Risk assessments
All activities must be risk assessed. Risk management is NOT about creating a totally risk free society, or generating paperwork for the sake of it. It should not be used to exaggerate trivial risks, or stop learning activities where the risks are managed
Hierarchy of controls
The hierarchy of control is a system for controlling risks in the workplace. It is a step-by-step approach to eliminating or reducing risks and it ranks risk controls from the highest level of protection and reliability through to the lowest and least reliable protection.
Consider controls in the following order, with elimination being the most effective and PPE being the least effective:
- Elimination – physically remove the hazard
- Substitution – replace the hazard
- Engineering controls – isolate people from the hazard
- Administrative controls – change the way people work
- PPE – protect the worker with equipment
This section covers risk assessments for a variety of areas.
Risk assessment library
We have a library of risk assessments for some common procedures. The library contains example risk assessments for use as a starting point for your own assessments. They must be modified to your work - see Using Example Risk Assessments for guidance.
Authorisation
It is the responsibility of the Academic Supervisor / Principle Investigator / Line Manager to ensure that appropriate risk assessments have been completed by a competent person. The Academic Supervisor / Principle Investigator / Line Manager must authorise the final version before use.
Competence
A competent person is someone with the knowledge, experience, and training to effectively assess ALL risks involved with a particular substance, activity, or process.
Review
The contents of all risk assessments should be reviewed in the following three circumstances:
- Following an accident/incident,
- Following significant changes in the way in which the task is conducted, and
- Routinely (before the Review Date stated on the risk assessment).
Help and Advice is always available from your Faculty Compliance and Risk Team, your Technical Operations Managers or Local Safety Advisors.
For all risk assessments, always do what you say you’re going to do - don’t just sign and forget!