Risk Assessment

Inspectors of the Department of Labour will immediately ask to see a Risk Assessment when they visit a site or workplace. If such an assessment cannot be provided, or it is deemed to be outdated or insufficient, the inspectors can close down a site until it has been made compliant. With this in mind, it is no wonder that risk assessment is discussed in-depth during the Makrosafe Health and Safety Certificate course.

South African employers are legally compelled to provide a safe and secure working environment. This can only be achieved when the workplace is inspected regularly and possible threats that could harm people are logged and considered, in order to decide whether action should be taken. This process is called 'Risk Assessment'.

A risk assessment that is conducted well, allows companies to identify any hazard in the workplace as well as which people are likely to be harmed. It also helps to decide on precautions and the way they should be implemented.

Chapter 4 of the Makrosafe Health and Safety Certificate course discusses risk assessment. It prepares learners to select the appropriate documentation for doing a risk assessment. Learners will also be taught how to evaluate various physical and environmental conditions that can exist and how to verify the persons, tools and materials that are required to conduct a continuous risk assessment. Risk assessment has three basic forms. As risk needs to be assessed regularly a continuous risk assessment is a procedure that takes the assessment of risk even further.

Learners are trained on identifying risks and analysing their possible threat. Once they fully understand the importance of this aspect of the health and safety profession, the future health and safety practitioners will move on to learn about actions that can be taken and systems that should be implemented to reduce a possible (imminent) threat. They will also be advised on what needs to be done to monitor the situation.

As non-compliance can have severe legal implications the applicable legislation is, once again, discussed extensively during this chapter.

With 88% of all accidents or incidents caused by unsafe or unhealthy acts. and the remaining 12% caused by unsafe or unhealthy conditions, it is evident that 100% of all accidents or incidents can be prevented. This can only be achieved when unacceptable behaviour or conditions are identified and resolved in time -hence the importance of a risk assessment.

The importance of this aspect of health and safety is also reflected in the number of pages that is reserved for this topic in the course documentation. This chapter has the most number of pages dedicated to the course content, which is understandable when the wide scope and variety of risk assessments is factored in. In addition, documentation is included that could assist learners to conduct a thorough investigation in the future.

It is often said that cats have nine lives and that people have an extra, undefinable sense, when it comes to 'danger'. This might be true but that doesn't mean we can rely on gut-feeling or emotions when deciding what action should be taken. When it comes to possible risk in the workplace, there is a wide variety of people, opinions and reasons involved. The ability to identify them correctly, balance the risk and involvement of the various stakeholders and then provide an acceptable solution will distinguish a good health and safety practitioner from the average one. Once this chapter has been completed and successfully assessed, learners are only one chapter away from becoming such a 'good health and safety practitioner'.