Section 10: Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment
Section 10:
Risk Assessment
Contents:
1. Doing a risk assessment
pg. 10-3
2. Making a risk assessment effective
pg. 10-8
3. The law and risk assessment
pg. 10-14
Introduction
A Risk Assessment (RA) is an activity which involves identifying hazards in the
workplace and evaluating the risk and consequences of exposure to these
hazards. It also involves identifying the preventative measures that need to be in
place to eliminate, reduce or control workers’ exposure to the hazards.
Too often, management doesn’t do a risk assessment. They might want to avoid a
risk assessment because of the costs involved, or the time it will take. That is
what they might be thinking, rather than about the sickness and injury a risk
assessment could prevent. And if they do a risk assessment, they frequently
bring in expert consultants to do it. Workers and their elected representatives
are often excluded from the process. This undermines workers’ rights to play an
active part in making sure the workplace is healthy and safe, as well as workers’
knowledge and understanding about the hazards in the workplace.
Management can also undermine the effectiveness of a risk assessment by
focusing more on the risks to the profit of the company, rather than the risks to
the workers in the company. If they take this approach, as many do, they can
end up simply insuring against any loss of profit which might result from the
risk, rather than taking proper measures to put in place a good health and safety
system and adequate measures to prevent the risk.
Unfortunately the law is not strong in building workers’ rights around risk
assessments. The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) itself is weak
and does not specifically require that a risk assessment be done in all
workplaces. However, the General Safety Regulations do require that employers
evaluate the risk of any working situation, condition or machinery to which
workers are exposed [GSR 2(1)]. There are also specific regulations which require
that risk assessments be done for particular hazards. And there is also a general
requirement in the OHS Act that hazards be identified and that the necessary
precautions are put in place to deal with them. Shop stewards and health and
safety representatives must argue that this should include a risk assessment,
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which should be a general tool used in all workplaces as part of building healthy
and safe workplaces. The regulations which do deal with risk assessments can be
used to set precedence and establish the principles and minimum standards for
general workplace risk assessments.
Once management has agreed to do a risk assessment, workers and their
representatives must demand that health and safety representatives be part of
the process. The rights that health and safety representatives have in the OHS
Act must be extended to their involvement in a risk assessment. These rights
include the right to be consulted about the development and reviewing of the
employers’ programme (Section 19 of the OHS Act). Health and safety
representatives also have the right to review the effectiveness of employer
programmes (Section 18 (1)). And where a risk assessment is specifically
required by law, then Section 18(2)(c) gives access to any document the employer
must keep under the Act.
The risk assessment method that an employer (or consultant) uses must be fully
explained to health and safety representatives, or it will be very difficult for
them to understand and give meaningful input into the risk assessment process.
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1.
Doing a risk assessment
Risk assessment is a widely accepted tool
Risk assessment is widely accepted in the world of health and safety
professionals as an important part of a comprehensive health and safety
programme. If it is done well, it can serve to:
ensure the employer looks for and documents the hazards in a workplace;
systematically assess which are the most serious hazards and risks, and
which are less serious, so that the employer’s corrective actions can be
prioritised to focus on the most serious risks first;
compel the employer to identify and document recommendations for
eliminating or controlling each hazard and risk found;
allow preventive recommendations to be evaluated to see which
recommendations will reduce the risk the most;
provide a document that can be revisited to confirm if the recommendations
have been put in place;
focus attention of the health and safety committee on prioritising and
following up on recommendations, as well as reviewing recommendations.
Steps in doing a risk assessment
We define risk assessment as:
The set of activities used to identify hazards in a workplace, assess the
likelihood that each hazard will cause harm to employees or others, and
identify ways to eliminate or control each hazard to reduce the risk of
harming someone.
Preparing for a risk assessment:
Before the risk assessment starts, it is necessary to make decisions about who is
responsible for doing the assessment, and who will provide input and
information. A risk assessment isn’t something a manager or consultant can do
without input from others in the worksite and possibly from outside, too. A team,
consisting of health and safety representatives and management, as well as any
outside experts that either party wants to bring in, should be set up to do the
risk assessment.
Undertaking a risk assessment:
Doing the risk assessment for a particular hazard or set of hazards generally
involves four steps. These are set out below.
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Step one: Identify the hazards and gather information
Before a risk assessment in the workplace is started, it must be clear whether
workplace hazards must first be identified, or whether specific hazards are being
assessed. While the OHS Act does not require risk assessments to be done for the
workplace as a whole, or for hazards which do not have specific regulations, it is
important for trade unions and health and safety committees to argue that risk
assessments should be done for all workplaces.
When a general risk assessment is being done for the whole workplace, it can
seem overwhelming. In this case, it is often useful to break the risk assessment
into pieces and look at one work process or job task at a time. This work process
or job task should then be broken down into various steps or operations, and the
different hazards of each step of that task or process should be identified. Some
steps may have several hazards, while other steps may have no hazards.
The identification of hazards should be systematic. This means seeking to
identify all hazards so they can all be evaluated (scored) for their risk. During
this hazard identification process, a hazard should not be discounted just
because management judges it to be ‘unimportant’ or ‘adequately controlled
already’ or ‘tolerable’ or ‘just the way things are’ or ‘we can’t fix this so we must
accept it.’
Where there is a specific regulation for a hazard, then the risk assessment must
be done in terms of that regulation.
In section 2 of this guide we talked about different ways of gathering information
about health and safety issues in the workplace. These different ways can also be
used to gather information for a risk assessment. The different methods and
sources of information are highlighted below.
Remember, it is very important to find out workers’ views and experiences of the
workplace hazards and the health and safety systems. It is also important to
gather information from other sources. Information from several sources can give
a fresh look at working conditions that workers and managers have come to
accept as ‘normal’, but that are dangerous and that the union, health and safety
representatives and health and safety committee should address with the
employer.
The team will need information and documents on:
the work process and procedures
the maintenance procedures
how spills or mishaps are handled
the material safety data sheets (MSDS) for chemicals
the operating manuals for machines
the OHS policy and procedures
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any recorded incidents and investigation reports
any previous risk assessment reports
any other useful information.
There are different methods for collecting this information. Some of these
methods include:
Meeting with workers – either one-on-one or in groups
Body maps and hazard maps done with workers
Surveys done with workers either through an interview or in writing
Workplace inspections
Gathering relevant documents and other information from management.
Different sources of information include:
Documents such as records of reported injuries and illnesses; exposure
assessments; records of inspections; material safety data sheets
The Department of Labour, which should provide health and safety
representatives and trade union representatives with reports from
inspections at your workplace
The OHS Act and regulations
The team must also confirm whether the written policy and procedures represent
what is really happening in the worksite.
Step two: Decide who might be harmed and how
It is important to understand the route of exposure when looking at the question
of who might be harmed by a hazard, and how they might be harmed. In other
words, how does the harmful substance enter the body? For example, the gases
produced in the process of welding can cause harm. The route of exposure is
through inhaling the gases, which can cause asthma.
Step three: Evaluate the risk posed by each hazard
Here the likelihood that someone will be harmed is being evaluated. This
includes assessing how much, how long, and how often they are exposed to the
hazard. It also involves assessing how severe the harm could be, and the
likelihood of that harm happening.
