The Importance of Conducting Risk Assessments to Keep Workplace Safety in Check

Conducting a risk assessment stands among the most important steps employers need to take for workplace safety. These assessments are fundamental to sound health and safety management. Picture commencing electrical work without first identifying live wires nearby — such an oversight could prove hazardous to workers and anyone else present in that area.

What is a Risk Assessment?

A risk assessment is a process or method for identifying hazards in the workplace and assessing their potential impact on business operations. This systematic risk assessment entails identifying potential hazards, evaluating their impacts, and implementing measures to control or eliminate them.

Purpose of Conducting a Risk Assessment

When it comes to safety in the workplace, conducting a risk assessment ranks among the most valuable actions you can take. You can use it to:

• Identify workplace hazards – risks can come from many sources, including chemical, physical, ergonomic, psychological, and social threats. Identifying every potential source of danger in your workplace helps you assess, prevent, and control them, including anything hazardous to employee health.
• Assess the potential impact of these risks – once identified, you need to evaluate their potential impact or consequences, factoring in both likelihood and severity. This will help prioritise them and develop a plan for addressing each one.
• Develop control measures to reduce or eliminate the risks – after identifying and assessing them, appropriate control measures must be developed to reduce or eliminate exposure. This may include changes to working procedures, employee training, or personal protective equipment.
• Monitor the risks and control measures – once implemented, these measures need ongoing observation to confirm they remain effective. This may involve regular audits or inspections of the workplace.

Understanding Hazard and Risk

Most people use 'hazard' and 'risk' interchangeably, yet they represent two distinct concepts.

What is a Hazard?

In workplace safety, a hazard refers to any source of potential harm or adverse health effect on someone or something. Hazards can manifest in various forms, such as:

• Physical Hazards: Slippery floors, unguarded machinery, and loud noises.
• Chemical Hazards: Inhaling, touching, or ingesting hazardous substances like solvents and pesticides.
• Biological Hazards: Exposure to bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens that can cause illness or infection.
• Ergonomic Hazards: Strain caused by repetitive tasks, poorly designed workstations, or awkward postures.
• Psychosocial Hazards: Stressful work conditions, bullying or harassment in the workplace.

What is Risk?

Risk refers to the potential for loss or injury from exposure to a hazard. Assessing risk involves determining the likelihood of an event occurring alongside the severity of its consequences. Several factors can influence risk, including:

• Type and severity of the hazard
• Frequency and duration of exposure
• Number of people who could be affected

Different types of risk include:

• Financial – probability of a financial loss, such as losing money in an investment.
• Physical – probability of bodily injury, such as getting hurt in a car accident.
• Safety – probability of an injury or death, such as dying in a fire.
• Health – probability of a health problem, such as developing cancer from smoking cigarettes.
• Environmental – probability of an environmental problem, such as an oil spill.

Every risk carries potential for harm. The degree of harm caused by a hazard is called its "severity," while the likelihood of occurrence is termed "probability." Some risks occur more frequently than others — dying in a car accident, for instance, carries much higher probability than dying in a fire. However, the severity resulting from a car accident can be far lower than the severity caused by a fire. This distinction explains why both probability and severity deserve careful consideration during assessment.

Types of Risk Assessment

After identifying hazards and risks in the workplace, the next step involves deciding what type of risk assessment suits your situation.

Qualitative

This type of assessment uses descriptive analysis to evaluate risks, often relying on expert judgment. It proves beneficial in workplaces where precise quantitative data isn't available. The assessment involves estimating each identified risk's likelihood and potential consequences, then ranking them by priority.

Quantitative

This approach applies numerical data and statistical models to precisely calculate risk levels, making it ideal for data-rich environments. One instance of this kind of risk assessment involves using a machine's data to predict failure and its potential consequences.

Generic

These standardised assessments evaluate common risks associated with routine tasks across similar environments. In a retail chain, a generic risk assessment might address slip and trip hazards common in all store locations, providing a uniform approach to safety protocols that can be adapted as needed.

Site-Specific

These assessments are unique to a particular workplace and consider risks that may not exist elsewhere. For example, an office building risk assessment might focus on ergonomic and fire safety hazards, whereas a manufacturing plant would also consider heavy machinery and chemical hazards. See our code of practice for managing plant risks for further guidance specific to industrial settings.

Dynamic

This assessment involves continuous monitoring and evaluating of risks in real time as work proceeds. It allows quick adjustments to control measures if new hazards or risks emerge during the task. Dynamic risk assessment suits high-risk workplaces with constantly changing conditions, such as construction sites or emergency response situations.

Risk Management vs Risk Assessment

Before exploring the when and how of assessing risks, companies must understand that risk management and risk assessment are not synonymous — risk assessment forms part of the broader risk management process. Here are the differences in their approaches:

Risk Assessment Process

The risk assessment process follows a systematic approach that typically involves three key phases:

• Hazard Identification: This initial phase involves gathering information from various sources, including employee input, historical data, and workplace activity observations.
• Risk Analysis: In this phase, identified hazards undergo analysis to understand their nature, including likelihood of occurrence and potential consequences.
• Risk Evaluation: This step involves comparing analysed risks against predefined criteria to prioritise them.

Risk Management Process

The risk management process encompasses a broader scope, integrating the risk assessment process into a comprehensive strategy. It generally consists of four main steps:

• Identify hazards - Look for hazards in your workplace. Consider potential hazards to health, such as those posed by manual labour, use of chemicals, and sources of stress related to the work.
• Assess the risks - Evaluate health risks posed by identified hazards. Consider how likely someone will be harmed and how seriously they could suffer if exposed to the hazard.
• Control the risks - Select the most effective control measures available and practicable to eliminate or reduce risks to health.
• Review the controls - Regularly update your risk assessment to ensure it stays current.

