The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require all organisations with 5 or more staff to carry out written health and safety risk assessments of all of their significant hazards. The Health & Safety Executive guidance “5 Steps to Risk Assessment” details a 5 step approach to workplace risk assessments:

• Identify the hazards present in the workplace(a hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm e.g. trip hazards, slippery floors, electrical equipment, lifting heavy objects, stress, machinery/equipment, fire etc.).
• Identify the people at risk from the hazards, e.g. employees, contractors, visitors etc. Particularly vulnerable employees should also be considered, e.g. young people, new employees and new/expectant mothers.
• Evaluate the risk, taking into account the likelihood and severity of any accidents. Existing controls that are already in place to reduce risks should be identified and evaluated.
• Record the significant findings on a suitable form.
• Review the risk assessment regularly, or when things change e.g. new equipment is purchased, processes change or an accident or near miss has occurred.

Phoenix Health and Safety are experts in all areas relating to risk assessment, and there are two main options for organisations looking for risk assessment assistance:

• Phoenix Health & Safety can carry out your risk assessments for you; thereby removing the headache and the liability for you (many of our competitors will not do this).
• Alternatively, Phoenix Health and Safety can support you through the risk assessment process by providing appropriate forms, training staff who will carry out risk assessments, and commenting on completed assessments

Our health and safety risk assessment experts can also help construction and contracting organisations with generic risk assessments and method statements that are able to be modified to suit specific jobs, and site specific risk assessment documents and procedures.

Certain types of hazard require a special risk assessment in a specific format (click on the links for further information):

• Manual handling activities require a manual handling risk assessment that considers the tasks being carried out, the loads being handled, the work environment and the individuals involved.
• New legislation requires every non-domestic premise to carry out a fire risk assessment. This follows a similar 5 step approach as described above, but the assessment should focus on the 3 elements required for fire to start – heat, fuel and oxygen.
• Hazardous substances require a specific COSHH risk assessment – obtaining the safety data sheet alone does not comply with the law.
• A display screen equipment risk assessment should be carried out on every computer user.

Phoenix Health & Safety can assist with all of these issues.

Businesses in need of risk assessments may also require a health and safety policy and a health and safety manual. Please note that risk assessments and many other services can also be covered as part of our annual support contracts.

Contact us for an informal discussion on how we can help, or to arrange a free initial consultation with one of our expert team.

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