Risk assessments often use a ranking system to help identify which are the
highest risks, which are more moderate, and which are lower risks. The ranking
systems usually rate 3 things about a hazard:
Severity: what is the most serious harm that could happen (negligible, first
aid, important injury/temporary disability, serious injury/permanent
disability, death). Sometimes this is called Consequence.
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Likelihood: how likely it is this harm would happen when a worker is
exposed to the hazard (definite, probable, possible, remote, unlikely,
impossible). Sometimes this is called Frequency.
Exposure: how often does exposure to the hazard happen (continuous, once
a day, once a week, rarely, etc). Sometimes this is also called Frequency.
A hazard is ranked on each of these 3 scales using numbers, or sometimes using
letters. These rankings or scores are combined to give an overall risk rating for
that hazard (low, medium, high, very high, etc). The overall risk ratings for all
the hazards should tell management, the health and safety committee and trade
union representatives which are the most serious risks demanding immediate
attention, and which are less serious. These less serious risks must also be
addressed, but they are not as urgent.
There are many different risk assessment scoring or ranking systems, and every
company, health and safety consultant or instructor will have a method they
prefer for one reason or another. Each risk scoring system uses somewhat
different definitions for the rating categories (exposure, severity, likelihood) and
uses different numbers on their rating scale, and some use letters (AA, A, B, H,
etc).
As already noted, sometimes different scoring systems will use the term
‘frequency’ to mean different things. In one system it might mean the likelihood
of harm taking place, while in another it might mean how often a person is likely
to be exposed to the hazard. For these different rating systems, the way they
classify the combined risk scores are also different.
What is important is that the risk assessment method being used is explained
clearly, is used properly, and produces combined risk ratings that make sense. If
any of these isn’t happening, the risk assessment will not be valid. Employers
must not use such a complex ranking system that it simply hides the real risks.
Step four: Recommend how to eliminate the hazard
This is the crucial step in a risk assessment where the team doing the risk
assessment puts forward recommendations to eliminate the hazard, or if the
hazard cannot be eliminated, precautions or controls that must be put in
place to reduce exposure to the hazard, the likelihood of someone being harmed.
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Risk assessment requires many skills
In order to be done well, the team doing a risk assessment needs to have a
variety of skills and knowledge. These include:
1. An understanding of the health and safety issues common for the kind of
workplace being assessed. This includes the requirements of the OHS Act
and regulations, and the best practices in the industry.
2. Knowledge about how the specific workplace being assessed works. This
involves knowing every work process, procedure, tool, piece of equipment,
work practices, planned and unplanned activities, and every piece of PPE.
3. Knowledge about how to measure the level of exposure to the hazard. This
involves, for instance, having the skills to measure how loud a noise is,
how much of a chemical is in the air, the temperature, distances, volumes,
weights, etc.
4. Knowledge about the worst harm that can result from exposure to a
hazard, and how likely it is that harm will happen.
5. An understanding of how to use the risk assessment method and ranking
system that is chosen.
6. The ability to ensure that the risk assessment is done as a collective
process. This involves an understanding of how to turn a process being
undertaken by an individual professional or expert (which is how
management generally wants it to be done), into a collective process which
involves representatives of the workers.
7. The ability to hold management responsible for and accountable to the
recommendations of the risk assessment process.
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2.
Making a risk assessment effective
The importance of teams for risk assessments
As with any useful tool, risk assessments can be misused and abused or ignored.
This is why worker and union involvement is so important. It seems many
employers do not allow workers or their representatives the opportunity to give
meaningful input into risk assessments. So if workers want their health and
safety representatives to be more than a rubber stamp to the risk assessment,
workers and trade unions will need to demand that they are part of the process.
As has already been emphasised, it is crucial that there is a team approach to
doing a risk assessment. Different representatives in the team will bring
different areas of knowledge, skills, and experience to the activity of doing the
risk assessment. Each of these areas is essential in order to do the assessment
successfully, correctly and effectively.
Consultants can play a crucial role in the team. When risk assessments are
required by the regulations for a specific hazard, these regulations require that
people with specialised skills are involved in carrying out the risk assessment.
While it is important that consultants are not allowed to take control of the risk
assessment and run it as an individual process, they can play a very useful and
important role in the risk assessment. For instance, they may know a lot about
specific work processes, machinery, chemicals and so on. They may also know
about ‘best practice’ in health and safety prevention in the industry, and can
recommend these ‘new’ prevention approaches to management and workers.
However, workers generally know more about the specific situation in the
workplace, about how the processes are really done, how the machines are used
and how well they work, and how the chemicals are used. Worker
representatives can give input in the team about workers’ experiences and
concerns, and their knowledge of how the work is really done. Workers have to
work with the hazards every day. They must be included in order to learn about
preventative measures, what works and what does not work. And they must be
included to carry knowledge and information to the workers who are at risk of
exposure to the hazard which the risk assessment is handling.
So it is important that the risk assessment process involves workers with
knowledge of the workplace, and outside professional health and safety experts
working together, exchanging information and learning from each other.
Consultants must watch how the work is really done, and talk to workers about
it, not just to managers. At the same time, health and safety representatives
must also be careful not to assume that consultants know everything, and that
ordinary workers have no useful and important knowledge to contribute to the
process.
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Consultants coming in from outside can sometimes be useful because they see
things with fresh eyes. They don’t work there every day, so they have not yet
begun to ignore the ‘everyday’ hazard everyone else has come to accept. They
may also be more skilled at facilitating a risk assessment team and process than
management would be.
But some consultants are not helpful to workers. These consultants come in with
fixed ideas that ‘workers are to blame’. They may assume workers are more a
‘problem’ to be managed and trained to ‘be safe’, than an essential part of, and
resource in, the workplace. They may not focus on prevention, on management
systems of safety through eliminating hazards, on substituting safer processes,
on engineering to reduce hazards, and so on. These are not the consultants that
health and safety representatives want to be involved in the risk assessment
process.
The risk assessment method that an employer (or consultant) uses must be fully
explained to health and safety representatives or it will be very difficult for them
to understand and give meaningful input into the risk assessment process.
Risk assessment can be misused
Risk assessments can be misused in a number of ways, including:
Focus on harm to property instead of harm to people
Employers often focus their risk assessment as much on the possible harm to
their property and equipment as they do on harm to workers or the public. While
it is impossible to stop an employer from worrying about their property being
harmed, it is important to ensure that they also worry about people being
harmed. If the team doing the risk assessment spends more effort looking at the
cost of property damage than considering possible harm to workers, then it is out
of balance. If the recommendations for prevention focus more on preventing loss
of property than on keeping workers healthy, they are out of balance and need to
be looked at critically.
Misusing the assessment method
There are many different risk assessment systems using different forms, tables,
terms and definitions, and different rating systems. This alone can cause
confusion even for a skilled risk assessor. But a more dangerous problem is when
the team doing a risk assessment does not actually understand the risk
assessment system they are supposed to use. They can misunderstand the terms
and definitions. They may not do a rating for all hazards, but only for the ones
that they have decided in advance are important. They can misunderstand how
to rate the 3 risk areas (exposure, severity, likelihood). They may not get specific
enough about how exposure to a hazard is happening at the workplace to make
useful risk estimates or specific recommendations for prevention. The problem of
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defining the worker as the hazard, dealt with below, is one way of misusing the
assessment method.
