Risk_Assessment

Task 1 (4.1) For the Two assessments carried out, outline the procedures to REVIEW the risk assessment in the light of a change in the process or work environment that you propose to make detail your intended changes. Any changes in procedures need to be monitored, describe how you would monitor the effectiveness of your implemented changes. Following a visit to the Wates construction site in May 2011 the following information has been collated in conjunction with the Hazard Identification sheet. A risk assessment is an important step in protecting workers and businesses, as well as complying with the law. It helps ocus on the risks that really matter in the workplace – the ones with the potential to cause real harm. In many instances, straightforward measures can readily control risks, for example ensuring spillages are cleaned up promptly so people do not slip, or cupboard drawers are kept closed to ensure people do not trip. For most, that means simple, cheap and effective measures to ensure your most valuable asset – your workforce – is protected. The law does not expect you to eliminate all risk, but you are required to protect people as far as ‘reasonably practicable. A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what, in work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether precautions have been taken or should do more to prevent harm. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control measures. The five steps to risk assessment (hse.gov.uk) Step 1 Identify the hazards Step 2 Decide who might be harmed and how Step 3 Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions Step 4 Record your findings and implement them Step 5 Review your assessment and update if necessary A hazard is anything that may cause harm, such as chemicals, electricity, working from ladders, an open drawer etc; the A risk is the chance, high or low, that somebody could be harmed by these and other hazards, together with an indication of how serious the harm could be. Assessment one Working from height with no rail/toe boards or fall arrest system. Changes made 1. Ensure work is planned, supervised and carried out in a reasonably practical way. 2. Fit toe boards guard rails to the area where work is taking place. 3. Ensure all emergencies are planned for. 4. Take account of the risk assessment carried out under regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations. 5. Ensure adequate training is provided. 6. Take sensible precautions provide information on how to stop falling. 7. Ensure inspection of the equipment in-situ – on a daily basis. 8. Check the surface and report daily on the condition, the effects of the weather can affect the working environment. 9. Introduce ‘hazard zones’ |Hazard zones For the purpose of this GRA and to afford clarification over the term ‘hazard zone’, this can be defined in two distinct ways. A hazard zone is one which is established: • Above or below any area where work at height is being undertaken, this would • Include acts such as hauling equipment aloft etc. • When working near any unprotected edge or slope leading to any unprotected edge within three metres distance, which is also known as the danger area. • To minimise the risk of injury to personnel, and members of the public, hazard zones must be established, cordoned off and operated using strict control procedures where the following occurs: • individuals are working at height and there is a risk of a fall likely to cause injury • individuals are at risk of being struck by falling objects Assessment two PPE not provided for young people Changes 1. Prior to young people attending site, information to be provided to young person, parents and teachers on the importance of wearing correct PPE and penalties and dangers that can be incurred if not adhered to. 2. Agreement drawn up that this is understood and all parties to sign 3. On site induction to all young people to follow full site induction process 4. All young people to be provided with correct PPE, sign to say they have received. 5. Any young person not seen to be wearing for any given reason to be removed site. 6. Nominated person ie; site manager to monitor wearing of PPE and check condition and suitability of PPE on a daily basis, during the period of work experience. 7. A daily record book to be issued on site detailing a. Name of each young person b. PPE issued c. Checks done each time young person enters site (start/end of each day, refreshment breaks etc.) Site manager/nominated employee to sign and record. 8. All site personnel to monitor young people at all times 9. No young person to be left unsupervised at any time 10. Review site book daily 11. Review procedure fortnightly to ensure the new processes are working 12. Report to company health and safety officer on the review and monitoring procedures. Review and monitor It is important to Review the risk assessment regularly. Very few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, new equipment, substances and procedures will be brought in that could lead to new hazards. It makes sense therefore, to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis. Every year or so, formally review where you are, to make sure you are still improving, or at least not sliding back. Look at your risk assessment again. Have there been any changes' Are there improvements you still need to make' Have your workers spotted a problem' Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses' Make sure your risk assessment stays up to date. When you are running a business it's all too easy to forget about reviewing risk assessment - until something has gone wrong and it's too late. A review date for any risk assessment needs to be done on an annual basis. During the year, if there is a significant change, don't wait: check your risk assessment and where necessary, amend it. If possible, it is best to think about the risk assessment when planning change - that way more flexibility is left. You should think about reviewing your risk assessment if your business: • brings in new machinery or equipment • implements new processes or working practices • starts working with new substances • brings in new personnel • alters or moves premises • expands rapidly • experiences an accident or near-miss A date should be noted when you revise your risk assessment but you only need to alter your records if there are new and significant findings or if existing precautions prove inadequate or can be improved. The new risk assessment changes will be implemented within one week from the date of the assessment. A record should be kept of all inspections of work at height equipment. Formal inspection procedures should be put in place by Health and Safety Officer to ensure that personal fall protection equipment is given a detailed inspection (“thorough examination”) by a competent person before first use and at intervals not exceeding six months (or three months where the equipment is used in arduous conditions), and after circumstances liable to jeopardise safety have occurred. Interim inspections of work at height equipment might be needed between programmed, detailed inspections. For example, where the risk assessment has identified that work at height equipment has, or may have been exposed to a hazard that could cause significant deterioration in the equipment, it should be inspected and appropriate records made. Examples of such hazards include paint, chemicals, acidic or alkaline environment. The need for and frequency of interim inspections will depend on the particular circumstances in which the equipment is to be used. Once the change is in place, and if monitoring shows that performance is falling short of what is required: 1. The initial action should be reviewed to make improvements to performance; 2. If this is not possible, changes may need to be made to risk assessment. 