Risk assessment provides the fundamental foundation on which health and safety management is based and is an absolute requirement of several pieces of H&S legislation. Recreational clubs have a moral duty to identify risk and suitably protect their volunteers. So, it is important we understand how a risk assessment is carried out.
There are 5 steps to risk assessment
- Hazard Identification – ‘Something with the potential to cause harm’
The first task is to identify hazards. When doing this consider hazards caused by; your buildings and grounds, machinery, tools and equipment, chemicals, the tasks you conduct, the environment you work in (noise, vibration, radiation, etc), non-routine operations/emergencies and people’s attitude to risk.
You can also check historical accident records, refer to machinery operator’s manuals, material safety data sheets can assist with chemical hazard identification.
Consider who might be harmed and how?
Once you have identified the hazards think about who might be harmed. These might fall into easily identifiable groups e.g., employees, volunteers, contractors, visitors, members of the public, players, spectators etc.
For each hazard you need to be clear how people may be harmed. The type and severity of harm may change with different people e.g., someone with and existing conditions may be harmed more severely. This will play a significant part in assessing the risk.
- Assess the risk – ‘a systematic process of evaluating the likelihood and severity of harm’
Many different methods exist for assessing the level of risk, put simply it is the combination of the likelihood of and accident happening and the severity of harm that results. This will guide you in assessing the level of risk i.e., if it is highly likely an accident will happen, and a fatality will be the result then this is a high level of risk. It is for you to use your experience and available evidence, such as accident records to decide.
Once assessed some of the hazards may be deemed ‘insignificant,’ these hazards can be discarded and play no further part in your risk assessment.
Risk assessment should only include what you could reasonably be expected to know, you are not expected to anticipate unforeseeable risks. It should be said if you have previously experienced or have knowledge of an accident or near miss then it becomes foreseeable and must be assessed.
- Control the risk
The level of risk will guide you in your next step, controlling risk. It will also help you to prioritise which risk to address first. The higher risks may also require more time, effort, and money to be spent to suitably control them. It is accepted that not all risk can be totally eliminated, but you are expected to control the risk to an acceptable level, you are required to do what is reasonably practicable to achieve this.
Consider the following hierarchy:
- Eliminate the hazard - Do you need to use that hazardous chemical?
- Reduce the risk - Reduce the size and distance you need to carry fertilizer bags. Reduce the amount of time a person is exposed to vibration.
- Isolate the hazard - Use guards to keep people away from moving parts. Separate and secure hazardous material/equipment away from unauthorised access.
- Control - Use managerial processes and controls to reduce the risk i.e., operate a lone worker process or train people in the correct procedure to use when refuelling machinery.
- Personal Protective Equipment - Only to be used when all other controls are not sufficient. i.e., Provide ear protection against uncontrolled noise.
- Record your findings
It is important and useful to record your findings. Keep it simple, record only significant findings and concentrate on your controls.
Records can be used as proof of assessment but also as a useful tool for training and communication. A risk assessment template can be used for this purpose. Many are available through trade industries, others can be found on-line, the HSE risk assessment template and completed examples can be found here.
- Review
It is useful to review your assessment periodically. It is recommended the timeline set for review is in line with the level of risk i.e., the higher the risk the more frequent your review. Other factors may prompt you to review, look at your risk assessment again and ask yourself:
- Have there been any significant changes in machinery, chemicals, procedures, location etc?
- Have your people reported a problem?
- Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses?
- Can you simply make improvements?
A periodical review will demonstrate you are on top of things so make sure your risk assessment stays up to date.
Type of risk assessments
Generic
An assessment that looks at a specific type of hazard and applies it to all scenarios. This could be a specific chemical, general manual handling tasks or maybe noise.
Task Specific
This concentrates on all hazard presented in a specific task, e.g., if you are maintaining a mower this could involve the use of oils, tools, manual handling, contact with hot, sharp, or moving parts etc.
Dynamic
This is an assessment that is conducted on the job, looking at the situation and hazards as they are presented. An example might be; if a member of the public wonders into the hazardous area while range hitting is being conducted, do you continue or stop and inform the member of the public of the dangers and ask them to move away from the hazard? Because of the immediate nature of this type of assessment you are not expected to write it down, however, you might include this in future formal assessments.
Definitions
Accident
An unplanned, unwanted event that results in harm.
Near Miss
An unplanned, unwanted event that did not result in harm but if the conditions were slightly different could have.
So far as reasonably practicable
This means balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control the real risk in terms of money, time, or trouble. However, you do not need to take action if it would be grossly disproportionate to the level of risk.
Watch the Introduction (including risk assessment) Video here
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