Health and Safety Risk Assessment Requirements

Overview

Employers have a legal obligation to ensure that the workplace used by their employees, customers, and visitors, is safe and free from any hazards or risks that could negatively impact their health, safety, and/or wellbeing.

Risk assessments serve a crucial role in ensuring that the workplace is healthy and safe through a process of checks. A risk assessment highlights all hazards and protects employees from such hazards through the implementation of control measures.

Risk assessments can effectively ensure that four important aspects of health and safety requirements are maintained:

• Assessments allow for the prevention of occupational hazards and risks pertaining to health and safety.
• Assessments provide information to employees, and all other relevant parties.
• Risk Assessment training allows individuals in the workplace to be educated thoroughly and trained in the health and safety procedures applicable to the workplace.
• Assessments help the employer comply with their legal obligations with regard to health and safety requirements.

Important requirements for Health and Safety Risk Assessments

The following are crucial health and safety risk assessment requirements that must be complied with to ensure that the risk assessment process is effective, and that risk management is efficient:

• The Assessment must be prepared by the employer in collaboration with the employees or the employee representatives.
• The Assessment must be a written record either on paper or electronically. It is recommended that the assessment be kept in both formats to ensure that it is not lost.
• The Assessment must be available in the workplace so that it can be accessed by any person.
• The Assessment must contain a survey of the organisation’s health and safety initiatives along with a description of any problems. It can also include the sick absence status of the organisation as additional reference.
• Should there be any health and/or safety-related issues or problems, the risk assessment must include an action plan so that problems which cannot be addressed immediately, can be addressed.
• The Assessment must be revised once a year, or as soon as there are any changes to machinery, materials, processes, activities, or after an incident/accident has occurred. This will ensure that the risk assessment is relevant and will determine whether it has the desired effect, or whether changes or improvements need to be made.

Who must carry out the risk assessment?

The risk assessment is the duty of the employer as they are legally required to provide a healthy and safe work environment. However, this duty can be delegated to a fully health and safety trained competent person appointed in writing by the employer such as a health and safety manager, officer, or an independent third-party professional.

How does SafetyWallet support its subscribers?

SafetyWallet, in partnership with MAKROSAFE and OHS Online, ensures that subscribers can obtain the highest level of compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, all other Regulations, and more.

MAKROSAFE have been assisting clients for more than 23 years with recommendations and risk assessments for a hazard-free environment.

MAKROSAFE / SAFETYWALLET / MY SAFETY SHOP are all in Partnership.

Through the assistance and support in the health and safety programme of the subscriber, SafetyWallet helps subscribers with the health and safety risk assessments that must be conducted to ensure that subscribers are compliant in providing a healthy and safe working environment.

Keeping your workplace legally Health and Safety Compliant may seem like a daunting task. At MAKROSAFE, we have an experienced team of OHS experts available to assist in keeping your company Health and Safety Compliant according to South African Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 and Regulations.
The MAKROSAFE Health and Safety Risk Control Package will assist you with your Risk Management Programme.
By signing up with our Health and Safety Risk Control Package, MAKROSAFE will assist you with your Risk Management journey.