Risk assessments

A central requirement of the regulations is that employers must carry out a risk assessment. The risk assessment should address what happens in the workplace and must consider all groups of workers and others who might be affected.

The TUC and Unionlearn guide, Risk assessment — a guide for safety representatives, warns that although there is no single correct way of doing risk assessments, whatever process is used, the risk assessments must be “systematic and thorough” and must look at “what actually happens in the real workplace, rather than just at what the employer thinks happens”.

The risk assessment must identify groups of workers who might be particularly at risk, such as young workers. A risk assessment must be “suitable and sufficient”. This means it must:

• correctly and accurately identify hazards;

• determine the likelihood of injury or harm;

• identify any specific legal duty relating to the hazards;

• remain valid for a period of time; and

• enable decisions to be made about appropriate control measures.

A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm or injury. A risk is the likelihood of harm or injury arising from a hazard.

A 2008 court case reinforced the importance of risk assessment. In Allison v London Underground [2008] IRLR 440, the Court of Appeal emphasised that risk assessments “are meant to be an exercise by which the employer examines and evaluates all the risks entailed in his operations, and takes steps to remove or minimise these risks”.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guide, Five steps to risk assessment, sets out a step-by-step approach to risk assessment. The most important thing to remember about risk assessments is that they must be acted upon and updated regularly:

• Step 1: Look for hazards by visually inspecting the workplace, consulting employees and their representatives, looking at manufacturers’ instructions or data sheets and considering accident and ill-health records;

• Step 2: For each hazard, be clear about who might be harmed and how. Consider particular groups of workers like new and young workers, migrant workers, new or expectant mothers or people with disabilities who may be particularly at risk. Include cleaners, visitors, contractors, maintenance workers, who may not be in the workplace all the time, members of the public and in shared workplaces, those employed by others who could be affected;

• Step 3: Evaluate the risks arising from the hazards and decide whether existing precautions are adequate or whether more should be done. If something needs doing, either remove the hazard altogether or, if this is not possible, control the risks. Only use personal protective equipment (PPE) if nothing else can reasonably be done;

• Step 4: Record your findings; and

• Step 5: Review your assessment from time to time and revise it if necessary.

A generic list of risks and their possible effects is not a risk assessment, although it is a tool for carrying out a risk assessment. A risk assessment requires a consideration of the particular hazards in a particular workplace (Home Farm Trust Ltd v Nnachi UKEAT/0400/07). It is the employer’s duty to ensure that whoever carries out the risk assessment is competent to do so. He or she should also have suitable training and the time and resources to carry out the assessment. The TUC says it is better that the competent person is employed directly by the organisation rather than being an outside consultant.

The voluntary online Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (www.oshcr.org) provides a searchable database of qualified consultants. Reps can use the database to check the credentials of any external safety consultant engaged by the employer. In May 2014, there were almost 2,000 consultants named on the register.

Regulation 4a of the Safety Reps and Safety Committees Regulations requires employers to consult safety reps in good time about arrangements to appoint competent people to assist with health and safety and implementing procedures for serious and imminent risk.

Some employers have asked safety reps to sign risk assessment records as the competent person. The TUC says risk assessments should only ever be signed by management or the workplace safety officer. This is because the legal responsibility is that of the employer. Safety reps should, however, be involved from the earliest stages of the risk assessment process.