Assess the risks

Risk assessment

Risk is the possibility of harm when someone is exposed to a hazard. Risk assessment involves working out:

• what levels of harm can occur
• how harm can occur
• how likely it is that harm will occur.

Risk assessment helps you decide the best means of controlling each hazard. It also helps you decide which hazards need the most urgent attention.

To assess a risk, you should examine the factors that affect the risk. Those factors include the following:

• The number of people exposed to the risk.
• The different types of people exposed to the risk and their needs. For example, new employees, contractors, members of the public, employees with disability.
• How people are exposed to the risk.
• How often and how long people are exposed.
• The combination of hazards people are exposed to.
• How serious the harm could be.
• What the law says about risk control. For example, the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (OHS Regulations).
• The work processes involved. For example, maintenance, cleaning, customer service.

How effectively your current controls work.

When to do a risk assessment

Situations that would require a risk assessment include the following:

• When required by legislation. For example, under the OHS Regulations, employers and self-employed people must do a risk assessment before starting a crystalline silica process.
• There is limited knowledge about a hazard or risk or about how the risk may result in injury or illness.
• There is uncertainty about whether you have identified all of the things that can go wrong.
• The situation involves different hazards that are part of the same work process or piece of plant.
• There is a lack of understanding about how the hazards may affect each other to produce new or greater risks.

Common events that should trigger a risk assessment

There are events in an organisation's life when a risk assessment is needed. These events can result in a lack of understanding about occupational health and safety (OHS) hazards and risks or how to control them.

Following is a list of common events that should trigger a detailed risk assessment:

Starting a new business from scratch

There can be a lot of things to do in setting up a new business. They include:

• setting up a place to run the business from
• registering the business
• setting up financial systems
• recruiting staff
• bringing in plant and equipment to produce the goods and services
• setting up work systems and procedures.

This is the time to use an organised approach to controlling OHS hazards and risks. Time spent making sure safety is built into the business will protect people. It will avoid the need to fix problems after start-up.

Buying a new business

Buying a new business normally involves a range of due diligence tests. The tests help ensure the buyer does not inherit unknown problems. An organised approach to assessing the business for hazards and risks should be one of those tests. It can help ensure the buyer does not become legally responsible for an unsafe or unhealthy workplace.

Appointment of an insolvency administrator to a business administration

The insolvency administrator may assume obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. Adopt an organised approach that includes the following:

• Hazard identification and risk assessment of –
  • premises
  • equipment
  • other assets under the insolvency administrator's control.
• Coordinating with management and staff who have responsibilities for health and safety. This includes any health and safety representatives (HSRs) and OHS committees.
• Reviewing the business's OHS information and other relevant documentation.

When a risk assessment is not necessary

Many hazards and risks are well known. They have well-established and accepted control measures. A detailed and formal approach to risk assessment may not be necessary in these situations. You can follow the established and accepted control measures. These situations include, for example, the following:

• OHS laws require the control of hazards or risks in a specific way. You must comply with these requirements.
• Other laws require the use of specific risk controls. For example, gas and electrical safety and dangerous goods laws. You must comply with these requirements.
• WorkSafe compliance codes or other guidance sets out a way to control a hazard or risk and the guidance applies to the situation in your workplace. You can follow this guidance. In doing so, consider the particular characteristics and circumstances of your workplace. This will help ensure the control is suitable to control the risks in your workplace.
• There are well-known and accepted controls in widespread use in the particular industry. Use these controls if they suit the situation in your workplace. Make sure they provide suitable control of the hazards or risks.

Work out what levels of harm can occur

You will have identified the hazards in the workplace in step one.

Now you have to work out what harm each hazard can cause. The level of harm a hazard can cause will affect decisions about the effort and resources needed to control the risks.

Ask the following questions to estimate the degree of harm that could result from each hazard:

What harm can occur?

Could the hazard cause death, serious injuries or serious illness. Or could it cause less serious harm, such as minor injuries requiring first aid?

For example, the concentration of a particular substance can determine the level of harm that is possible. The harm may occur immediately after something goes wrong. Or it may take time for the harm to become apparent, such as illness from long-term exposure to a substance.

How many people could be harmed?

If something goes wrong, would one person be affected or many people?

