How to Identify Hazards in the Workplace...
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Here are 9 really effective ways to identify workplace hazards.
In this video, we cover these methods to help you identify hazards when carrying out a risk assessment....
1. Walk around
First of all, a very obvious one, just walk around. Go out and identify activities, processes & substances that can actually cause injury or ill health to employees. That’s a useful starting point. You gotta get out there and get your hands dirty, so to speak. It will give you a good idea of the scope and how much detail you’re going to need to get into.
You will have to bear in mind that you’re only really taking a snapshot at a certain point in time. So you may miss things that aren’t happening on an ongoing basis. Make sure to have a good rummage around. Look in places that aren’t so obvious.
People have a very good knack of putting equipment that maybe isn’t used often in places where you can’t see it. And even stuff that shouldn’t be used as well! Give yourself enough time to look in the places that are normally blind to you.
2. Observe the Work
The second is simply observation of specific work activities. This is something that may take some time depending on what you’re dealing with. You will want to make sure that you’re watching a full cycle of work or even multiple cycles of work, if necessary.
3. Actively Engage
So thirdly, part and parcel of the observation process should be, and it’s absolutely essential, to speak to your employees. Get engaged with your employees, ask them to explain after you’ve you’ve observed how they do their work.
Why they’re actually doing it that way? What sort of things are they being asked to do? Have they enough support and resources to do the work?Whether they actually think or feel as if there’s any danger to them as they’re carrying it out? Do they have any concerns around the way things are being asked to be done?
4. Accident Records
Going back to our accident records, which is an easy way to look at existing problems and things that have caused injury or illness in your business. This should give you an insight into things that hopefully have been improved. But, it will also highlight areas of high risk, and there may be still opportunity for improvement.
5. Absence Records
Number five to identify hazards, leading on from accident records is to take a good look at your sickness absence records. To see if you can use any information within them to identify some risks that may not be so obvious that aren’t being controlled adequately.
6. After Hours
Number six, our inclination is to speak to our front of line operators and people working in the normal shift patterns. But something to be aware of is that there’s a lot of useful information to be found when speaking to contractors and maintenance staff. Particularly those working out of normal ours. There’s a lot of unseen activity and sometimes it’s not as well controlled as you would like it to be.
7. Manufacturer’s Guidance
Number 7 then, on one that any HSE professional will be very aware of. It’s just looking at the manufacturers guidance and instruction for use of any equipment machinery or chemicals and substances that you’ll be using.
When it goes back to the legal premise for a lot of health and safety or environmental risk and the responsibility of employers. Much of it boils back to making sure you’re following manufacturer’s instructions. It will make it much easier for you to identify hazards.
8. Existing Procedures
Number 8 then to help you identify hazards is just looking at your operational procedures and method statements or work instructions. To give you an insight into how work is being managed and workers are being asked to undertake an activity.
You know, this is of course a pretty obvious one. But sometimes we get a little bit too comfortable in the fact that a work instruction or method statement actually exists. Then when we take a good look at it, we actually find out that the way the work is managed or planned is really insufficient. Or it presents a lot of issues in itself.
9. Regulatory Guidance
Number nine, second last bit of guidance here on our top 10 tips to identify hazards. And that is just looking at your local industry or regulator guidance at depending on where you are. There may be lots of useful information and here in the UK, we have the health and safety executive.
10. Servicing & Maintenance
Lastly, tying all of this together is to do good review of your existing servicing and maintenance for your buildings and your equipment. To check that anything that you’re doing currently is relevant and sufficient for managing hazards on your site.
That’s it for our 10 Ways to Identify Hazards!