If they use the rating system wrongly, then the risk ratings will be wrong and
may lead to high risk problems being rated low, or low-risk problems being rated
high. This could misdirect the focus of prevention efforts. Or, the rating will be
done on the wrong thing. For instance, employers might be more interested in
rating the risk in terms of how much it will cost them – through, for instance,
lost production or damage or being held liable for violating a regulation, rather
than rating the risk of a worker being harmed by the hazard.
Overlooking hazards
If the risk assessment fails to identify the real health and safety hazards at the
worksite, then it is starting off completely wrong. If a hazard is not recognised, it
won’t be addressed in the rest of the assessment or in the health and safety
programme that flows from the assessment.
A particular hazard may have several different kinds of harmful effects, and
each of the different kinds of harm need to be considered in the risk assessment.
For example, a certain chemical may be a fire/explosion hazard, an allergen, and
cause cancer. Each of these is a different risk, and the recommendations to
prevent each type of harm may be very different.
A particular work task could expose a worker to several different hazards at the
same time. For example, replacing a light fixture can expose a worker to a fall
from height (ladder), electric shock, and exposure to asbestos in the ceiling
material, and perhaps others. This is at least 3 separate hazards for the same
job. Each of these hazards needs to be separately assessed for risk, and separate
recommendations are needed for preventing each type of harm.
To identify hazards properly, the risk assessment team must also get the input of
the workers who do the work. It is not enough to rely on managers, supervisors,
or outside health and safety consultants. These people may each have useful
input, but they are not doing the work every day. The workers who do the work
know what the work practice really is, not just what the instructions or
operating procedures say. They know what procedures are impossible to follow,
what has changed since the procedures were written, and what things don’t quite
work as they should.
Defining workers as the hazard
Some assessors will list the actions of workers as ‘hazards’. For example ‘worker
misusing tool’, ‘worker failing to secure lanyard’, or ‘worker trips on stair’. It is as
if the assessor believes the work is otherwise 100% safe, except for inattentive,
stupid, undisciplined or untrained workers. This is a wrong approach to a risk
assessment, and it lets the employer off the hook for their legal and moral
obligation to identify the hazards (physical, chemical, biological, etc) that put
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workers in danger. It seems to say that the employer has no obligation to
eliminate hazards or to design or engineer precautions to mitigate the hazards.
It lays the major responsibility on the worker to ‘be safe’. If a risk assessor
defines the worker as a hazard, they need to refocus the assessment on the real
hazards.
Under-estimating the risk
A common problem with risk assessments it that they under-estimate the risk
posed by a hazard. Input from workers is crucial to prevent these underestimates. A good health and safety professional can also offer useful input on
the less-recognised risks such as for long-term illness or injury, or on the rare
but catastrophic risks.
Wrong estimates can happen in many ways, but fall generally into 3 areas:
Under-estimate the number and category of workers who are
exposed. The assessment may not reflect the number of workers exposed to a
hazard. It may overlook maintenance and cleaning workers or contract and
temporary workers. The assessment may not look at all the different work
processes involving the hazard in different states. It also may not examine
how a work process or job involving the hazard is really done. In these ways,
the risk assessment may overlook some of the ways that workers are exposed
to a hazard. If an exposure is not included, then it can’t be considered in the
rest of the assessment.
Under-estimate how much or how often workers are exposed. As
above, the assessment may not reflect how workers are actually exposed. Or,
the assessment might overlook common or every-day exposures because the
assessor somehow sees it as ‘normal’ or ‘acceptable’ and not worth including.
If an exposure is not included, then it can’t be considered in the rest of the
assessment.
Under-estimate the potential severity or likelihood of harm caused
by the hazard. The assessment should consider all types of potential harm
to workers, not just the most common – which is usually injuries. It must
recognise the most severe harm that could happen to workers, not just the
most likely kind of harm. It must include illnesses, even if they are not seen
as serious. And it must consider illness that could happen years in the future
such as cancer. The assessment might overlook common or every-day harm to
health because the assessor somehow sees it as ‘normal’ or ‘acceptable’ and
not worth including. If a significant health effect is not included, then it can’t
be considered in the rest of the assessment.
Focus on reported ‘incidents’ rather than potential harm
A risk assessment is not supposed to base its risk estimate on the documented
injury and illness to workers in that worksite. But this is what some of them do,
based on the false assumption that, ‘If we haven’t seen it happen here, then it
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won’t ever happen here.’ Instead, risk assessment is supposed to look at
potential harm.
For example, consider a vehicle maintenance depot that services and refuels a
fleet of vehicles for a company. The refuelling part of the worksite will store
petrol in a large tank, pump fuel into vehicles, and refill the storage tank from
delivery tank trucks. While a vehicle depot may never have had an explosion or a
major petrol spill, it does not mean that it could never happen. Rather, a depot
needs to take into account that there is the potential for a catastrophic incident
due to the nature of working with petrol. The risk assessment for this depot
should reflect the potential for a disastrous incident (major spill, fire, explosion)
and recommend every possible precaution to prevent such a disaster. It should
also look at other hazards of petrol, specifically the health dangers from
breathing and touching petrol. These range from skin irritation, to nervous
system problems, to cancer. These health problems also may not show up on an
employer’s tally of injury-on-duty incidents, but they are real health impacts that
should be considered in an assessment.
Wrong recommendations
Even if the assessment gets the hazards and risk estimates right, it can fail at
the crucial step of recommending effective preventive action.
Think of the blame-the-worker attitude of many employers, and the preference
for telling workers to ‘be careful’ and ‘follow procedure’ or ‘wear PPE’ instead of
taking responsibility for making the work safer. These narrow attitudes get in
the way of an employer creating a good, preventive health and safety
programme.
The employer should make the work safer by moving up the hierarchy of controls
to change the work processes to eliminate the hazard. If that isn’t possible, then
they should be focusing on substitution, re-design, isolation, ventilation, and
engineering controls to reduce the risk of that work process. This approach is
more effective at preventing harm, and it is the approach required by the OHS
Act and regulations. Health and safety representatives and trade unions who are
commenting on a risk assessment need to focus on moving employers towards
these higher-level, systems approaches to prevention.
Focusing on ‘Acceptable risk’ instead of ‘Best practice’
It is another misuse of risk assessment when the employer argues that their
preferred precaution recommendations will result in an ‘acceptable level of risk’
to workers. That is, the employer has already decided on the precautions they
are prepared to implement. They put these as recommendations in the
assessment report. And, when the health and safety representatives and the
trade union advocates for more stringent precautions, the employer will justify
their original recommendation by saying it’s an ‘acceptable risk.’
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The first question is: Who decides if a risk is acceptable? Should it be the
employer? Or should it be the workers whose lives and health are at risk?