3. Finally, if performance falls completely out of step with the overarching change, the risk assessment should be reviewed in its entirety. Task 2 (4.2) Explain whether the changes would have any direct bearing on the company policy with regards to health and safety in the future. The Wates Group is committed to preventing accidents and protecting the health of everyone involved in their activities. In addition, they ensure that activities are carried out in accordance with legislation, industry standards and best practice. The Group Policy is reviewed annually and updated as necessary by the Group Standards Committee. Revisions are communicated to those affected by the changes. The Executive Committee (ExCo) discusses health and safety matters at their meetings. Consultation on health and safety matters is established through meetings held within the Business Units throughout the Group. These act as the focal point for participation in monitoring and reviewing health and safety performance. The above statement is from the Chief Executive of Wates, whilst the reviews to the two risk assessment do have a direct bearing on the day to day work on site for employees there are only elements of them that will affect the health and safety policy, although the changes recommended need to take place with immediate effect. Wates policies and procedures have been carefully developed and are designed to be realistic, sensible and workable. Accordingly, all incorporate the following fundamental but vital characteristics: • They are prescriptive and lay down well-defined courses of action • They are based on ‘real world’ knowledge and experience • They identify key training requirements • They clearly illustrate areas of accountability • They form part of a coherent HSMS programme - all policy documents lead seamlessly to other related sources of information • They are clear, simple and practicable • They are concise, free of jargon and straightforward • They are clearly targeted - each addresses identified health and safety issues and procedures • They communicate important messages with clarity and impact • They are controlled documents - updated regularly and with specific review dates. (Wates.co.uk) In the two assessments any changes to the policy would occur in the annual review, this is not to say that the changes would not be implemented immediately, but would not be company policy until the time of the review. Although most of the changes are current company policy the areas that would be looked into in depth, would be: Fitting of toe boards and guard rails whilst working at height – although I feel that this is currently company policy under the working at height regulations 2005, but is something that has now been reported as being a near miss. Under the young people on work experience- I feel that this although may be covered under Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 specific guidance is available through the HSE regarding The Education (Work Experience) Act 1996, the guidance supplied needs to be incorporated into the company’s health and safety policy at review stage. o A recent case that has been publicised involved a Sheffield building company who were fined after a schoolboy on work experience fell 2.4 metres from a ladder. The 15-year-old was one of two students from a school, completing a placement with Alan Fleischer Builders Ltd in March 2010. He was working on a project in West Street, Sheffield, converting an upstairs restaurant into flats and extending upwards into newly-created floors. HSE said the work placement assessment allowed students to carry out general labouring duties but they were not expected to work at height. After the incident, students were stopped from returning to the site and all future placements to the company were suspended. Task 3 (4.3) Justify the effectiveness of the implemented changes. After implementing the changes one of the main benefits of the assessments would be a significant increase in near misses reported on site which would help to address the imbalance in the safety pyramid. Severn Trent Water launched a scheme in August 2006 there have been over 4,000 near misses reported. The closure rate of remedial action is also very good with over 3,000 actions (75%) completed. Once changes are in place the prompt closure of actions reported by operational staff will help to create a safer workplace. An objective of the Severn Trent project was also to develop a process which could be replicated across other departments in Severn Trent Water, once the changes are implemented on the current site at Wates, these need to be communicated across all sites to ensure the safety of all personnel especially with reference to the two assessments identified. The implementation of the processes will help to create a safer working environment and by involving staff in developing solutions will help in overall improvement of health and safety behaviour. Having a safe and pleasant workplace will make the business somewhere your employees will enjoy being, and a happy workforce will produce benefits in the following areas. Visiting clients will feel comfortable and more prepared to do business with you. The five main benefits of a safer work environment are: 1. Higher productivity. 2. Better working relationships between management, workers and clients. 3. Less time away from work due to stress, sickness and duvet days. 4. Improved willingness to learn and develop new and existing skills and work knowledge. 5. Management peace of mind. The following case scenario shows what can happen when things go wrong and the company does not implement changes Following the fatal injury of an employee maintaining machinery at a recycling firm employing approximately 30 people, a company director received a 12-month custodial sentence for manslaughter. The machinery was not properly isolated and started up unexpectedly. An HSE and police investigation revealed there was no safe system of work for maintenance; instruction, training and supervision were inadequate. HSE’s investigating principal inspector said: 'Evidence showed that the director chose not to follow the advice of his health and safety adviser and instead adopted a complacent attitude, allowing the standards in his business to fall.' It is cases like this that show the importance of acting on changes efficiently and effectively and how important it is that the risk assessments are reviewed and monitored, all personnel must work together to ensure that the processes are implemented. A statement from the HSE reads: “Effective health and safety performance comes from the top; members of the board have both collective and individual responsibility for health and safety. Directors and boards need to examine their own behaviours, both individually and collectively, against the guidance given - and, where they see that they fall short of the standards it sets them, to change what they do to become more effective leaders in health and safety” Task 4 (5.1) See attached generic risk assessment and h