Why it's important to assess health and safety risks
In a nutshell, there are two compelling reasons why it's important employers carry out health and safety risk assessments in the workplace:
Because you want your employees, customers and visitors to be stay safe in a healthy environment
Because you would be breaking the law if you failed to conduct an assessment, as risk assessments are a legal requirement.
What you need to assess
The next question is; how thorough does your health and safety risk assessment need to be? The precise wording of the 'The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999' makes it clear that you can't afford to make a cursory risk assessment. It must be "suitable and sufficient", and in particular should show that you:
Made a proper check
Established who might be affected
Dealt with all the obvious significant risks
Took into account the number of people who could be involved
Put reasonable precautions in place, so that the remaining risk is low
Involved your workers or their representatives in the process.
How much detail must you go into?
The regulations go on to state that the level of detail in a risk assessment should be proportionate to the risk and appropriate to the nature of the work. In line with the Health and Safety at Work Act's concept of protecting people "as far as is reasonably practicable", insignificant risks and the everyday risks involved in living a normal life can usually be ignored. That is, unless the work activity in question significantly alters the risks posed.
You're not expected to know the future
On the same principle, the risk assessment should only include what you could reasonably be expected to know. No-one is expected to anticipate unforeseeable risks. However, you are obliged to assess the risk to everyone, not just employees. According to the regulations, "every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of:
(a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and
(b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertakings".
That being said, it is your responsibility as an employer to conduct effective risk assessments. Should you need to train yourself and other employees to conduct these risk assessments to the highest of standards, we offer our Risk Assessment Training. We also offer more specialised risk assessment training for fire and COSHH hazards, which may be more suitable depending on your organisation's industry.
Training is key
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 also require employers to train staff so that they know:
What hazards and risks they may face
How to deal with these risks, minimising the danger they pose
Any emergency procedures
Some employees may have particular training needs, for example, new recruits or young employees.
So, if your health and safety assessment indicates that staff training is required, the expert Phoenix team is here to provide authoritative advice and help you find the ideal course to meet your needs.