The second question is: Is the employer recommending the best work processes
and best preventive measures in the industry? Or are they proposing half-way
measures that leave workers at risk? What excuse is there for not using the ‘best
practice’ to protect workers?
The goal of a health and safety programme should be to put in place the best,
safest work process possible. Our goal is not to play with risk numbers and try to
lower the risk number a little. Our goal is to put in place the best practices in the
industry for each hazardous work process.
Legally speaking, employers only have to implement what is ‘reasonably
practicable,’ but that may still be an improvement on a quick-and-easy,
numbers-gaming, blame-the-worker approach to risk reduction.
Implement the recommendations to protect workers
Even when a risk assessment is done perfectly, it will be meaningless if the
recommendations in it are ignored by the employer. The recommendations will
only prevent injury and illness if they are implemented in the day-to-day life of
the workplace. The hazards must be eliminated, substituted, re-designed, reengineered, controlled, and maintained. The recommended monitoring must be
done. The recommended equipment, facilities and tools must be bought and
installed. The recommended work procedures must be written, trained, and
implemented every day. The PPE must be purchased, distributed, used, cleaned,
and maintained as needed. And so on with all the recommendations.
A bad assessment won’t lead to a good programme
An employer’s health and safety programme should be guided by the results of
the risk assessment. If the assessment is bad, the programme that flows from it
will not make workers safer or healthier. Workers need the real hazards and real
risks to be recognised, and for effective precautions or controls to be
recommended and put in place.
A bad risk assessment must not be a barrier – it must be challenged. And if the
health and safety representatives and trade union can’t get a better assessment
from the boss, then they must go around it to demand the preventive measures
they feel are needed.
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3.
The law and risk assessment
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) does not explicitly say an
employer must do a ‘risk assessment’. However, the Act does say an employer
must ‘determine hazards of the work’ or that work must be ‘assessed for hazards
and risks’. The General Safety Regulations (GSR), which applies to all
workplaces irrespective of whether there are hazardous substances or not
requires the employer to make an ‘evaluation of the risk’ relating to any
‘condition or situation’ at work. Some of the other regulations, which are specific
to particular hazards, do require a ‘risk assessment’ to be carried out. Other
regulations require ‘an assessment of potential exposure’ which upon closer
examination has a similar meaning to a risk assessment.
The following regulations all require risk assessments.
The following regulations specifically define a ‘risk assessment’:
Construction regulations – ‘Risk assessment’ is ‘a programme to determine
any risk associated with any hazard at a construction site, in order to identify
the steps needed to be taken to remove, reduce or control such hazard.’ [CR 1]
Major hazard installations regulations – ‘Risk assessment’ is ‘the process of
collecting, organising, analysing, interpreting, communicating and implementing
information in order to identify the probable frequency, magnitude and nature of
any major incident which could occur at a major hazard installation, and the
measures required to remove, reduce or control the potential causes of such an
incident.’ [MHRI 5(2)]
The following regulations define an ‘assessment’:
Hazardous chemical substances regulations – ‘Assessment’ is ‘a programme
to determine any risk from exposure to a hazardous chemical substance
associated with any hazard thereof at the workplace in order to identify the steps
needed to be taken to remove, reduce, or control such hazard.’ [HCSR 1]
Noise-induced hearing loss regulations – ‘Assessment’ is ‘a programme to
determine any risk from exposure to noise associated with the workplace in order
to identify the steps that need to be taken to remove, reduce, or control such
hazard.’ [NIHLR 1]
The following regulations do not define a risk assessment or assessment, but
deal with it in the substance of the regulation by spelling out how it should be
done:
Asbestos [AR 7]; Hazardous Biological Agents [HBAR 6]; Lead [LR 6];
Diving [DR 5 (1)]; and Explosives Regulations [ER 4 (4)(f)]– Each of these
regulations requires an assessment or risk assessment be done, but they don’t
define the terms.
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In the Construction [CR 7(2)]; Major Hazard Installation [MHIR 5(3)];
Hazardous Chemical Substance [HCS 5(1) and (2)]; Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
[NIHLR 6(2)]; Asbestos [AR 7(2)]; Hazardous Biological Agents [HBA 6(2)]; and
Lead [LR 6(2)] Regulations, health and safety representatives or health and
safety committees are given a role to review and comment on the risk
assessment plan before the risk assessment is undertaken. The risk assessment
report and results must also be provided to the health and safety
representatives, and the health and safety committee for comments.
The rest of this guide summarises the requirements for risk assessment found in
the OHS Act, and various regulations. All these regulations deal with different
responsibilities. This commentary concentrates on what these regulations say
about risk assessment.
It also points to other sections of the Act or regulations that may be drawn on by
shop stewards and health and safety representatives to demand input into an
employer’s assessment of hazards, risks, and the precautions or controls needed
to make the work safe.
It is important to use the steps and principles that shape the risk assessment in
one set of regulations as the minimum standards and precedent for how a risk
assessment should be conducted under the OHS Act, GSR or any other
regulation where the requirements are less clear or vague.
Risk Assessment in the OHS Act (1993)
There is no specific requirement in the Act for an employer to do a ‘risk
assessment’ or for a report of its results. But generally employers are required to
determine hazards, risks, and the precautions needed to make the workplace
safe.
General Safety Regulation 2, which must be read with the OHS Act, requires an
employer to provide ‘safety equipment and facilities’. In order to do this, the
employer is required to evaluate the risks of the work. Arising out of this
evaluation, the employer is required to take steps to make the work safe (in
other words, remove all hazards and potential risks). Where it is not possible to
make the work safe, the employer is then required to provide ‘safety equipment
and facilities’ to make it safe.
This is similar to the ‘hierarchy of controls’ spelled out in other parts of the OHS
Act and regulations. First the employer must try to eliminate a hazard, and if
that is not possible then they must ensure the use of safety equipment or PPE to
reduce the chance of harm. The decision to eliminate and/or control the hazard
must be informed by a risk assessment of ‘any condition or situation’ arising
from work.
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Risk Assessment
The OHS Act is silent on the role of representatives in risk assessments, and
their access to risk assessment reports. However, employers are required to
consult with the health and safety committee about health and safety measures,
which we could argue includes generally assessing risk and appropriate controls
to be put in place. Health and safety representatives independently (of the
health and safety committee) may review the effectiveness of health and safety
measures (18 (1)(a)) and discuss that with the employer. We could argue that
this includes reviewing whether the employer has properly assessed the risk of a
job or work process and whether the controls are appropriate.
The specific sections of the OHS Act which relate to assessing risks of the work
are:
Section 8 – General duties of employers to employees: Sec. 8(2)(d) says
an employer must determine the hazards of the work being performed, and
the precautions necessary to protect health and safety of persons, and shall
provide the means to apply the precautions. Sec. 8(2)(f) goes on to say that an
employer may not permit workers to work unless these precautionary
measures are in place.
Section 12 – General duties of employers regarding listed work: Sec.
12(1)(a) say listed work must be assessed for hazards and risks. At the same
time, the steps that are necessary in order to comply with the Act, in order to
prevent or minimise exposure to risk and to prevent harm to workers and
others, must be identified. Sec. 12(2) says health and safety representatives
must be informed of the actions taken under subsection (1).
