| Risk assessment is a proactive not reactive task and therefore it is important for hazards to be identified before they become a danger. The Health and safety recommend that there are five steps towards successful risk assessment and its management. |
| Step 1: identify all potential hazards. |
| Step 2: decide who may be harmed from the particular hazard and how this could occur. |
| Step 3: determine the risk or injury and the likelihood of occurrence, then decide whether the existing actions you have taken are adequate. |
| Step 4: record your findings. |
| Step 5: review your assessments and revise then as appropriate. |
| Often there is no obvious starting point the accident book may provide some historic information as to where accidents are occurring provided it has been completed properly. Look at the overall workplace and identify those areas, which are most likely to cause hazardous situations. Finally talk to others - first-aiders, other supervisory personnel will have their own ideas of hazards in their work area. |
| The next stage is to create surveys for each identified risk area. Thus' for staircases, you want a separate copy for each staircase, as the risk may differ. It is then a matter of examining whether the identified hazard exists in your workplace or not. Answer the question honestly. Having assessed the risk, it is then the responsibility of the management team to take whatever steps are necessary to reduce or eliminate the risk, starting with the high priority factors. The action taken should be noted and the date on which it was completed recorded. |