risk assessment form

[Gordon Forbes]

We have to do this to every job that I do offshore.
Basically you have to break the job you have to do into basic steps from start to finish. In doing this you have to state the worst possible things that can happen to you, people you work with and others around you.
What risks you are exposed to and what steps you are going to take to minimise the risk, to you and to others.
This is done on a matrix where all the risks are given a numerical value of a scalle of 1 to 5 1 being acceptable 5 means the job stops until a step is taken to get the matrix score at 2 or less then the risk becomes acceptable and the job may proceed.
To you reading this it will sound gobbledy gook and it does to start with I can assure you but it does stop exposure to risks that inviteably lead to accidents and by completing a risk assesment you show that you have looked at the task in hand and will be completed without any risk of injury to yourself, work mates or any third party in the area or passing through.

I can tell you that this is the way industry is going and you will be asked more and more to complete a task risk assesment before doing any work for certain companies councils etc and acceptance of your work in some cases will be subject to one before your bid will even be allowed or accepted.

Boring mundane but they do prevent accidents none the less and will become more and more a requirement to do work for others.

Goop.

You can try this link for some guidance http://www.lhc.org.uk/members/pubs/factsht/80fact.htm and here http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg163.pdf

[Mike Rogers]

Hi

Forbie is absolutely right preparing method statments and risk assessment will become the norm when you visit construction site’s and the like to fit your signs.

Also do not be suprised if you get a visit from Health & Safety or the Fire Brigade to your premises asking for a copy of your Risk Assessment for the workplace.

See below: (from Business Link website)

You must carry out and maintain regular risk assessments under health and safety law whether you are a big business, a small business or just a one-person operation.

A properly conducted risk assessment helps minimise the possibility of your business harming the environment or those who work in, or visit, your business.

After completing an initial risk assessment, it’s important to maintain regular checks to ensure your business complies with health and safety requirements. Conducting regular risk assessments may cost more in the short term, as you spend money to improve conditions, but you will protect yourself from the risk of fines or being sued by an employee or member of the public.

This guide details the risk assessment you’re required to carry out under health and safety law. It also explains why taking a broad view of risk assessment, including environmental factors, helps you comply with the law and makes good business sense.

——————————————————————————–

Your legal obligations
If you run a business, however big or small, the law says you must carry out a systematic health and safety risk assessment.

You must decide what in your work could cause harm to:

you
your employees, should you have any
members of the public
There are five steps to any risk assessment. These are:

identifying hazards
deciding who might be harmed by them and how
evaluating the risks and whether enough precautions are in place
recording your findings – this must be in writing if you have five or more employees
reviewing your assessments regularly
Risk assessments must be “suitable and sufficient”. So if your risks are straightforward and easy to control, your risk assessment should also be simple.

If your business has relatively few risks, you should be able using a safety or environmental consultantcarry out the assessment yourself. But if you have more complicated requirements, you may want to get help from a specialist, see our guide on using a safety or environmental consultant.

Risks and hazards
You should bear in mind that all hazards need to be considered in risk assessments. A hazard is anything that can cause harm. A risk is the chance that someone could be harmed by a hazard.

It seems from the above that only if you employ 5 or more it needs to be written if less than 5 presumable it just has to be in your head. However, remember the HSE Poster once it needed only be displayed if you had 5 or more employees and now needs to be displayed if only 1 – the Risk Assessment is bound to go the same way.

So apart from being able to design and work with our hands we need a degree in English Law/Health & Safety and Legal Document Design

Mike

[David Rowland]

Hope your earning a few quid from this, might take longer to fill out the form 😎

[Guy Burt-Davies]

Another piece of H&S legislation that’s bound to come and bite someone here on the bum sooner or later is the CSCS card.

The BSGA have worked with CSCS to form a sign installer category, it’s not likely to affect you (yet) when you’re putting up signs for local businesses but for those of you who work on construction sites watch out!

Not content with limiting the card to those tradesmen and women who are likely to be working on site the Government have graded the card from regular visitor through to site foreman/manager so they’re trying to make it impossible for anyone to avoid having to take the test and pay for the card.

I’m in management now (aren’t I posh and snobby!) but I’ve had to take the H&S test and get my card just so I can get onto some sites to carry out surveys and/or attend site meetings.

The major contractors have all signed up to CSCS and the Government are pushing the scheme very hard (well at £20 a pop it’s a moneyspinner) so it’s going to be sooner rather than later that it affects everyone.

http://www.cscs.uk.com

[Phill Fenton]

:peek: :peek: :peek:

I reckon H&S is a bigger source of employment than any manufacturing industry in this country. The trouble is most companies and employers are too afraid to speak out and criticise H&S policies for fear of being accused of being backward or anti safety. Employees love it because it often provides the ideal excuse for not having to do any actual work.

The present system is often unnecessary, cumbersome and counter-productive.

I was shocked to read the other day that 1 in 5 Scots are employed in the public sector. In other words – they don’t have real jobs but are part of the vast army of civil servants that are needed to administer all of the bureaucracy we have imposed upon us.

It’s pointless having so many written safe systems of work when a high percentage of the workforce in this country are semi illiterate anyway.

What ever happened to good old fashioned common sense.

:peek: :peek: :peek: 😉

[Gordon Forbes]

I have to disagree with you there Phill as though cumbersome and adds time to jobs it does what it set out to do
People going home from work and not to the morgue.
Offshore industry and building sites in particular have benefited from this greatly.
It works and makes people think about what they are doing most accidents happen doing mundane routine tasks due to inattention etc etc

Tho some of it is getting out of hand as the drive to stop all accidents incidents by the big companies goes on.
You would not believe some of the stories about accidents that we hear at safety meetings etc etc from around the world
better stop before rabbiting on starts.

[Carrie Brown]

http://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … ght=method

I posted one up a while ago in file swapping ….. it might help? 😀

[Ivan Morley]

Do not submit a generic risk assessment / method statement.

The details provided should match the work and equipment. A good safety officer will spot a generic one.

Even though the Health & Safety at Work Act etc 1974 has been in place for over thirty years, I am amazed at how many companies do not have systems in place, or even a policy statement.

Ivan

[Carrie Brown]

quote Ivan Morley:

Do not submit a generic risk assessment / method statement.

Ours is posted to give peeps a starting point as to what they need to provide ….. not everyone knows exactly what is needed or what it should contain or look like etc. When we were first asked for one we did not know what exactly was needed? …. I asked a friend from the local council who gave me some copies of different ones ….. so I was able to get an idea of what exactly I needed to provide.

Obviously a site survey is required beforehand to be able to fill in these forms and to ensure an accurate report is given of the dangers/hazards/risks etc and what you will be doing to avoid any harm/damage to yourself or anyone else on site.

😀

[David White]

Hi Carrie cant seem to download that link

[Carrie Brown]

Hi David,

I think you need to do this:

right click, save target as

? Hopefully

😀