Section 13 – Duty to inform: Section 13(a) says that employers must make
sure that every employee is aware of the hazards to his/her health and safety
that may arise from the work being done, any article or substance being
handled, and any plant or machinery being used. The worker must also be
made aware of precautionary measures that must be taken with regard to the
hazard.
The following sections of the OHS Act may be useful to health and safety
representatives and health and safety committees when they seek to give input
to an employer’s risk assessment:
Section 19 – Health and Safety Committees: Sec.19(1) says an employer
must ‘consult with the committee with a view to initiating, developing,
promoting, maintaining, and reviewing measures to ensure the health and
safety of his employees at work.’
Section 18 – Health and safety representative functions: Sec. 18(1)(a)
says health and safety representatives may review the effectiveness of health
and safety measures, and (e) make representations to the employer.
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Risk Assessment
In terms of Sec. 18(2)(c) a health and safety representative has access to any
document the employer is required to keep under the OHS Act, which under
some regulations includes a risk assessment plan and a risk assessment
report.
Section 18 (2)(e) allows a health and safety representative to be accompanied
by a technical adviser on any inspection.
In addition, Sec. 18 (3) requires an employer to provide facilities, assistance
and training to the health and safety representative so that they can carry
out their functions.
Section 19 – Health and Safety Committees: Section 19 (6)(a) allows a
health and safety committee to co-opt one or more people with particular
knowledge of health or safety matters to advise the committee.
Regulations requiring ‘evaluation of risk’
General Safety Regulations (1986)
Who must do an assessment
an employer or user of machinery must evaluate the risk due to conditions or
situations that may arise due to work activities or the use of machinery, and
take steps to make those conditions or situations safe. [GSR 2(1)]
where it is not practicable to make the work situation safe, the employer shall
take steps to reduce the risk as much as practicable, and shall provide
necessary equipment and facilities to make it safe. [GSR 2(2)]
Content of the assessment
This assessment does not call for an evaluation of a specific substance. Instead,
the risk assessment must evaluate the risk arising from ‘a condition or situation’.
This could include an activity, process or substance. It then requires that
preventative measures to eliminate and/or control the hazard be put in place.
Only if the hazard cannot be sufficiently controlled or eliminated should personal
protective equipment (PPE) be used.
The GSR lists the types of safety equipment and facilities that might be needed.
This is not just a list of personal protective equipment (PPE). There is PPE on
the list, such as body coverings like gloves, boots, caps, goggles and fire-proof,
cut-resistant, and water-proof clothing. But it also includes high-visibility
clothing. The list includes respirators and fall arrest systems, as well as fall
prevention barriers and lock-out device and automatic shut-off interlocks and
sensors. It includes non-slip floors and insulating floor mats.
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Risk Assessment
It is also very important to note that employees must be trained in the use,
maintenance and limitations of the equipment or facilities [GSR 2(3)]. In
addition, the employer may not allow an employee to work unless the employee
uses the required safety equipment or facilities [GSR 6].
The role of Health and Safety Representatives and Committee
The General Safety Regulations do not have specific requirement for the role of
health and safety representatives or the health and safety committee in risk
assessment. However, under the OHS Act both health and safety representatives
(OHS Act 18) and the health and safety committee (OHS Act 19 & 20) could
demand a role in planning and reviewing the risk assessment.
Who can see the results of the assessment
Under the OHS Act 18(2)(c) a health and safety representative has access to
any document the employer is required to keep under the OHS Act, such as
those documents required by a risk assessment.
A shop steward or trade union representative could demand access to
participate in a risk assessment in order to monitor the activity under LRA
14(4). Trade union representatives could also demand access to the risk
assessment plan and report in terms of LRA 16(2), in order to see if the
employer is complying with workplace laws.
Regulations Requiring Risk Assessment
Asbestos Regulations (2002)
The Asbestos Regulation 7 [AR 7] requires employers to prepare an ‘assessment
of potential exposures.’ This is the equivalent to what is called a risk assessment
in some of the other OHS regulations, even though it is not defined in AR1.
Who must do the asbestos assessment?
The regulations apply to workplaces that do any work that may expose any
person to asbestos dust. [AR 2(1)] The current OEL (occupational exposure
limit) for asbestos is 0.2 regulated asbestos fibres per millilitre of air
averaged over 4 hours. [AR 1]
Every employer (or self-employed person) must conduct an assessment of the
risk of exposure of workers to asbestos at their workplace. [AR 7(1)]
The assessment must be reviewed at least every 2 years. [AR 7(1)(a)]
The risk assessment must be reviewed if: (1) there is a reason to suspect the
existing risk assessment is no longer valid, (2) control measures are no longer
effective, (3) technology advances allow for more effective controls, (4) or there
has been a significant change in the work in relation to asbestos. [AR 7(5)]
Content of the asbestos assessment
The assessment must take into account: [AR 7(3)]
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Risk Assessment
o The presence of any materials containing asbestos in the workplace.
o Where asbestos materials are present, how easily asbestos dust can be
released from these materials and the amount of dust that workers could
be exposed to.
o The nature of the work, process and the control measures in place,
including possible deterioration of the structures containing asbestos, and
failure of the control measures.
o The details of expected exposures to asbestos, including whether this level
is above the OEL for asbestos, the length of time workers are exposed, the
number of workers exposed, and past air monitoring reports.
o The steps to be taken to reduce asbestos exposures ‘to the lowest level
reasonably practicable’ (and below the OEL) [AR 7(3) (e)].
o Procedures for dealing with emergencies.
o Procedures for removal and disposal of asbestos waste.
If an assessment shows that a person is likely to be exposed to asbestos, the
employer must ensure the exposure is adequately controlled in accordance
with the regulations. [AR 7(4) & 11]
The role of Health and Safety Representatives and the Health and
Safety Committee
The employer must consult health and safety representatives or the health
and safety committee before doing the assessment. [AR 7(2)]
The health and safety committee must be informed in writing of the
arrangements made for carrying out the risk assessment and be given a
chance to comment. [AR 7(2)]
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and the health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment. [AR 7(2)]
The employer must ensure that employees are given training and regular
refresher courses on both practical aspects and theoretical knowledge about
asbestos for as long as the employee is employed. [AR 5(2)]
A shop steward could demand access to participate in a risk assessment in
order to monitor the activity under LRA 14(4). Trade union representatives
could also demand access to the risk assessment plan and report in terms of
LRA 16(2), in order to see if the employer is complying with workplace laws.
Who must see the results of asbestos assessments?
The results of the assessment must be recorded. [AR 7(1)(b) & 16] Records
must be kept for 40 years [AR 16(e)] and must be made available to
inspectors. [AR 16(b)]
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and the health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment. [AR 7(2)]
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Risk Assessment
Construction Regulations (2003)
Construction Regulation 7 [CR 7] requires contractors to prepare a risk
assessment, which is defined in CR 1.
Who must do a construction risk assessment?