When to Assess Risk

Risk assessments have proven effective in preventing accidents across various sectors. Here are examples where they play a vital role:

• Ammonia Refrigeration Facilities: Risk assessments highlight critical ammonia storage and handling hazards.
• Construction Sites: Regular risk assessments identify hazards like falls, equipment issues, and harmful substances.
• Natural Disaster Preparedness: Risk assessments identify disaster risks like earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods for emergency planning.

These represent only a few examples of situations where risk assessments become necessary. Generally, carry out a risk assessment if any of the following apply to your organisation:

• Making preparations to launch a new product or service
• Changing your methods of completing tasks
• Relocating to a new location
• Making changes to your workplace
• Using new machines or equipment
• Altering the materials you use

Tools and Techniques

Conducting a risk assessment can be done in different ways. Four tools or techniques exist for conducting a risk assessment.

Risk Matrix

A risk matrix offers a simple way to display probability and severity levels of risks visually. It gets used during assessment so you can see what level or likelihood of consequences may arise. The risk matrix has two axes: the horizontal axis represents probability or likelihood of occurrence, and the vertical axis represents severity or consequence. Probability and severity levels are typically classified into low, medium, and high.

Once risks have been identified and assessed, they can be plotted on the risk matrix. Risks are then prioritised based on their position within it. Risks in the upper-right corner (high probability and high severity) carry the highest priority, while risks in the lower-left corner (low likelihood and low severity) carry the lowest priority.

Decision Tree

A decision tree provides a graphical representation of the decision-making process. It's used to identify all possible outcomes of a decision alongside the associated risks. The tree starts with a single node, representing the decision to be made. Branches represent possible outcomes, while leaves represent risks tied to those outcomes.

Decision trees help identify risks associated with a given decision and evaluate possible outcomes. They can also compare different options to choose whichever path seems most likely to lead toward the desired outcome.

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

FMEA serves as a tool for identifying potential failure modes of a product or process and assessing the risks tied to those failure modes. FMEA follows a systematic and structured approach to identifying possible failure modes during development or operation and evaluating associated risks.

FMEA typically gets used during the design phase of a product or process, though it can also apply during development, production, and service phases.

Bowtie Model

A bowtie model serves as a tool for visually displaying relationships between hazards, consequences, and controls. The bowtie model has three components:

• Hazards - the potential sources of harm.
• Consequences - the potential outcomes of the hazard.
• Controls - measures in place to prevent or mitigate the impacts of the hazard.

Bowtie diagrams draw a clear distinction between proactive and reactive risk management approaches. Their real power lies in providing an overview of multiple possible scenarios within one diagram.

By conducting a risk assessment, you can help ensure your workplace stays as safe as possible. Having the right tools for the job matters greatly, and with risk assessment software, you can properly and efficiently assess workplace risks. Keep your workplace safe by utilising appropriate methods, documents, forms, or checklists — our Workplace Traffic Management Risk Assessment Form offers one practical starting point.

Risk Assessment Software

Several risk assessment software options exist to help identify and assess risks facing your business. One such solution, SafetyCulture (iAuditor), operates as a mobile-first application letting you create, edit, and share safety audits and inspections. It helps identify hazards, assess risks, and track corrective actions.

SafetyCulture stands as a global leader in workplace safety and quality assurance. This innovative software helps businesses worldwide deliver over 600M checks annually for compliance with regulations, industry standards, or best practices — all from one easy-to-use platform.

Features include:

• Assign corrective actions
• Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA)
• Risk Assessment and Management
• Operational Risk Management
• Occupational Health Management

Download for free.

Is it Mandatory?

In Australia, risk assessments are generally mandatory under various work health and safety (WHS) legislation. In most cases, they're required by law and essential for running a safe, successful business.

PCBU Responsibility

Risk assessments fall under the responsibility of the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). A PCBU refers to anyone who conducts a business or undertaking, including employers, self-employed individuals, and companies responsible for work premises.

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, which applies in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern Territory, a duty exists "to eliminate risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable, and if not reasonably practicable to eliminate such risks, to minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable."

Involvement of Employees

While PCBUs or employers carry legal responsibility for conducting risk assessments, workers must remain part of the process. It should happen in a way that allows everyone who does that job or uses that equipment to:

• Share or give their input into the actual assessment
• Vote on whether they are satisfied with the findings

Strengthen your Risk Assessment with SafetyDocs

Never let your guard down, even for a second, regarding job safety. Conducting a risk assessment ranks as key, and we know it can be time-consuming or sometimes difficult.

Although uncertainty about where or how to begin is common, you can enhance workplace protection by following proper guidance to assess existing risks effectively. With SafetyDocs by SafetyCulture, you can always stay ready for an audit and avoid potential penalties. Our workplace safety recognition insights further demonstrate why proactive risk management matters across industries.

With our content-rich and customisable templates, you can save time, money, and resources by streamlining health and safety management. As a market leader in online documentation for HSEQ (Health Safety Environment Quality), we offer Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) templates, Safe Operating Procedures (SOPs) templates, Management System Content, Safety Management Plans, Checklists, Forms & Registers — all designed to meet your organisation's needs.

SafetyDocs can provide you with:

• Up-to-date safety templates to guide you through changes in legislation for safety standards
• Guidance in conducting risk assessment using our Risk Assessment Form
• Industry-specific HSEQ documents for risk assessment

Choose from our collection of risk assessment forms for a variety of industries, including our workplace safety rules for New Zealand businesses. Shop our products now or contact our friendly Customer Service team for assistance today. Available for instant download and supplied in fully editable MS Word format for use in your business.

Please note that the above information is provided as a comment only and should not be relied on as professional, legal or financial advice.