Health and Safety Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment is an intrinsic part of Health and Safety. It first appeared in legislation 1988 when the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health became law.

There is a legal requirement under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations (MHSWR) to undertake risk assessments. The HSE publication "5 Steps to Risk Assessment" is a good practical and simple guide. There are also obligations under some legislation to carry out risk assessments e.g.

• COSHH
• DSEAR (Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations)
• Manual Handling
• Working at Height
• Fire
• Display Screen Equipment
• Confined spaces
• Young Workers
• Pregnant Workers

Our approach to risk assessment is to look at how a company operates and develop a risk assessment tailored to their requirements. This can be very simple assessments for low risk activities or very complex systems for high risk hazards.

It should be remembered that the risk assessment is a tool that is used to ensure your operational hazards are controlled. The risk assessment does not need to be read by all staff, however the controls used must be implemented and used by the workforce.

Also a risk assessment is a dynamic document that should be changed or reviewed when, for example, work procedures change, new equipment is purchased or an accident happens.

Our experience of risk assessments cover various environments including offices, construction sites, chemical laboratories, biotechnology and high tech research environments.