Hazard Assessment
Hazard assessments form the basis of controlling hazards. They should be seen as an important tool in ensuring that your activities don’t present risks and that the controls implemented are appropriate.
Hazard assessment is something that we do every day so don’t be scared of it. For example: When pouring water into a bath, we check the water temperature by sampling with our hand. This is the tool to control the hazard of scalding because the water is too hot. In the same way, we use hazard assessments for activities such as lifting a box. By following the activity in steps, and identifying the potential hazards in a logical way, we can perform the task safely.
Once a hazard is identified an action plan is prepared and hazards are then controlled by being eliminated or minimized.
Hazard assessment can be a pro-active way of preventing an accident or incident occurring and can be useful in preventing an incident/accident reoccurring.
Identifying Hazards
Is the process of investigating any activity, situation, product, service or thing that could affect the health, safety and welfare of persons at the place of work.
Assessing the Risk
How likely is the hazard to affect the health, safety and wellbeing of persons and what degree of harm could occur? When there is more than one hazard we need to prioritise the risks so that we can act on the highest risk first.
Controlling
Intrinsic hazards that may arise because of the nature of the operations and activities, products or services, plant and machinery, and the work environment itself may require specific action plans based on the "hierarchy of controls".
Controls should take account of non-compliance of workgroup members,ask: "What would happen if a person took a short-cut to bypass the controls?"
Ongoing Monitoring
Ongoing monitoring is one way to ensure that the implemented controls are working effectively and that new hazards have not been introduced into the workplace.
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