The four step process for managing risks
- Identify hazards
Some hazards may be more obvious than others because they are common and well known in a particular industry. Others may be more difficult to identify. It is important to work closely with workers and look at every task in the workplace to help identify all potential hazards.
Workplace records on incidents, near misses, health monitoring and the results of inspections can also help identify hazards. If someone has been injured during a particular task, then a hazard exists that could hurt someone else. Workplace incidents need to be investigated to identify any hazards involved and to control the corresponding risks.
- Assess the risk
A risk assessment can help determine:
- the severity of a risk
- whether any existing control measures are effective
- what actions should be taken to control the risk
- how urgently those actions should be completed.
However, a risk assessment should be done when:
- there is uncertainty about how the hazard may result in an injury or illness
- the work activity involves a number of different hazards and there is a lack of understanding about how the hazards may interact with each other to produce new or greater risks
- there are changes at the workplace that may impact on the effectiveness of control measure.
- Control the risks
This is the most important step in managing risks – eliminating the identified hazard so far as is reasonably practicable, or if that is not possible, minimising risks as far as reasonably practicable.
The ways of controlling risks can be ranked from the highest level of protection and reliability to the lowest. This is called the hierarchy of control.
The WHS legislation requires the PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) to work through the hierarchy of control when managing risks. This means the PCBU must always aim to eliminate the hazard, which is the most effective control.
If elimination is not reasonably practicable, the PCBU must minimise the risk so far as is reasonably practicable by doing one or more of the following:
- substituting (wholly or partly) the hazard creating the risk with something that creates a lesser risk
- isolating the hazard from any person exposed to it
- implementing engineering controls.
If a risk still remains, that remaining risk must be further minimised, so far as is reasonably practicable, by implementing administrative controls or through the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).