News Article

Managing Risks and Risk Assessment at Work

As an employer the law requires you to protect your staff and others from harm.

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the minimum you must do is:

• identify the hazards that could cause injury or illness in your business
• decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously
• take action to eliminate the hazard or control the risk

Assessing risk is just one part of the overall process used to control risks in your workplace.

Risk management is a step-by-step process for controlling health and safety risks caused by hazards in your workplace.

1. Identify hazards - look around your workplace and think about what may cause harm.
2. After identifying the hazards you need to decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how serious it could be.
3. Control the risks by checking if you can rid of the hazard altogether or if not what can you out in pace so harm is unlikely
4. Record your findings - if you employ 5 or more staff you must record your significant findings.
5. Review the controls you have put in place to make sure they are working - if there are changes in the workplace it could lead to new risks. You should also consider a review if your workers have reported any problems or there have been any accidents or near misses.
6. Remember to update your risk assessment record with any changes you make.

You can find specific guidance on the risks in your workplace as the Health and Safety Executive have grouped together the most common causes of serious injury at work, such as slips and trips or working at height.

Some health conditions can be caused or made worse by work and working environments. These include lung disease, stress and musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain.

You can find specific advice on the most common risks in the workplace and how to manage them using the link below.
https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/risk/common-workplace-risks.htm

 

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