The regulations apply to workplaces where construction is happening. [CR 2]
Every contractor performing construction work must prepare a written risk
assessment before they begin work. [CR 7(1)]
It must be prepared by a competent person [CR 7(1)]. A competent person is
defined as a person having ‘knowledge, training, experience and
qualifications specific to the work or task being performed’. [CR 1]
Content of the construction risk assessment
The Construction Regulations define risk assessment as ‘a programme to
determine any risk associated with any hazard at a construction site, in order
to identify the steps needed to be taken to remove, reduce or control such
hazard.’ [CR 1]
The risk assessment must include at least the following: [CR 7(1)(a) to (e)]
o identification of the risks and hazards that anyone may be exposed to,
o analysis and evaluation of the risks and hazards identified,
o documented plan of the safe work procedures to mitigate, reduce or control
the risks and hazards identified,
o a plan to monitor and review the risk assessment,
o as far as reasonable practicable, an evaluation of the ergonomic hazards
should be included in the assessment. [CR 7(6)]
Role of health and safety representative and health and safety
committee
A contractor must consult with the health and safety committee on the
development, monitoring and review of the risk assessment. If no committee
exits they must consult with a representative group of employees. [CR 7(3)]
The health and safety committee must review the risk assessment. [CR 7(3)]
Who can see the results of the construction risk assessment?
The risk assessment forms part of a contractor’s health and safety plan. [CR
7(1)]. A contractor must ensure a copy of the risk assessment is kept on site
and is available on request by an employee, representative trade union,
health and safety representative, member of health and safety committee,
client, contractor, or inspector. [CR 7(2)]
This is the only regulation that refers to the right of a trade union to have
access to a risk assessment report.
A principal contractor must ensure other contractors are informed of any
hazards identified in the risk assessment. [CR 7(5)]
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Risk Assessment
Diving Regulations (2002)
A risk assessment is not defined in the diving regulations.
Who must do the risk assessment?
The regulations apply to all diving operations and people who engage in
diving. [DR 2]
Diving regulation [DR 22] on ‘Control of diving operations’ requires an
employer ensure ‘a hazard identification and risk assessment is conducted to
identify the risks to the health and safety of any person taking part in the
diving operation’. [DR 22(1)(b)]
Content of the risk assessment
The regulations do not specify what information should be included in the
risk assessment.
Diving regulation 22 also requires the employer to ensure a number of
precautions, equipment, training, or procedures are in place before and
during a dive.
The role of health and safety representatives and the health and safety
committee
The diving regulations do not have specific requirements for the role of health
and safety representatives or the health and safety committee or for trade
union representatives in risk assessment. However, under the OHS Act both
health and safety representatives (OHS Act 18) and the health and safety
committee (OHS Act 19 & 20) could demand a role in planning and reviewing
the diving risk assessment.
Who can see the results of the diving risk assessment?
Under OHS Act 18(2)(c) a health and safety representative has access to any
document the employer is required to keep under the OHS Act, such as the
required diving risk assessment and hazard identification.
A shop steward could demand access to the processes and activities of a risk
assessment, and to the relevant reports and documents in terms of LRA 14(4)
and 16(2) to see if the employer is complying with workplace laws.
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Risk Assessment
Explosives Regulations (2003)
The explosives regulations do not define a risk assessment.
Who must do the risk assessment?
These regulations apply to workplaces that must be licensed to make, use,
test, or store explosives. [ER 2]
Explosives regulation 4 [ER 4] covers the requirement for licensing of
explosives workplaces, and lists the information that must be included in the
license application. It requires ‘a full written report on the risk assessment
compiled by an approved inspection authority’. [ER 4(4)(f)]
Department of Labour (DOL) guidance documents clarify that a risk
assessment is required on all new explosives installation, workplaces,
equipment and processes before they are erected or modified.
Content of the risk assessment
The regulation does not specify what information should be included in the
risk assessment. Department of Labour Guidance notes on the regulations
say only that there are 3 types of risk assessments: (1) assessment of
installations and workplace, (2) assessment of equipment, and (3) assessment
of processes.
The role of health and safety representatives and the health and safety
committee
The explosives regulations do not have specific requirement for the role of
health and safety representatives or the health and safety committee in risk
assessment. However, under the OHS Act both health and safety
representatives (OHS Act 18) and the health and safety committee (OHS Act
19 & 20) could demand a role in planning and reviewing the explosives risk
assessment.
Who can see the results of the explosives risk assessment?
Under OHS Act 18(2)(c) a health and safety representative has access to any
document the employer is required to keep under the OHS Act, such as the
required explosive risk assessment.
A shop steward could demand access to the processes and activities of a risk
assessment, and to the relevant reports and documents in terms of LRA 14(4)
and 16(2) to see if the employer is complying with workplace laws.
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Risk Assessment
Hazardous Biological Agents Regulations (2001)
The Hazardous Biological Agents Regulation 6 [HBAR 6] requires employers to
prepare a risk assessment related to hazardous biological agents (HBA). The
regulation does not specifically define the term ‘risk assessment.’
Who must do the biological agents risk assessment?
These regulations apply to workplaces where: (1) hazardous biological agents
are intentionally produced, processed, used, handled, stored or transported,
or (2) to an incident which may expose a person to a hazardous biological
agent. [HBAR 2]
Every employer (or self-employed person) must do a risk assessment for
workplaces where: (1) hazardous biological agents are intentionally produced,
processed, used, handled, stored or transported, or (2) to an incident which
may expose a person to a hazardous biological agent. [HBAR 6(1)]
The risk assessment is to determine if any person might have been exposed to
an HBA. [HBAR 6(1)]
The risk assessment must be reviewed at least every 2 years. [HBAR 6(1)]
The risk assessment must be reviewed if: (1) there is a reason to suspect the
existing risk assessment is no longer valid, (2) there is a change in HBA
use/exposure/risk at the workplace. [HBAR 6(5)]
Content of the biological agents risk assessment:
The assessment should take into account things such as: [HBAR 6(3)]
o The type and amount of the HBA workers may be exposed to, and the
route of exposure – in other words, how they may be exposed (skin contact,
airborne, needle-stick, etc).
o Where the HBA is found in the workplace and in what forms (liquid,
powder, airborne droplets, etc).
o The nature of the work and the ways existing control measures might fail
or deteriorate.
o What health effects the HBA could have on an exposed worker.
o How long workers may be exposed.
The assessment must include all reasonably available information, including:
[HBAR 6(4)]
o Classification of the HBA into risk groups. The groups are named and
explained in the regulation.
o Recommendations from the manufacturer, supplier or a competent person
on the control measures needed to protect workers involved in the work.
o Information on each disease or allergic or toxic effect that may result from
the work.
o The different kinds of health conditions of workers which could be
aggravated by their work. Or any existing health conditions workers may
have which could be aggravated by the work.
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Risk Assessment
The role of health and safety representatives and the health and safety
committee
The risk assessment shall be carried out after consultation with health and
safety representatives or the health and safety committee. [HBAR 6(1)]
The health and safety committee must be informed in writing of the
arrangements made for carrying out the risk assessment and the required
consultations, and given a chance to comment. [HBAR 6(2)]
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and the health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment [HBAR 6(2)].
Who can see the results of the biological agents risk assessment?
The employer must keep a record of the assessment [HBAR 6(3)].
