Risk Assessment - Getting it right

We all know that we have to do risk assessments for every task that we carry out, but are the people doing those assessments trained to do them? If they have no formal training and an accident occurs because a risk was incorrectly assessed then the company will be liable, and could be facing a court case.

Don't take that chance, book a risk assessment course now. Details of our standard course are below, but we can adapt the content to suit your own needs if required.

Health and safety in the Workplace
Candidates should understand the main causes of accidents and ill health, and the implications they have for people in the workplace, and be able to:

• State the main causes of work-related fatalities, injuries and ill health, and outline the moral, legal and economic reasons for preventing such events.
• State the main costs to employers of accidents and work-related ill health, and the benefits of their control to employers, employees and society.
• Define the terms ‘occupational health and safety’, ‘accident’, ‘near miss’ and ‘accident triangle’.
• Explain how occupational, environmental, behavioural and human factors affect occupational health and safety, and give examples of each.

Legislation
Candidates should be aware of the legal requirements for risk assessment and able to:

• Outline the employers’ general duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
• Explain the term ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ in respect of employers’ duties.
• Outline the requirements for risk assessment in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
• Give examples of other UK health and safety legislation with specific requirements for risk assessment.

Principles of risk assessment
Candidates should understand the principles of risk assessment and be able to:

• Describe the role of risk assessment in accident and ill health prevention.
• State what is meant by a ‘suitable and sufficient’ risk assessment.
• State the necessary competencies of risk assessors.
• Define the terms ‘hazard’, ‘risk’ and ‘control measure’, and give examples of each.
• Identify sources of information on hazards and risks, both internal and external to the organisation.
• Describe the steps involved in a risk assessment.
• Outline a basic method for evaluating risk.
• Explain what is meant by the ‘hierarchy of control’ and how it applies in the selection of control measures.
• Describe common control measures.
• Describe how risk assessments can be recorded.
• Identify the general and specific circumstances that would require a review of a risk assessment.