Risk Assessments

Can you really be sure your business is managing H&S as the law requires? 

Section 3 of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states:

3.1 Every Employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of –

(a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work: and

(b) the risk to health and safety or person not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking

Note: The document continues with 29 other provisions, so please do not think this is it.

If you are confident you understand what’s involved in assessing risks, you can do these yourself. You don’t have to be a health and safety expert, but you do need to do them!

87% of companies prosecuted in 2018 for a health and safety breach failed to adequately assess RISK.

Is this because the company chose profit over safety? good luck with that one, as to date in 2018, companies have spent over £10.7 million in fines for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974

Or is this because company’s feel they are protected by Employer Liability Insurance? sorry to inform you that Employer Liability Insurance will not pay your fine!

Or is it because of company’s affiliation with SSIPs (Safety Schemes in Procurement)? Ask your local HSE advisor if affiliating with a SSIP protects you from prosecution? the answer will be NO! Also, note  83.3% of companies prosecuted recently were affiliated with one or more of the 27 SSIP providers.

Or is it simply that Company Directors don’t actually know what is required of them by law and or trust others?

Email me, let me know your thoughts kspencer@yoursafetypal.com

What is a risk assessment?

A risk assessment is simply, a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or do more to prevent harm.

• Your risk assessment should
  • Identify how the identified  hazard will cause harm and to whom
  • Identify the likelihood and severity of the identified hazard
  • Include one or more control measures needed to reduce the likelihood and severity to a LOW-risk activity.

Above is a screenshot of Safety PAL’s risk assessment tool, a tool that helps you in identifying, recording and distributing risk assessments in your business.

You can book a demonstration of Safety PAL which is designed to help you understand more about your obligations and our solution.

NOTE: if you haven’t assessed the hazard and completed a risk assessment, how do you know you don’t need one?

Here are some companies, that for any 1 of the 4 reasons above, didn’t assess the RISK:

A company prosecuted for breaching Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and have been fined £600,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,520.

A company who pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2 (1) and 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and has been fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,498.34.

A company after the trial was found guilty of breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The partnership was fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £67,274.12 

Due diligence

Your organisation should have a collection of strategies, policies, rules and regulations to support its goals.

Part of these goals is creating and issuing a risk assessment, but note the risk assessment forms part of your management system which must reduce harm. other essential tools Safety provides are:

• Training
  • Note that if your risk assessment control measure is; the worker has ‘suitable training in place’ then this needs to be proven. The risk assessment is not simply a ‘write it down exercise’, it’s a tool for you to communicate and manage the risks in your business and it needs to be accurate.
    • Don’t write it down if it’s not true: If an inspector was to complete an audit, when reading your risk assessment the inspector reviews your control measure for manual handling is ‘all workers are suitably trained’, you will need to provide the evidence your manual handling training is relevant and in-date.
    • Copy and pasting can create a control measure that is inaccurate, this helps no one and is dangerous. To protect your business and strengthen your standards, only add control measure that has been implemented.
• Approvals
  • To be confident in your risk assessment, get a colleague or senior member of the team to review, help with risks you may have missed and to help you add more manageable control measures.
    • This is not an isolated effort; use the people around to support your responsibility.
    • If you are working for a client, they have a responsibility to review, comment and approve, this should prevent your employees from continuing with the task and activity on the client premises.
    • If you are working for a Domestic Client, please read this HSE article
• Implementation
  • All risk assessments are useless if no one has read them!
    • If asked, you will need to show an inspector or auditor, suitable evidence that your risk assessment has been read, understood and adhered too.
    • Your workers have a responsibility to follow the safety standards your company put in place, if they don’t, this can be judged as a negligent worker not a failure of your management system.

Need help with Risk Assessments, Training, communicating effectively or just in understanding more about what the law requires you to do? then schedule a free consultation here 

All statements and references have been taken from the HSE (health and safety executive) publications, guidance notes and their website:

If you have found this article helpful, please like and send out to others to increase awareness and help more in becoming better protected.

Remember: If you are confident you understand what’s involved in assessing risks, you can do these yourself. You don’t have to be a health and safety expert, Safety PAL simply helps you meet your obligations

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