May 2011
We are all aware of our duties as employers to carry out risk assessments, to evaluate the likelihood that harm may come to our employees in the course of their daily work and also that harm which may come to the public by virtue of our daily work. Thereafter we need to determine how we manage these risks, no-one is under the illusion that all can be eliminated, nor one might argue is that good for society as we need to learn to cope with risk to grow.
The most commonly known acronym in risk management is ERIC PD, Eliminate, Reduce, Isolate, Control, PPE, and Discipline.
Eliminate the hazard if possible, e.g. consider different methods or carrying out the task, new machines, different chemicals etc. Often that is not possible so;
Reduce the risk, e.g. limiting the number of people in the area of the hazard, how often the task is carried out, maybe rotating the people carrying out the task to reduce exposure. The methods will depend very much on the hazard and the work that you do in your workplace.
Isolating the hazard, e.g. carrying out a task in a fenced off area, fitting guards round dangerous parts of machines, making sure that only people who are trained have access to the hazard, such as they do on building sites, with access controlled and all workers needing to prove that they are competent prior to being allowed on site.
Control, can be broken into three areas; the first being some kind of engineering control, such as fume extraction in areas where the build up could be considered dangerous, the second being safe systems of work, ensuring that the work is controlled and carried out in such a way as to minimize the risk.
Thirdly, training to ensure that all employees know what they need to know to ensure their own health and safety and not to put others at risk.
P stands for Personal Protective Equipment, ensuring that if there is a hazard or risk that someone might be in danger that suitable PPE is issued and that the people issued with it are aware of how and when to use it.
This would perhaps have taken the argument out of the current case going through Scottish courts where a forestry worker claims the Forestry commission made no suitable or sufficient assessment of the risk to its staff from tick bites. This case is disputed in that the Forestry Commission claims they issued suitable clothing, and insect repellent and pincers for the removal of ticks. £80,000 is the amount at stake.
D is for Discipline, ensuring that people do actually work the way they should be working, carry out the tasks in the prescribed manner, keeping guards in place, not short circuiting the system, wearing PPE where provided and appropriate.
Risk management in a nutshell, and while carrying out the risk assessments and determining the action to be taken is not too difficult, the enforcement of the rules, ensuring that all the workers carry out their tasks in the manner prescribed using the correct PPE where required, not just the day after the training, but every day, all day can be difficult and frustrating. OHSAS Management Systems can help reduce the burden, but the buck stops ultimately with management and it is now being shown in the courts what that means in financial terms. Recently Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings became the first firm to be convicted under corporate manslaughter legislation and fined £385,000.
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