MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY AT
WORK REGULATIONS 1999
(RISK ASSESSMENTS)
The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations make the assessment of
risks a cornerstone of UK health and safety requirements.
The Employers’ key duties are:
•
To appoint competent persons to provide health and safety assistance and
ensure that the number of persons appointed, the time available for them to fulfil
their functions and the means at their disposal are adequate.
•
To assess the risks to health and safety of employees and anyone else who might
be affected by the work of the University. This includes fire risks, and any special
risks to employees who are pregnant or nursing mothers, or who are under 18
years old.
•
From the risk assessments, identify the preventive and protective measures
needed to comply with health and safety legislation.
•
To make arrangements for putting into practice the preventive and protective
measures that may be required from risk assessments. This will cover planning
(setting priorities), organisation (putting in place the structure to implement the
measures), control (ensuring that safety decisions are being implemented as
planned), and monitoring and review (keeping tabs on preventive and protective
measures and striving for progressive improvement in health and safety
performance).
•
To co-operate and co-ordinate with other employers where they share the
premises.
The Employees’ key duties are:
•
To make full and proper use of any arrangements established for health and
safety at work.
•
To report details of any work situation that might represent a serious and
imminent danger.
Other Key Issues
•
Competent persons appointed to assist employers with health, safety and fire
issues should be directly employed in preference to external consultants.
•
Employers should arrange any necessary contacts with external services,
especially with regard to first aid, emergency medical care and rescue work.
August 2009
•
Employers are not afforded a defence for contravention of health and safety
legislation caused by an act or default by their employee or appointed competent
person.
•
Employers must implement preventive and protective measures on the basis of
the general principles of prevention. These general principles already underpin
specific Regulations, such as Control of Substances Hazardous to Health
(COSHH) and Manual Handling Operations.
Hierarchy of Risk Control Measures:
Where an activity or part of an activity is assessed as a HIGH RISK then the
assessor/s should consider whether all reasonably practicable actions to reduce risk
have been considered.
The following risk control hierarchy should be considered:
Avoid or eliminate risk
Stop the activity or contract out to specialists with appropriate facilities
Substitute
Use a less hazardous substance, safer process or again subcontract the activity
Control risks at source
Review engineering controls: Evaluate guarding, ventilation (general and local
exhaust), standard of enclosures, automation and/or segregation of the process.
Consider process controls e.g. alter the process or change process materials to
minimise emissions or modify the process so machinery is remotely operated
thereby removing operators from danger zones or areas
Safe systems of work
Review the work activity and identify high risk aspects. Re-design or alter the
activity to minimise or eliminate the high risks
Use of personal protective equipment (last resort)
Consider whether PPE, as a complementary aspect to the above, could contribute
to risk reduction.
Similarly when an aspect of the activity is ranked as MEDIUM RISK then the
assessor/s should again consider whether risks could be reduced further by
considering aspects of the above risk control hierarchy.
There is no requirement to carry out the above procedures for LOW RISK issues
but there is still an obligation to reduce risks to the lowest level reasonably
practicable.