Risk Management

Risk management involves you, the employer, looking at the risks that arise in the workplace and then putting sensible health and safety measures in place to control them.

Click here to download a risk assessment template from the HSE.

Risk management involves you, the employer, looking at the risks that arise in the workplace and then putting sensible health and safety measures in place to control them. By doing this you can protect your most valuable asset, your employees, as well as members of the public from harm. During 2004/05, 220 people were killed and over 150,000 were injured at work because of a failure to manage risk.

As an employer, the law requires you to assess and manage health and safety risks - for most businesses this is not difficult to do and HSE has published Five Steps to Risk Assessment to help you. This is not the only way to do a risk assessment, there are other methods that work well, particularly for more complex risks and circumstances. However we believe this method is the most straightforward for most organisations.

Five steps to risk assessment aims to help you assess health and safety risks.

A risk assessment is an important step in protecting your workers and your business, as well as complying with the law. It helps you focus on the risks that really matter in your workplace – the ones with the potential to cause harm. In many instances, straightforward measures can readily control risks, for example, ensuring spillages are cleaned up promptly so people do not slip or cupboard drawers kept closed to ensure people do not trip. For most, that means simple, cheap and effective measures to ensure your most valuable asset – your workforce – is protected.

The law does not expect you to eliminate all risk, but you are required to protect people as far as is ‘reasonably practicable’. This guide tells you how to achieve that with minimum fuss.

This is not the only way to do a risk assessment, there are other methods that work well, particularly for more complex risks and circumstances. However, we believe this method is the most straightforward for most organisations.

How to assess the risks in your workplace

Follow the five steps in this leaflet

1. Identify the hazards
2. Decide who might be harmed and how
3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precaution
4. Record your findings and implement them
5. Review your assessment and update if necessary

Don’t overcomplicate the process. In many organisations, the risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply. You probably already know whether, for example, you have employees who move heavy loads and so could harm their backs, or where people are most likely to slip or trip. If so, check that you have taken reasonable precautions to avoid injury.

If you run a small organisation and you are confident you understand what’s involved, you can do the assessment yourself. You don’t have to be a health and safety expert.

What is 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. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control measures.

Accidents and ill health can ruin lives and affect your business if output is lost, machinery is damaged, insurance costs increase or you have to go to court. You are legally required to assess the risks in your workplace so you must put plans in place to control risks.

Click here for more information from the HSE on how to assess risks in your workplace.

Alternatively give us a call and we can do a site visit with suggestions to help you meet your requirements.