Health and Safety Risk Assessments in the Workplace

In any workplace, it's essential to identify and assess potential health and safety risks. This process is known as a health and safety risk assessment and must be conducted by a person who has been properly trained, and it helps ensure that employers are taking steps to protect their employees from harm. Here are five important points to keep in mind when conducting a health and safety risk assessment in the workplace:

Identify Potential Hazards

The first step in conducting a health and safety risk assessment is to identify potential hazards in the workplace. Hazards can include anything that has the potential to cause harm to employees, visitors and contractors, such as equipment, chemicals, or work processes. It's important to identify all possible hazards, no matter how small they may seem, and to consider how they could affect employees.

Evaluate the Risks

Once you've identified potential hazards, you'll need to evaluate the risks associated with them. This involves considering the likelihood and severity of harm that could occur and determining how likely it is that employees will be exposed to the hazard. This information can help you prioritize which risks to address first and determine the appropriate level of control measures needed to reduce or eliminate the risk.

Determine Control Measures

After evaluating the risks, the next step is to determine what control measures are needed to reduce or eliminate them. Control measures can include engineering controls, administrative controls, or personal protective equipment (PPE). Engineering controls involve modifying the workplace itself, such as adding guards to machines or installing ventilation systems to control hazardous fumes. Administrative controls involve changes to work processes, such as implementing training programs or rotating employees to limit exposure. PPE involves providing employees with equipment such as gloves, goggles, or respirators to protect them from hazards.

Implement Control Measures

Once you've determined the appropriate control measures, the next step is to implement the control measues. This may involve purchasing new equipment, modifying work processes, or providing employees with PPE. It's important to ensure that employees are trained on how to use any new equipment or PPE and that they understand any changes to work processes. It's also important to regularly review and evaluate the effectiveness of the control measures and make any necessary adjustments.

Review and Revise the Assessment

Finally, it's important to regularly review and revise the health and safety risk assessment. As work processes, equipment, and hazards change, it's important to ensure that the assessment is up-to-date and that control measures are still effective. Regular reviews can also help identify new hazards that may have been overlooked previously.

Overall, conducting a health and safety risk assessment by a fully trained risk assessor is essential for protecting employees in the workplace. By identifying potential hazards, evaluating the risks, and implementing appropriate control measures, employers can create a safe and healthy work environment for their employees. Regular reviews and revisions to the assessment can help ensure that the workplace remains safe over time. Ongoing risk assessment training is also critical as circumstances and enviroments are continuously changing.

MAKROSAFE have been assisting clients for more than 23 years with Risk Assessments and Risk Controls in the workplace, contact us now to find out how we can assist you.

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How does SafetyWallet support its subscribers?

SafetyWallet, in partnership with MAKROSAFE and My Safety Shop, ensures that subscribers can obtain the highest level of compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Over the course of 23 years, MAKROSAFE has provided advice and risk assessments to help businesses keep their workplaces safe for their employees.

Click on the image below to find a SafetyWallet Solution that suits your business (Branch/Site specific) and get the 21 benefits along with the subscription:

By subscribing to a complete Health and Safety Risk Control Package, employers are not only admitting that risk management is important; they are also developing their health and safety management systems to the point where they may qualify for a health and safety compliance certificate.

In the process, they are ensuring that all their employees can return home healthy and safe after work.

MAKROSAFE is South Africa's most successful provider of occupational health and safety services. Their clients can benefit from their effective management of health and safety programmes, as well as their assistance in achieving health and safety compliance.

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.

The Health and Safety Risk Control Package is essential for employers who want to ensure that their risk assessments are effectively implemented, monitored, and controlled in order to ensure the safety of all workers.

With the approved amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993, this package will assist employers in aligning their health and safety risk management for the expected promulgation of the OHS Act Amendment Bill.

Comprehensive Monthly Safety Risk Management Reports, an annual Risk Assessment Recall, and once you have subscribed you will have access to at least 170 Policies, Procedures and Practices which will further the risk controls packages success.

My Safety Shop is the platform to visit to purchase the Health and Safety Risk Control Package, which should be considered only after a thorough risk assessment has been carried out.