What is your Risk Exposure

A key component of managing health and safety issues at your organization is taking control of the risk factors in your workplace. To do this, consider what might cause harm to employees and contractors and evaluate whether you are taking reasonable steps to prevent that harm.

A risk assessment is the process of identifying and evaluating potential hazards. Potential outcomes are considered in conjunction with other factors, including the level of exposure to any hazard, the number of persons exposed to it, and the likelihood of that hazard actually causing harm. Risk assessments assist organizations with identifying both the risks inherent to a workplace and the steps needed to minimize or mitigate the occurrence of an incident or exposure.

A thorough risk assessment will usually include a written document that records a three-step process:

1. Identify the hazards in the workplace(s) under your control
2. Assess the risks presented by these hazards
3. Implement control measures to reduce the risk of these hazards causing harm

To manage risk effectively, you will need to identify, prioritize and apply sound judgement and action toward each risk. This will require educating key stakeholders, such as employees and contractors, on the nature of the risks and the means to manage them.

Identify the Hazards
One of the first and most important aspects of your risk assessment is accurately identifying the potential hazards in your workplace. This can be accomplished in part by having qualified individuals walk the job site and take stock of any hazards they see. When conducting risk identification, the ISO 31000-2018 standard recommends that safety professionals and stakeholders examine a wide variety of factors.

Ask yourself, what is it about the activities, processes or substances used that could injure workers or harm their health? Adjust the assessment process to meet the size and complexity of the activities or processes to be evaluated. Be aware and thorough; it can be easy to overlook some hazards when you work in a place every day.

Some sound practices to follow when assessing the worksite include:

• Carefully identify the stakeholders who should be part of the assessment process; include people with a variety of expertise
• Interview and get feedback from the employees and contractors who are completing the tasks, as they are often your best subject-matter experts
• Check manufacturers’ instructions or data sheets for chemicals and equipment used in your space; they can provide details of related hazards
• Review and assess all physical hazards, such as slips and trips, housekeeping and working at heights
• Remember to review hazards related to human factors such as fatigue, substance abuse and workplace violence

Evaluate the Risks
Having identified the hazards, you then must determine the level of risk each raises and how to address it. The level of risk is often categorized by:

• the severity of the potential harm or adverse health effect the hazard may cause
• the chance or number of times persons are exposed
• the number of persons exposed

Severity is a measure of how serious an injury or health effect could be because of unsafe work or an accident. It can be influenced by numerous factors, including the environment, the number of people at risk and the steps already taken to control the hazard. Chance is a measure of how likely it is that an accident could happen.

Controlling risks
Ensure your managers and key personnel know about the main risks at your organization and the things you need to do to manage them responsibly. Controlling risks includes implementing measures to address, minimize or remove the hazards.

When deciding on the appropriate control measures to put in place, employers should ask themselves three questions.

1. Can I get rid of a hazard completely?
2. Can I change the way the job is performed to make it safer?
3. What safety precautions are necessary to reduce inherent risks?

Your first approach should be to eliminate the hazard from your workplace. If you eliminate a hazard, then you are making it safer for you and your employees. If you cannot eliminate a hazard, then the next step is to find a safer approach.

Documenting and Share your Findings
Finally, you’ll need to record the findings of the risk assessment process and tell your employees and contractors about the control measures you have put in place.

By communicating with staff about your risk assessments, you can help ensure that they understand what is expected of them in working safely. Employees should know who is responsible for implementing any additional controls and by what date. Encourage your employees and contractors to monitor the effectiveness of any control measures in place and to communicate with management if they feel additional control measures are required.

Learn More
Visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) website for resources like business continuity and emergency plan templates, business impact analysis worksheets and risk assessment tables. Ready.gov also provides risk assessment diagrams to help kick start your evaluation.

If you’re a current ISNetworld Hiring Client subscriber, contact your account representative to learn more about risk assessments and evaluations.

To discuss risk assessments and evaluations, ISN resources and additional benefits for both Hiring Clients and contractors, request a demo of our ISNetworld contractor management platform.

*Note: The information in this article is meant to assist you in taking control of the risk factors in your workplace. This information is not meant as a template or checklist for a risk assessment for any one particular company. As all workplaces differ, so will your risks and the methods used to assess them.