The process of risk assessment and risk management
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Continued from: Revitalising CoSHH risk assessment - what does it really mean?
As has already been stated, CoSHH risk assessment has to be task based. It is when someone is actually doing something that a risk arises. So what we need to do is to identify the various tasks within a workplace and then to conduct a risk assessment for each task. Of course, we must not overlook the fact that one task may impact upon another and may need to incorporate the effect that a different task to the one under assessment may have on the risks that exist for the task we are assessing. The flow chart below displays a task based risk assessment and risk management process.
What is involved in a risk assessment? [back to top]
Before we start to consider what is involved in a risk assessment we need to be clear about terminology.
- Risk
Our dictionary defines “risk” as: “The possibility of suffering harm or loss”. Note that at this stage the severity or significance of the harm or loss is not part of the definition, merely the possibility.
- Hazard
In dealing with chemicals this is the intrinsic property of the chemical to cause harm. For example, the hazard of water on the skin is relatively minor. In contrast, the hazard of full strength hydrofluoric acid is extreme.
- Assess
Our dictionary defines “assess” as ‘to estimate the size or quality of’. “Estimate” is defined as “an approximate judgement of” and “judgement” as “an opinion”!
In other words, according to this last definition, a risk assessment is not necessarily something precise, since it deals with uncertainty, namely the possibility of an event occurring that could result in a worker being exposed to possible damage to health. A further uncertainty is the estimation of the assessor as to whether such exposure could result in damage to health and the significance of such damage.
The risk assessment is one part of the process of identifying where in a workplace damage to health might occur so that this can be managed. We should be concerned about preventing all damage to health to everyone, whether directly employed or otherwise potentially affected by the processes being carried on within the operation. However, risk assessment is only part of the process, determining, as it does, where a risk exists. The second part of the process is to identify the consequences that may arise out of the event such that we can decide what is necessary to manage that risk so as to ensure that our workforce (and others) remain safe and healthy. It is here that the severity of the potential damage to health is important, since this will have a major bearing on the level to which any risk must be managed. Thus we need to distinguish between the probability and the consequences.
Which of these poses the greatest risk?
To explain this further, take the hazard represented by a lion. If you encounter a lion the hazard must be considered as significant, potentially life threatening. At the other end of the cat family is a kitten. The hazard that a kitten represents is far less than that from the lion. However, people do develop allergies to cats and, in rare cases, this could develop into an anaphylactic attack that will be incapacitating or even life threatening. However, in general it would appear sensible to assume that the hazard represented by a lion is very significant and that from a kitten much less so.
Now consider the risk. The risk of encountering a lion is, for most of us, very slight indeed, whereas the risk of encountering a kitten is much greater. Thus it is more probable that people allergic to kittens will encounter these and develop a reaction. In other words, the risk of some form of adverse health effect from a kitten will be greater than the risk from a lion.
We must now consider the management of the exposure. With lions we can take no chances; our management standards must be very stringent. However, unless you live in a lion infested country or work as a lion tame or zoo keeper, managing the risk will be relatively easy, e.g. don’t enter the lion cage at the zoo, stay inside your car with the windows shut in the safari park! Whilst we do not need to apply the same stringency in our management of exposure to kittens, it is probably true to state that avoiding exposure to kittens is likely to be much more difficult than for lions.
Thus exposure management for kittens may well demand more attention and expense than for lions.
In summary – and this is a most important point to remember
A high risk, but minor effect may appear to need less in terms of risk management than a low risk, with serious, irreversible, effect. However, it may need more attention, particularly if it is likely that more people will be affected. High hazard does not equate to high risk!
Returning to our flow chart, let us now look at some of the individual items.
1. Task
So our first step is to identify the task that we need to identify. What is needed is to establish what is actually done. This may seem obvious, but experience suggests that this is not always as simple as many assume. Observation may reveal that workers complete a task in quite a different manner than is indicated from the working procedures, simply because they have found that their own approach works best, requires less energy or is quicker. Or it may be that they have found their own way to deal with a particular problem or event that has not been formally identified and assessed.
So we need to visit the workplace and view the task to ascertain what really happens. Note that we will often need to observe the whole task, since in merely observing part we may miss significant events that could be important in our risk assessment. We will need also to ask questions to ensure that we are aware of events or circumstances not apparent at the time but that may impact on our risk assessment. Questions such as: “Does it ever get blocked?” or: “How do you clean that?” can reveal aspects of possible exposures or injuries that we might otherwise not identify.
2. Hazard
We need to ensure that we identify the real hazard. This is often not done. For example, take falling off a ladder. This may seem to be the hazard, but the real hazard is not the fall but the consequences of the ‘landing’ at the end of the fall. If the fall ends with the person landing on a large, softly inflated bag such that their fall is broken gently, then the hazard may be minimal. Landing on a concrete surface would represent quite a different hazard!
