work is not carried out in a right way than workers and others
may be killed.
The aim of the permit system is to focus everybody’s attention on
the high risk nature of the work.
65
 WORK PERMIT SYSTEM
Note: - permits are often issued in triplicate.
•One copy is displayed in the area where the
work is taking place.
•Second copy to authorizing managers.
•Third copy is display in central location. (on
a permit board)
66
The sort of high risk work that would normally be
controlled by a permit system includes:-
• Hot work (involving naked flames or creation of ignition source).
• Work on high voltage electrical systems.
• Confined space entry.
• Work on operational pipeline.
• Excavating near buried services.
• Maintenance work on large complex machinery.
• Work at height.
• Lifting operation. 67

• Radiography Permit.
 Four key elements of permit to work system.
1. Issue
2. Receipt
3. Clearance/return to service
4. cancellation

68
 Issue
• This section of the permit defines the work identifies the
hazard and determine the necessary safety precautions.
• An authorizing manager must complete this section. this
will require them to carry out a risk assessment of the
work in order to identify all the relevant hazards and the
precaution.
69
 Issue
• The nature of the work.
• where the work can take place.
• The names of each of the workers authorised to carry out the work.
• The date and time that work can start.
• The period of the time permit is valid for.
• The control measure that must be in place before during and after the
work.
• Any other permits that may be relevant.
70
 Issue
The authorising manager sign the permit to
formerly confirmed that all necessary precautions
have been taken and that work can now start, the
manager’s name and signature, and the date and
time should be clear.

71
 Receipt
Here the handover process starts.
The workers sign the permit to formally confirm that they
understand all the hazard risks and precautions and that
they will complete with all necessary control measure.
Names should appear clearly in capital letters with
signatures, dates and times.
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 Clearance/return to service

The workers sign this sections of the permit

to confirm that they have left the workplace
in a safe conditions, that worker is complete.

73
 Cancellation

The authorizing manager signs this section

and accept the hand-back of the
workplace from the workers.

74
 Extension
This section is included in some permit systems in
case there is any overrun of the work. it allows
the authorising manager to grant an extension to
the timescale of the permit.

75
 LIMITATION OF PERMIT
• Only authorized persons should issue permits.
• Permit issuers must be familiar with the hazards of the workplace and
the job to be carried out.
• Precautions must be checked before permits are authorised.
• All permit conditions must be adhered to.
• Staff must be trained and competent.
• The system must be monitored to ensure it is effective.
• The PTW system must be appropriate for the nature of the business.
• Sufficient time must be allowed.
 TYPICAL USES OF PERMIT SYSTEMS
Hot Work
• Permit systems are commonly used to control hot work where naked flames will be used
(e.g. propane, butane or oxyacetylene torches) or where a significant ignition source will
be created (e.g. welding or grinding operations).
Typical precautions for control of hot work:
• Flammable materials are removed from the work area.
• Items that cannot be removed are covered with fire-retardant blankets.
• Floor is swept clean.
• Wooden floor is damped down.
• A suitable fire extinguisher is at hand.
• A ‘fire-watcher’ is present in the area.
• The work area is visited routinely after the work has finished to check the area for
smouldering.
 MACHINERY MAINTENANCE
Maintenance work often involves the removal or disabling of
safeguards and control systems. For large, complex industrial
machinery, more than one person may be involved in the work and
they may be required to work inside the machinery. This can generate
high risk that might be best controlled using a permit system.
A permit system is used to ensure that:
• Work is carefully planned, assessed and controlled.
• Power sources are isolated and locked off.
• Stored energy is released or secured.
• The workers are competent to do the work.
 CONFINED SPACES
Entry into confined spaces can be extremely hazardous,
so should almost always be under the control of a PTW
system. This will require a competent person to carry out a
risk assessment and then develop a SSW, which identifies
all the necessary precautions for entry and the emergency
arrangements that must be put in place.
 WORK AT HEIGHT

Some work at height may be controlled under a

permit to work. This could detail the area where
work is permitted, the method of access (ladder,
stairs, etc.), safe access routes and fall prevention
and fall arrest precautions to be taken.
 SAFE SYSTEMS OF WORK
• A Safe System of Work (SSW) is a formal procedure based on a
systematic examination of work in order to identify the hazards. It
defines safe methods of working that eliminate those hazards, or
minimise the risks associated with them.
We can identify three key elements from this definition of a SSW:
• The SSW is formal – documented or recorded in some way.
• It results from a systematic examination of work in order to identify the
hazards – it is the result of risk assessment.
• It defines safe methods – it is the safe procedure or work instruction.
 TO BE EFFECTIVE, THE SSW MUST BRING TOGETHER
PEOPLE, EQUIPMENT, MATERIALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
IN SUCH A WAY AS TO CREATE A SAFE WORK METHOD
• People: Who is the SSW for? What level of competence or technical ability
should they have? Are there vulnerable persons involved? How many people
are working on the task?
• Equipment: What plant or equipment will be worked on? What equipment will
be used? What safety equipment will be required? What are the hazards
associated with the job and the equipment?
• Materials: What materials will be used or handled during the work? What are
the hazards of the materials? How will waste be disposed of?
• Environment: In what type of environment will the work take place (e.g. space,
light and temperature)?
 TECHNICAL, PROCEDURAL AND BEHAVIOURAL
CONTROLS
A SSW will involve all the elements of control that we
identified earlier in the general hierarchy of controls:
• Technical controls
• Procedural controls
• Behavioural controls
 DEVELOPING A SAFE SYSTEM OF WORK

As a part of the planning process, SSWs are

developed by task analysis prior to work
commencing. Task analysis is the process of breaking
a job down into its component steps and then
identifying the hazards associated with each step. The
safe working method can then be identified to deal
with each hazard.
 TASK ANALYSIS
Can you remember what the abbreviation SREDIM represents? We
explained it earlier on when we discussed hazard identification and
task analysis.
• Select the task to be analysed.
• Record the steps or stages of the task.
• Evaluate the risks associated with each step.
• Develop the safe working method.
• Implement the safe working method.
• Monitor to ensure it is effective.