Risk Assessments

Introduction

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require you to make suitable and sufficient assessments of the risks to health and safety of your employees and non-employees affected by all your undertakings.

The risk assessments should identify measures to comply with duties under the 'relevant statutory provisions'. You must ensure that the demands of the job do not exceed the employees' ability to carry out the work without risks to themselves and/or others. Significant findings must be recorded where five or more are employed, or if there are employees at special risk, e.g. young workers, disabled workers, pregnant women, and nursing mothers in your workforce.

Assessments should be reviewed when they are no longer valid or there is a significant change in the matter it relates to.

A risk assessment should address

• All relevant hazards i.e. an object or work practice with a potential to cause harm,
• Risks.  The likelihood of harm from a hazard
• The extent of risk i.e. number of staff likely to be affected
• All staff and identify those at particular risk taking into account all preventative and precautionary measures

You are also required to ensure that all employees are provided with adequate health and safety training, repeated periodically and adapted to take account of new or changed risks.

Further information on carrying our risk assessments is available on line from the Health and Safety Executive.

Chemical safety

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1994 (COSHH) {as amended} requires you to carry out a full written assessment of all work activities that are liable to expose any employee to hazardous substances, i.e. use of cleaning chemicals, hazardous micro-organisms, including legionella and chemicals such as biocides and chlorine.

The assessment should cover all work activities and consider the following

• What substances are present, in what form
• The possible harmful effects
• Where and how substances may be produced or given off
• Who could be affected, to what extent and for how long
• How likely is it that exposure will occur
• What precautions and/or controls are needed to comply with coshh

Following the assessments you should take all reasonably practicable steps to prevent exposures to such substances.

Assessment should be reviewed and updated whenever there is a significant change in handling practices and/or if it is no longer valid or at least once every five years.

Your supplier will be able to give you the necessary information required in the form of hazard data (or information) sheets.  Further information about chemical safety can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website or the Coshh Essentials website.

Display screen equipment / personal computers

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 requires you to arrange for an ergonomic assessment of all Visual Display Unit (VDU) workstations by a competent person trained in the requirements of the users, the equipment and these Regulations. Risks from all tasks (including risks of upper limb discomfort, vision, fatigue, stress etc.) to each user or group of users must be assessed from information supplied by actual users. All necessary information on the risks identified in the assessments and training on the proper use of equipment and work routines should be provided to employees to protect their Health and Safety.

You must also ensure that eye tests are offered to all habitual users employed upon their request.

Electrical safety

You should also carry out risk assessments for the fixed installation and for portable electrical appliances.

Your employees should be encouraged to report defects, such as worn or damaged cables, loose connections, worn, damaged or unearthed equipment, badly placed trailing cables, broken plugs, sockets, switches, overloaded circuits etc.

You should identify risk areas and display instructions in the form of a placard as to treatment of persons suffering from electric shock in the those areas. Where electrical equipment is tested, serviced or maintained, a suitable (BS921) rubber insulation mat must be provided.

Further information and advice is available from the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting website or the Health and Safety Executive website.

Fire safety

This Unit does not enforce Fire Safety so further advice should be sought from the Fire Officer at New Cross Fire Station on 020 7587 4935 or on-line from www.london-fire.gov.uk.

Fork lift trucks

You are required to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to health and safety of your lift truck operator. The risk assessment should identify safe operating procedures for all operations using the lift truck. These assessments and safe working practice should be recorded for those at special risk such as operators. Assessments should be reviewed when they are no longer valid or there is a significant change in the matter it relates to.

The 'Health and Safety Executive's Approved Code of Practice "Rider operated lift trucks - operator training", and “Safety in Working with Lift Trucks” give advice on operator training in the safe use of this equipment.

Manual handling

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 requires you, so far as is reasonably practicable, to avoid the need for hazardous manual handling operations altogether. When such cannot be avoided, a thorough assessment must be undertaken and measures introduced to reduce the risk of injury to the lowest level reasonably practicable. To ensure effectiveness of those measures monitoring and re-assessments must be carried out.

The assessments must be suitable and sufficient, taking into account the tasks, loads, working environment, individual capability and other factors.

The assessments, once completed must be brought to the attention of all staff and their records should include details of training as a result.  For help with manual handling assessments, further information can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website.

Noisy working environments

The Noise at Work Regulations 1989 requires that where normal human speech is difficult to hear at 2 metres you must arrange for noise assessments to be carried out by a competent person trained in the requirements of these Regulations.

The assessment should identify all workers likely to have a daily work activity noise exposure of 85 dB(A) or a peak sound pressure level of 140 dB(A). You should identify the cause of the noise problem and take suitable precautions and measures to eliminate such so far as is reasonably practicable.

If the noise levels cannot be reduced you should not have staff based in these noisy areas. Personal protective equipment i.e. ear defenders should only be supplied as a last resort. All staff likely to be affected by noise must be provided with information on the hazards arising from exposure to noise, and should be given training and instruction to avoid exposure.

Further information can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website.

Passive smoking at work

The general provisions of The Health and Safety at Work etc, Act 1974, require you to make arrangements to ensure that your employees are not forced to work in very smoky atmosphere, as health risks from passive smoking are well documented. The exact measures to be taken should be decided following consultation with your employees.

Further guidance on passive smoking at work is available to download from the Health and Safety Executive website in the form of a pdf document.

Work equipment

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 require you to carry out risk assessments of all work equipment and plant to identify any reasonably foreseeable hazards that may exist. You should also ensure that the equipment is suitable for its intended purpose, with regards to its construction, working conditions and workplace risks.

The risk assessment should identify among other items

• Any dangerous parts of machinery
• Risks of ejection of materials
• Rupture or disintegration
• Fire/overheating or explosion
• Unintended discharge of gas, dust, liquid, vapour or other substance
• Excessively hot or cold surfaces
• The safety of controls on powered equipment
• Dangers from instability, poor lighting or poor maintenance

'Start' buttons should be recessed or shrouded in order to prevent unintended operation while 'Stop' buttons should be coloured red and protrude for easy operation. They should be sited within easy reach of the operator.

Further information is available from the Health and Safety Executive website.

Workplace risks

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require you to assess and minimise any specific physical workplace risk. This may be by restricting access to dangerous areas, operating ‘permit to work’ systems in high-risk areas, providing training and instruction to relevant employees on associated risks and necessary precautions to protect their health and safety at work

Contact us

Food, health and safety unit
Tel: 020 7525 2000
Fax: 020 7525 5735
ohs@southwark.gov.uk 
Chaplin Centre
Thurlow Street
London SE17 2DG