Employers must keep a record of all risk assessments [HBAR 9(1)(a)], for a
minimum of 40 years. [HBAR 9(1)(e)]
The results of the assessment, as well as the records of any previous
assessments, must be made available to the health and safety representatives
and the health and safety committee, and they must be given a chance to
comment. [HBAR 6(2) and HBAR 9(1)(b)]
The records of any risk assessments must also be made available to a
Department of Labour Inspector. [HBAR 9(1)(d)]
A shop steward or trade union representative could demand access to
participate in a risk assessment in order to monitor the activity under LRA
14(4). Trade union representatives could also demand access to the risk
assessment plan and report in terms of LRA 16(2), in order to see if the
employer is complying with workplace laws.
Hazardous Chemical Substances Regulations (1995)
The Hazardous Chemical Substances Regulation 5 [HCSR 5] requires employers
to prepare an ‘assessment of potential exposures.’ This is the equivalent to what
is called a risk assessment in some of the other OHS regulation and is defined in
HCSR1.
Who must do the chemical assessment?
These regulations apply to workplaces which may expose any person to a
chemical. [HCSR 2]
Every employer (or self-employed person) must conduct an assessment of the
risk of exposure of workers to hazardous chemicals at their workplace. [HCSR
5(1)] The regulations do not require a chemical specialist to conduct the risk
assessment.
The assessment must be reviewed at least every 2 years. [HCSR 5(1)]
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Risk Assessment
The risk assessment must be reviewed if: (1) there is a reason to suspect the
existing risk assessment is no longer valid, (2) there is a change in HCS
use/hazard/risk at the workplace [HCSR 5(5)].
Content of the chemical assessment:
The hazardous chemical substances regulations define ‘assessment’ as ‘a
programme to determine any risk from exposure to a hazardous chemical
substance associated with any hazard thereof at the workplace in order to
identify the steps needed to be taken to remove, reduce, or control such
hazard.’ [HCSR 1]
The assessment must take into account: [HCSR 5(3)]
o what chemicals workers may be exposed to,
o what harmful effects the chemicals may have,
o where the chemical is found in the workplace and what form the chemical
is in,
o the route of exposure, in other words, how the worker is exposed
(breathing, skin absorption, or swallowing),
o the nature of the work process and the control measures in place,
including possible deterioration or failure of these control measures.
If the assessment shows that an employee is exposed to a hazardous chemical
substance, the employer must:
o Ensure exposures are controlled, as specified in other parts of the HCS
regulations. [HCSR 5(4) & 10]
o Do monitoring of the air to ensure airborne concentrations of chemicals
are below legal limits. [HCSR 5(4) & 6]
o Do medical surveillance if workers are exposed to hazardous chemical
substances, as listed in table 3 of the HCSR, to see if their health is being
affected by the exposure. [HCSR 5(4) & 7]
The role of health and safety representatives and the health and safety
committee
The employer must consult health and safety representatives or the health
and safety committee before doing the assessment. [HCSR 5(1)]
The health and safety committee must be informed in writing of the
arrangements made for carrying out the risk assessment and the required
consultations, and given a chance to comment. [HCSR 5(2)]
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment. [HCSR 5(2)]
Who can see the results of the chemical risk assessment?
The employer must keep a record of the assessment. [HCSR 5(3)]
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Risk Assessment
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and the health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment. [HCSR 5(2) & 9(d)]
A shop steward or trade union representative could demand access to
participate in a risk assessment in order to monitor the activity under LRA
14(4). Trade union representatives could also demand access to the risk
assessment plan and report in terms of LRA 16(2), in order to see if the
employer is complying with workplace laws.
Records must be made available to an inspector. [HCSR 9(b)]
Assessment records must be kept for 30 years. [HCSR 9(e)]
Lead Regulations (2002)
The Lead Regulation 6 [LR 6] requires employers to have an assessment done to
determine if any person may be exposed to lead. This is the equivalent to what is
called a risk assessment in some of the other OHS regulation. The Lead
Regulations do not define an assessment or a risk assessment.
Currently, the occupational exposure limit (OEL) for lead is 0.15 mg of lead per
m3 of air, or 0.10 mg of tetra-ethyl lead per m3 of air.
Who must do the lead assessment?
These regulations apply to workplaces where lead is produced, processed,
used, handled or stored in a form where it can be inhaled, ingested, or
absorbed by any person. [LR 2]
Every employer (or self-employed person) must conduct an assessment of the
risk of exposure of workers to lead at their workplace. [LR 6(1)] The
regulations do not require a lead specialist to conduct the risk assessment.
The assessment must be reviewed at least every 2 years. [LR 6(1)(a)]
The risk assessment must be reviewed if: (1) there is a reason to suspect the
existing risk assessment is no longer valid, (2) control measures are no longer
effective, (3) technology advances allow for more effective controls, (4) or there
has been a significant change in the work in relation to lead. [LR 6(5)]
Content of the lead assessment:
The assessment must take into account: [LR 6(3)]
o The presence of lead in the workplace.
o Where lead is present, what form it is in and how much lead someone
might be exposed to.
o The nature of the work process and the control measures in place,
including possible deterioration or failure of the control measures.
o The details of expected exposures to lead, including whether this level is
above the OEL for lead, the length of time workers are exposed, the
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Risk Assessment
number of workers and other people exposed, at what levels they will be
exposed, and past air monitoring reports.
o The steps to be taken to reduce exposures ‘to the lowest level reasonably
practicable’ (and below the OEL). [LR 6(3)(e)]
o Procedures for dealing with emergencies.
o Procedures for removal and disposal of lead waste.
If an assessment shows that a person is likely to be exposed to lead, the
employer must ensure the exposure is adequately controlled in accordance
with the regulations. [LR 6(4) & 11]
The role of health and safety representatives and the health and safety
committee
The employer must consult health and safety representatives or the health
and safety committee before doing the assessment. [LR 6(2)]
The health and safety committee must be informed in writing of the
arrangements made for carrying out the risk assessment and given a chance
to comment. [LR 6(2)]
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and the health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment. [LR 6(2)]
Who can see the results of the lead assessment?
The results of the assessment must be recorded. [LR 6(1)(b) & 10(a)]
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and the health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment. [LR 6(2) & 10(d)]
Records must be made available to an inspector. [LR 10(b)]
Assessment records must be kept for 40 years. [LR 10(3)]
A shop steward or trade union representative could demand access to
participate in a risk assessment in order to monitor the activity under LRA
14(4). Trade union representatives could also demand access to the risk
assessment plan and report in terms of LRA 16(2), in order to see if the
employer is complying with workplace laws.
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Risk Assessment
Major Hazard Installations Regulations (1993)
Major Hazard Installations Regulation 5 [MHIR 5] requires employers and selfemployed person, or users of a major hazard installation (MHI) to prepare a risk
assessment.
Definition of major hazard installation
The OSH Act defines it as an installation where: [OHS Act 1]
more than a prescribed quantity of a substance is kept. (The ‘prescribed
quantity’ is listed in General Machinery Regulation 8 Notifiable Substance
and Schedule A. It lists 32 substances at quantity thresholds from 2 to 25
tonnes.)
