Health and safety risk assessment: what it is and why you need one

Every employer is responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. To this end, you must consider all possible dangers they may encounter. Then, you must identify and implement safety measures that should help protect your workers. This process of identifying and reducing or eliminating risk is known as health and safety risk assessment.

Who must undertake risk assessments?

If you are in a low-risk business with five or fewer employees, a risk assessment could be as simple as looking around and asking employees to help identify risks. The business owner can then address them. 

However, if you are in a riskier, more complex line of business or employ more than five people, you must conduct a formal risk assessment and keep detailed documents. They show what risks you considered and how you went to work reducing them. 

If your line of work is dangerous, you should consider seeking input from experts. For example, if your business uses dangerous equipment or chemicals, specialist input may be important. In all instances, you must show that you gave risks due consideration and did what you could to reduce them. 

Elements to include in a risk assessment

The elements to be examined in a risk assessment can be divided into three broad categories. These are:

1. Hazards

This category includes a variety of dangers that your people may face, including:

• Fire safety and electrical safety
• Hazardous substances in the workplace
• Potential for work-related injury, e.g., repetitive strain injury
• Risk of violence toward employees

2. Tasks

The tasks people undertake may expose them to danger. Match tasks to possible hazards. For example:

• People who work with the public may be exposed to violence or abuse
• Maintenance workers may be exposed to falls from height
• Cleaners may have to use hazardous chemicals to do their work
• Warehouse staff may face manual handling injury risks

3. Organisational factors

These refer to the way you organise work and may indicate that some employees are at higher risk than others. For instance:

• Lone workers do not have people nearby to see whether they are in trouble
• Staffing policies must take people’s health needs into account. For example, pregnant women may need special accommodations
• Working hours may imply risks for some of your people. For instance, people who work at night may face different hazards than day workers do

Different types of risk assessments

Obviously, the types of risks you should examine depend on the type of work your people do. In some contexts, it would be best to use a certified risk assessor. Specialised risk assessments include:

• Fire risk assessments are required for all workplaces
• Manual handling risk assessments apply when any employee is required to lift or carry heavy items
• Control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH) risk assessments are needed when workplaces use or store dangerous chemicals 
• Display screen equipment (DSE) risk assessments are important in workplaces where employees use computers

In certain workplaces, businesses may prepare a Risk Assessment Method Statement. It includes detailed procedures to be followed to combat risks when performing certain tasks and is often used in the construction industry. 

Why are risk assessments important?

The most obvious reason why risk assessments are important is that they help employers to spot workplace hazards and take steps to protect the health and safety of employees. Even when they do so, however, there is still a chance that someone may have a serious accident at work. 

At this point, the authorities will want to see evidence that the employer took reasonable steps to identify risks and keep workers safe. Examining risk assessments forms part of that, but they will also check other safety-related records. 

For instance, they may check training records. If an employer gave an untrained employee a dangerous task, they may not have known how to protect themselves. Or, if workers previously reported a hazard that remained unaddressed, the employer was negligent. 

When employers are found to be negligent, they may face heavy penalties, and if they were grossly negligent, they may even face prison sentences. The message is clear. Every employer must take employee health and safety seriously. 

When you should carry out health and safety risk assessments

It is wise to review your health and safety risk assessment at least once a year. However, there are circumstances that call for an immediate review, even if it only covers part of your overall risk profile. 

If you plan to introduce new processes or work methods, they will not have been provided for in your old risk assessment. You must determine what risks come with the changes you are planning to make, see who they apply to, and determine whether the new introduction directly or indirectly affects other employees’ safety. Then, you must take steps to protect your workers.

If there has been an accident, a near miss, or an employee has pointed out a possible hazard, you should also investigate right away. There could be gaps in your risk assessment and it will be important to address them. 

When your risk assessment calls for enhanced communication, Radiocoms can help

Support for lone workers

There are times when efficient communication systems can help keep workers safe. Lone workers across industries need support and should be able to call for help if necessary. Two-way radios with check-in alerts, single-touch emergency alarms, and full alerts can save lives. 

Coordinating teams for safe operations

There are contexts in which teams need to coordinate their activities to keep everyone safe. This can be difficult in noisy industrial environments or on busy worksites. Once again, two-way radios or push to talk over cellular can contribute to workplace safety. There are few professions where coordination and communication are as important as in emergency services. We are proud suppliers of two-way radios for first responders in the UK.  

Protecting against hearing loss

Noisy work environments can cause permanent hearing loss, and workers should be equipped with ear protection. However, communication may be equally important. We solve the problem with radio communications headsets that double as hearing protection devices.

Protecting workers who deal with the public

Nurses, doctors, and even retail shop assistants could be at risk of attacks from the public. Body-worn cameras help to deter violence and abuse, can be used to call for help, and record valuable evidence so that wrongdoers cannot get away with lying. Fortunately, many parties tend to adjust their behaviour once they are made aware that communications are being recorded.

Why choose Radiocoms?

We provide communications systems across multiple industries and we have been doing so for over fifty years. We move with the times, constantly seeking out new technologies that will address our clients’ needs. Our team has the skill, expertise, and experience you need to identify the technologies that will best suit your communications needs. 

From airports to nuclear power plants and educational institutions to retail, our customer stories show how we have addressed the communication challenges our customers face. We help them enhance efficiency and keep their workers safe with communications tools that are a perfect fit for their work. Call us today to find out how we can help you achieve a safer, better-coordinated workplace.

Read more about Workplace Safety.