If, as an employer, you have identified a hazard you must assess how dangerous it is. Ask yourself: how likely is it that an injury or illness will occur and how seriously could someone be affected? This is risk assessment.
The level of significance of the risk will determine the priority assigned to its elimination or control action taken to eliminate the risk, or, if that is not practicable, control the risk of harm occurring.
There are many types of hazards and methods for assessing them will differ. Clause 9 of the OHS Regulation 2001 provides information about how to assess risks. An employer must:
- evaluate the likelihood of an injury or illness occurring and the likely severity of any injury or illness;
- review all available health and safety information relevant to the hazard (for example, information from the supplier of plant, material safety data sheets, labels, registers of installed asbestos, results of biological monitoring and atmospheric monitoring of atmospheric contaminants, previous incident, injury or illness reports);
- identify factors that contribute to the risk (for example, layout and condition of working environment; capability, skill, experience and age of people ordinarily doing the work; systems of work being used and reasonably foreseeable abnormal conditions);
- identify actions necessary to eliminate or control the risk; and
- identify any records necessary to be kept to ensure that risks are eliminated or controlled (including how long they should be kept).
Hazpak - Making Your Workplace Safer provides some useful guidance. It suggests that for each hazard the employer should:
- judge the severity of any harm. Consider if it could cause:
- permanent disability, ill health or death;
- long term illness or serious injury;
- require medical attention with someone off work for several days; or
- someone to require first aid.
- judge the likelihood of the harm occurring:
- very likely - (could happen any time)
- likely - (could happen sometime)
- unlikely - (could happen but very rarely)
- very unlikely - (could happen but probably never will)
Note: Under Clause 12 of the Regulation, an employer must review a risk assessment, including any measures adopted to control the risk, whenever:
- there is evidence that the risk assessment is no longer valid; or
- injury or illness results from exposure to the particular hazard; or
- a significant change is proposed in the place of work or in work practices or procedures to which the assessment relates.