Lesson 4 - Health and Safety

To control health and safety in the workplace, we need to identify what might cause harm to people and decide whether we are taking reasonable steps to prevent that harm. This is called a risk assessment and doing them is a legal requirement in most countries.

Risk assessment

There is an enormous volume of literature published on how to do H&S risk assessments. Many of these will claim that their procedure is the best, and all other methods fall short.

As we discussed earlier with regards to management models, whether the risk assessment procedure applied is a four, five or six step procedure, or whether risks are rated using the terms ‘frequency’ and ‘severity’ instead of ‘likelihood’ and ‘impact’, does not really matter. What matters is that all the key hazards are identified and given an appropriate amount of attention to ensure adequate controls are put in place.

Most risk assessment ‘how to’ guides will include the following steps in some form:

1. Hazard identification

2. Risk evaluation (and/or risk analysis)

3. Risk control

4. Monitoring

Hazard identification

It is always easy after the event to know what we could have been done differently. What we need to learn to ask before starting work is ‘what if?’. In fact these two little words are so powerful when it comes to hazard identification that there is a formal process named after it – What-If Analysis.

What-If Analysis uses a multi-skilled team to create and answer a series of “what-if” type questions, such as “What if the steam valve sticks in an open position?”

Hazard identification is the most important step in risk assessment, and possibly in health and safety management as a whole. We cannot control what we don’t know about! There are plenty of techniques to help us identify hazards. Some, like HAZOP (hazard and operability study), are quite structured and include evaluation and control steps, while others are simple brainstorming exercises.

Other methods of identifying hazards

• Checklist – These can be checklists created from previous risk assessments, published standards, lists of past accidents, or a list of the types of energy which can lead to accidents (e.g. kinetic energy – forklift trucks, potential energy – falls from height etc.).

• Observation – Spend some time looking around the workplace and observing work, particularly when workers may be tired, especially if night work is a requirement. Look for both unsafe conditions and unsafe acts.

• Brainstorming – This is best done in a team, allowing members to call out ideas which stimulates other members to engage and discuss other potential hazards.

• PHA (Process Hazard Analysis) – A set of organised and systematic assessments of the potential hazards associated with an industrial process. HAZOPs are an example of a PHA.

• HAZOP – A hazard and operability study is a structured and systematic examination of a complex planned or existing process or operation. It is used to identify and evaluate problems that may represent risks to personnel or equipment. This technique is widely used in the brewing industry as it is suited to the typical processes that occur. It is best done during the design phase when changes to the system can still be made easily. It is also a valid tool for an existing plant. It is beneficial to use a P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagram). The hidden elements of the process are studied using guidewords that prompt a multiskilled team to identify what deviations might occur. It can be time consuming and sometimes laborious, but it is a very good method.

Table: Typical HAZOP guide words and deviations