With chemicals we need to be sure that we have identified the chemicals that are really present. These may be quite different from those shown on the safety data sheet. A detailed explanation of the determination of chemical hazards in a workplace is beyond the scope of this document. It can be complex and require specialised expertise, but unless this is done we could end up with a risk assessment that could put worker health at risk. Contact with other organisations conducting similar operations or with a trade organisation can provide useful guidance.
3. Risk of exposure
Identifying where and how one or more workers might be exposed to the hazard obviously requires an understanding of the process. Historical data may indicate that the event has happened before. Here again, contact with a trade organisation might be helpful.
4. Consequences
These may be acute, i.e. happen immediately, or chronic, i.e. take time to occur. Falling off a ladder on to a hard surface results in an acute effect! Exposure to asbestos fibres may not result in the appearance of mesothelioma for many years, i.e. is a chronic effect.
When dealing with chemicals it is probably true that, with the majority of those that will be found in the average workplace the effect is more likely to be chronic, i.e. to develop as a result of multiple exposures over a considerable period, possibly years.
Furthermore, the consequences can arise out of exposures to a range of different chemicals and exposures, possibly not all as part of the particular task under assessment. Irritant contact dermatitis is the most common form of occupational skin disease. It is almost never the result of exposure to a single chemical, but due to the cumulative effect on the skin of repeated exposures to many different irritant chemicals, both in the workplace and away from work. In the case of a worker who may complete several different tasks during his working day, each resulting in exposure to one or more different irritant chemicals, we may need to consider the cumulative effect, rather than just concentrate upon one task at a time.
So when conducting a risk assessment for chemical exposure and where skin exposure is included it is advisable to incorporate the following consideration into our procedures:
When conducting a risk assessment for skin exposure, only rarely can one consider a single chemical in isolation. It is the cumulative effect of repeated exposures to many different chemicals (not necessarily for the task in question) that is often the most significant factor in any such risk assessment.
5. Action to manage
Having assessed our risk we need to decide if action is needed to reduce the consequences of that risk to an acceptable level. In most workplaces we will be faced with a substantial number of different tasks, each with their own risks and consequences. Some will be more significant than others.
What is needed is some system to ‘rank’ tasks and risks in some form of priority order such that we deal with those with the greatest consequences first and then the remainder in decreasing order of significance until we reach those that are so insignificant that we decide no action is called for. In other words, we need to “rank” the risks in the order in which we need to develop and implement the appropriate exposure management strategy and techniques.
Risk of exposure |
Hazard of chemical (as used) | ||||
| Very High | High | Medium | Low | Very Low | |
| Extremely High | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
| High | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Medium | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Low | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Very Low | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
The figures indicate the requirement for action, ranging from 9, indicating
that the task should not be started or should be stopped until appropriate
exposure management systems are in place, to 2 or 1, indicating that the
risk is so minor that no action other than regular review and skin health surveillance is required.
Once we have decided upon the measures needed to manage the exposure and implemented these, then we should conduct a new risk assessment to ensure that we now have a situation that is acceptable and where no new risk management strategy or procedures are called for.
6. Change
“Nothing is forever”. Workplaces, procedures, systems, equipment, chemicals, our knowledge about the effects of exposures, etc. will all tend to change with time. Such changes may invalidate our existing risk assessment and management systems.
What is needed, therefore, is provision within the health and safety system to detect any changes such that their effect on the validity of our risk assessment and management procedures can be identified and, where appropriate, the risk assessment revisited.
7. Incident and investigation
If an untoward incident does occur, or our health surveillance system identify a problem, then it is essential that this is properly investigated and the appropriate action taken, either to upgrade our management system or to reassess the risk.
What we will need to consider here is what went wrong. Was it a system failure, a failure of management or workforce, something completely unforeseeable, an undetected change? How do we modify the systems and procedures to ensure that this does not happen again?
Conclusions [back to top]
In this brief review of the risk assessment process it has not been possible to include all aspects of what is a complex aspect of health and safety. However, it is hoped that this document will illustrate the need for care.
As a final thought, we suggest that anyone tasked with risk assessment and the subsequent management of such risks keeps in mind the following statement:
The danger arises when you don’t know that you don’t know
No one person can know all there is to know about health and safety. It is simply to vast a topic. So identifying where specialist expertise is needed and identifying where such expertise is available will be an important element in the risk assessment and risk management process.
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Useful link: Chemicals and CoSHH risk assessment, how valid are your risk assessments?
With special thanks to Chris Packham of EnviroDerm Services (UK) Ltd for providing this risk assessment and risk management strategy.
(February, 2009) ©EnviroDerm Services (UK) Ltd.