A Hazard is anything that can potentially cause harm.
Identifying a hazard requires a systematic survey of the workplace, on completion of the survey reference to any legislation or standards covering the hazards must be made and referred to in the Safety Statement.
Some Obvious Hazards
- Unguarded moving parts of machines
- Working at heights
- Electricity
Less Obvious Hazards: – The root cause of many accidents
- Untidy work place
- Poor maintenance
- Bad housekeeping on the factory floor
One thing to remember, it may take years for the hazard to materialise as in the case of Noise Induced Hearing Loss.
Risk Assessment is the analysis of the risk or injury to employees in the workplace from work place hazards.
Risk itself is a combination of the SEVERITY of the hazard and the LIKELIHOOD of the harm or injury occurring. Risk Assessment may be a simple, subjective and qualitative statement expressing the severity of the risk as low, medium or serious following a consideration of the likelihood of the danger.
