Risk Assessment & Hazard Identification
Overview
Risk assessment is the foundation of every effective safety system. This course teaches practical methods for identifying hazards, evaluating risk, choosing controls and recording assessments, so participants can carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments in their own workplaces.
Who should attend
HSE officers, supervisors, engineers, team leaders and anyone who carries out or approves risk assessments.
Training methodology
Interactive presentations, practical exercises, case studies, group discussions, role-plays where relevant, and a personal action plan that participants apply in their own work.
Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Explain hazard, risk and the purpose of risk assessment
- Identify hazards using inspections, task analysis and checklists
- Evaluate risk using matrices and judgement
- Select controls using the hierarchy of controls
- Record, communicate and review risk assessments
Course outline
Day 1Risk Concepts
- Hazard, risk and harm
- Legal duties for risk assessment
- Risk perception
- Types of hazard
- The risk assessment process
- Discussion: risks in your workplace
Day 2Identifying Hazards
- Workplace inspections
- Job safety analysis
- Checklists and incident data
- Health hazards: chemical, physical, ergonomic
- Psychosocial hazards
- Site walk exercise
Day 3Evaluating Risk
- Likelihood and severity
- Risk matrices and their limits
- Who might be harmed
- Existing controls
- Tolerable risk and ALARP
- Exercise: rate a set of risks
Day 4Controlling Risk
- Hierarchy of controls
- Engineering and administrative controls
- Personal protective equipment
- Safe systems of work and permits
- Residual risk
- Workshop: control plan
Day 5Recording and Review
- Writing good assessments
- Communicating findings to workers
- Dynamic risk assessment
- Review triggers
- Monitoring control effectiveness
- Complete a full risk assessment