Are there situations that could increase the severity of an injury or incident?

Use information about the nature of risks and the effect that controls have on those risks. The information can show the potential harm when more than one thing goes wrong.

When working out how things may go wrong, look beyond the immediate effects. Can one failure cause other failures? Is there something in the workplace that can cause the incident to become more serious?

Work out how hazards could cause harm

A series of events usually has to occur before a hazard will harm a person. Investigating and understanding the series of events may help you control risks from the hazard. By stopping or changing one or more of the events, you may eliminate or reduce the risk.

One way of working out the series of events is to find out where things can start to go wrong. Then ask: 'If this happens, what might happen next?'

Continuing to ask this question will provide a list of events that lead to the harm happening.

Examine each risk

You need to examine each of the risks associated with a hazard. This will help you understand how the hazard can cause harm. Do the following when examining the risks:

• Take existing health and safety controls into account.
• Look at how work is actually being done. Don't rely on written manuals and work procedures.
• Look at unusual situations as well as how things are normally meant to occur. Consider maintenance and cleaning. Also consider breakdowns of equipment and failures of health and safety controls.

Work out the likelihood of harm occurring

The likelihood that a hazard will cause harm will influence how you control the risks. You can estimate the likelihood of harm based on what is known about a risk, your workplace and how work is done.

It is usually not necessary to work out frequencies or probabilities to understand the likelihood of harm. It should be enough to simply rate the likelihood of harm as one of the following:

• certain to occur
• very likely
• likely
• unlikely
• rare.

Questions to help assess the likelihood of harm

Following are examples of questions to ask to work out the likelihood of a hazard causing harm:

How often does a hazard have the potential to cause harm?

A risk may exist all the time or only some of the time. The more often a risk is present, the greater the likelihood that it will cause harm.

How effective are current controls in reducing risk?

In most cases, the risks you're assessing will already have some control measures. The likelihood of the risks causing harm will depend on how well those controls work. For example, administrative controls and personal protective equipment (PPE) do not control hazards at the source. Rather, they rely on human behaviour and supervision. Used on their own, they tend to be the least effective controls to minimise risk.

How could changes in operating conditions increase the risk?

The demand for goods or services in many organisations can change during the year. Changes in demand may be seasonal. They may depend on environmental conditions or be affected by market changes. Increased demand may change typical loads on people, plant and equipment and systems of work. Changes in demand can make failures more likely.

Can risks become more likely to cause harm because of the working environment?

The risk of injury or illness may become more likely if the working environment changes. For example:

• Working in high temperatures in a confined space increases the potential for mistakes. Workers become fatigued more quickly and are more likely to make errors.
• Wet conditions make walkways and other surfaces slippery.
• People have to work quickly. The rate at which work is done can over-stress a person’s body or make mistakes more likely.
• There is not enough light or ventilation is poor.
• Frequently working in unpleasant or hazardous conditions. For example, working in noisy environments or around hazardous chemicals or dangerous equipment.

How long might people be exposed to the hazard?

The longer someone is exposed to a hazard, the greater the likelihood of harm.

Could the way people act and behave affect the likelihood of a hazard causing harm?

You need to take into account the possibility that people will not always behave as expected. They may make mistakes, misuse items, act without thinking or panic in some situations. The effects of fatigue or stress may make it more likely that harm will occur.

Do the differences between individuals make harm more likely?

People with disability may be more likely to suffer harm if the workplace or process is designed only for people without disability.

New or young employees may be more likely to suffer harm because of inexperience.

People who do not normally work at the workplace will have less knowledge than those who do. They may be more likely to suffer harm. This group includes, for example, contractors, volunteers and visitors.

Other organisations may share the workplace. In this case, one employer’s operations may affect another's employees and vice versa. Harm becomes more likely.

Risk assessment outcomes

Carrying out a risk assessment provides an understanding of:

• what harm hazards can cause
• how the hazards cause harm
• the likelihood that harm will occur.

Risk assessment does not have to be a long, complex process involving a lot of paperwork. Risk assessment is a tool to achieve a goal, not the goal itself. As such, it should be straightforward, purposeful and actionable.

Remember to consult your employees and any HSRs when assessing risks.