3.4 Risk assessment and Specification of Risk Control
Measures
Policy
Foreseeable and non-trivial risks must be avoided or
minimised, so far as is reasonably practicable, and formal written assessments
must be produced which describe the nature of the risk, the relevant
preventative and protective measures, and provide a record that such measures
have been implemented. All written risk
assessments must be kept up to date.
Purpose
To ensure that adequate controls are in place such
that activities do not pose significant risk to the health and safety of
people.
Responsibilities
Responsibilities for assessment and control of risk
are detailed in Part 1 Operation. In
summary:
- Heads of department ensure that activities with
significant risks are assessed and effectively controlled, and that records are
kept. They must inform their corporate
manager about any significant risks that they cannot resolve.
- Staff who manage or supervise people, classes,
activities or areas ensure that risk assessments have been carried out,
appropriate controls are in place, and the findings of the assessments have
been communicated to those affected by them.
- Members of the VCMG/CMT and corporate managers ensure
that there is effective control of significant risks where the level of control
lies outside the authority of specific heads of department and ensure that
proposed changes to operations are risk assessed before implementation.
- All staff with a
responsibility for managing others or who are in control of an activity on
behalf of the University of Bedfordshire must have completed the risk assessment
training course run through the University
of Bedfordshire’s Organisational
Development and Training Unit. This is
considered compulsory training as agreed at the Health and Safety Committee at
the end of 2009.
Procedure
and Guidance
- i. Risk assessment
must be applied to activities or processes where risks exist if appropriate
control measures are not in place. The
application of control measures will reduce the level of risk. Note: assessments of work areas are covered in the section
on ‘Safety Inspections’.
- ii. It is
recommended that people producing risk assessments enlist the help of
others. This will increase the breadth
of thinking applied to both the identification of risk and definition of
appropriate controls. People familiar
with the detail of the activity should be involved in the discussions and the
conclusions. This approach will also
increase ownership of the outcome.
- iii. Staff must
use the Risk Assessment Form to record their findings and conclusions unless
alternative documentation has been approved by the Safety Advisor. When completing the Risk Assessment Form:
- a. Describe the activity that is
being assessed. It is important to
define the scope, i.e. what is or what is not being assessed. For instance an assessment could be carried
out on the use of a particular photocopier in a specific office or it could be
addressing the use of photocopiers across the university. Risk assessments should be applied to all
aspects of the activity from start-up through to completion and if relevant
from receipt through to disposal of materials as in the case of chemicals. If only specific phases are being addressed
then this should be made explicit.
- b. Itemise the risks and
their causes posed by the activity; often an activity can give rise to
several different risks. You should also
consider what could go wrong and highlight risks arising from these unplanned
events. Consider whether any particular
groups of people may be at extra risk. This specifically includes people aged 17 years or less and new and
expectant mothers. It may include people
working alone, those with specific medical conditions, and students who are
still developing skills.
- c. Each risk must be
prioritised using the categories given in ‘Risk classification’. Note that the risk priority also defines the
necessary response.
- d. Define appropriate
control measures. When defining
practical control measures you must reduce the risk so far as is reasonably
practicable. In decreasing order of
preference the risk may be eliminated, ‘engineered out’, formal procedures may
be defined, or protective clothing provided. Control measures can include specification that the activity is only
carried out by named individuals who have demonstrated competence in performing
the activity. It may be appropriate to
specify checks that will confirm that the activity or process is operated
within margins of safety.
- e. Implementation: In many cases the controls will already be in
place. If they are not then you need to
consider how practicable it is to implement the control measures. Actions must be defined and assigned to
individuals with dates for completion based on ease and cost of implementation
and on the extent of risk to which people are exposed in the meantime. If they are easy and low cost to implement
then they should be implemented as soon as possible. If they are costly or difficult to implement
then it may be possible to put in place other less preferred control measures for
a short, specified period of time until the preferred measures can be
implemented: such short term measures are likely to involve high levels of
supervision or use of highly competent people to ensure the necessary level of
safety.
- iv. If you
judge that even with the control
measures people are still at risk of serious injury, then you must advise your
manager of your findings.
- v. Record keeping: The head of department must ensure that the
Risk Assessment Form is copied to the Head of Health & Safety (preferably in electronic format), that a file
copy is retained in a ‘Risk Assessment File’ in the area where the activity is
performed, that changes to the risk assessment are approved by them and
annotated on the copy in the ‘Risk Assessment File’. They must maintain a list of the locations of
all their ‘Risk Assessment Files’.
- vi. Review of assessments: The assessment must be kept up to date. It should be reviewed and revised if it is
evident that there are circumstances where the control measures are or will not
be effective. At least an annual review is suggested under legislation.
