it.
Risk Assessment
A risk assessment is a careful examination in which all potential harms are evaluated and recorded that can harm others. It is a
method of looking at work activities and considering what could go wrong and deciding on a suitable control measure to prevent
loss, damage or injury in a workplace. The risk assessment can be either paper or electronic format but all the risks should be
identified and recorded.
Risk assessments should be carried out at least once a year but if an individual has been seriously injured due to a hazard then a
risk assessment should be carried out regardless of one being done recently or not. Risk assessment training needs to be attended
to make sure the employee has the knowledge and ability to carry out a full conducted risk assessment and so all hazards are
identified and sorted.
The aim of risk assessments is to reduce risks and ensure everybody’s health and safety therefore all hazards should be identified.
For example, hazards such as:
Uncleaned/damaged floors
Poor lightning/broken lights
Exposure from tools and equipment
Unlocked doors that should be locked
Unauthorized people in the building
When doing risk assessments it is very essential that all the legislations and standards are taken into consideration otherwise the
person conducting the risk assessment can be in trouble with the law. All guidelines should be followed by the risk assessment
conductor. Sometimes industries may write up their own guidelines due to certain hazards that they have identified or just to reduce
the chances of risks and hazards. For example, any food producer that has identified a risk of metal contamination within their
products, they may install a metal detector to prevent the risk.