Or,
a substance is produced, processed, used, handled or stored in a quantity that
could cause a major incident. A major incident is defined in the OHS Act as
‘an occurrence of catastrophic proportions’.
Who must do the MHI risk assessment?
Every employer (or self-employed person) or user of a major hazard
installation must have a risk assessment carried out for all new MHI before
they are erected. [MHIR 5(1)]
The risk assessment must be done by an Approved Inspection Authority
which is competent to express an opinion on the risks of the particular MHI.
[MHIR 5(5)(a)]
The risk assessment must be repeated at least every 5 years. [MHIR 5(1)]
The risk assessment must be reviewed if: (1) there is a reason to suspect the
existing risk assessment is no longer valid, (2) there is a change in an existing
MHI, (3) the creation of a new MHI, or (4) after a near miss or an incident
that brought the emergency plan into operation. [MHIR 5(6)]
Content of the MHI risk assessment
In this regulation, risk assessment is defined as ‘the process of collecting,
organising, analysing, interpreting, communicating and implementing
information in order to identify the probable frequency, magnitude and
nature of a major incident which could occur at a major hazard installation,
and measures required to remove, reduce or control the potential causes of
such an incident.’ [MHIR 5(2)]
The regulation gives a minimum list of what the assessment should include.
Such as: [MHIR 5(5)(b)]
o A description of the process of the MHI, the major incidents associated
with that type of MHI, including potential incidents, the consequences of
such incidents, and estimates of the probability of a major incident.
o An estimate of the result of an explosion, fire, toxic release, including the
effect on adjacent MHI and the public.
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Risk Assessment
o The site emergency plan and the suitability of the emergency procedures
for the risks identified.
o Any measures the organisation is required to make (to remove, reduce or
control the potential causes of an incident) including those required by the
Environmental Conservation Act.
The role of health and safety representatives and the health and safety
committee
The risk assessment shall be carried out after consultation with health and
safety representatives or the health and safety committee. [MHIR 5(1)]
The health and safety committee must be informed in writing of the
arrangements made for carrying out the risk assessment and the required
consultations. They committee has 60 days to respond. [MHIR 5(3)]
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety committee, who may comment on them. [MHIR 5(3)]
Who can see the results of the MHI risk assessment?
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety committee, who may comment on them. [MHIR 5(3)]
A copy of the latest risk assessment must be made available on the premises
for inspection by a Department of Labour (DOL) inspector. [MHIR 5(4)]
The risk assessment must be made available to ‘any interested person or any
person that may be affected by the activities of a major hazard installation.’
The time, place and manner of availability must be agreed between the
parties. [MHIR 5(8)]
The risk assessment must be submitted to the Department of Labour chief
inspector and provincial director, and to relevant local government. [MHIR
5(1)] Updated assessments must also be submitted, within 60 days. [MHIR
5(6)(b)]
Under OHS Act 18(2)(c) a health and safety representative has access to any
document the employer is required to keep under the OHS Act, such as this
required MHI risk assessment.
A shop steward or trade union representative could demand access to
participate in a risk assessment in order to monitor the activity under LRA
14(4). Trade union representatives could also demand access to the risk
assessment plan and report in terms of LRA 16(2), in order to see if the
employer is complying with workplace laws.
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Risk Assessment
Noise-induced Hearing Loss Regulations (2003)
Regulation 6 of the NIHL Regulations calls for ‘Assessment of potential noise
exposures.’ This is the equivalent to what is called a risk assessment in some of
the other OHS regulation.
Who must do the noise assessment?
These regulations apply to workplaces where work may expose any person to
noise at or above the legal limit. [NIHLR 2]
Every employer (or self-employed person) must do an assessment to find out
if any person is exposed to noise at or above the noise regulation limit. This
exposure is to be assessed whether or not the person is wearing hearing
protection (ear muff or plugs). [NIHLR 6(1)(a)]
The assessment must be reviewed at least every 2 years. [NIHLR 6(1)(a)]
The assessment must be reviewed when (1) there is reason to believe the
existing assessment is no longer valid, (2) control measures are no longer
effective, (3) technology advances allow for more effective controls, (4) or there
has been a significant change in the work in relation to noise. [NIHLR 6(5)]
The regulations do not require a specialist to conduct a NIHL risk
assessment.
Content of the noise assessment:
The NIHL Regulations define ‘assessment’ as ‘a programme to determine any
risk from exposure to noise associated with the workplace in order to identify
the steps that need to be taken to remove, reduce, or control such hazard’.
[NIHLR 1] This is very similar to the definition of risk assessment used in
other regulations.
The employer must take into account relevant factors including: [NIHLR 6(3)]
o sources of noise workers may be exposed to,
o the harmful health effects excessive noise can cause,
o how much noise workers are exposed to (how loud and how long),
o the nature of the work and the ways existing control measures
might fail or deteriorate.
The role of health and safety representatives and the health and safety
committee
The assessment shall be carried out after consultation with health and safety
representatives or the health and safety committee. [NIHLR 6(2)]
The health and safety committee must be informed in writing of the
arrangements made for carrying out the assessment and the required
consultations, and given a chance to comment. [NIHLR 6(2)]
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Risk Assessment
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and the health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment. [NIHLR 6(2)]
Who can see the results of the noise assessment?
The results of the assessment must be documented. [NIHLR 6(1)(b), and 11]
The results of the assessment must be made available to the health and
safety representatives and the health and safety committee, and they must be
given a chance to comment. [NIHLR 6(2) & 11(d)]
Records must be made available to an inspector. [NIHLR 11(b)]
Assessment records must be kept for 40 years. [NIHLR 11(e)]
A shop steward or trade union representative could demand access to
participate in a risk assessment in order to monitor the activity under LRA
14(4). Trade union representatives could also demand access to the risk
assessment plan and report in terms of LRA 16(2), in order to see if the
employer is complying with workplace laws.
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Postal Address
Industrial Health Resource Group, Princess Christian Home University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701,
Cape Town, South Africa
Physical Address
Industrial Health Resource Group, Princess Christian Home,
Matopo Lane (below M3 highway), Lower Campus, University
of Cape Town, Mowbray
INDUSTRIAL HEALTH
RESOURCE GROUP
The Industrial Health Resource Group (IHRG) is an occupational health and safety
training, advice, research and resource development unit based in the School of Public
Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town.
IHRG has provided health and safety services to workers and the trade union movement
in South Africa since 1980. These services include:
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Workplace accident investigations
OH&S advice and support service
Risk assessments
Education and skills training workshops for workers and trade unions, and
Research and advocacy work on policy development in OH&S and HIV
Over the years IHRG has produced a range of accessible and popular resources
communicating health and safety information to workers. You can contact IHRG to
order these resources:
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Organising for health and safety – A guide for trade unions
Health and Safety Networker Newsletters (Issues 6 and 7)
Workers Health and Safety Rights poster
Protect Your Health At Work poster
Organize to Make Work Healthy and Safe poster
Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) booklet
Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) booklet
Make Work Safe poster
HIV/Aids poster
Telephone:
Facsimile:
E-mail:
+27 21 650 1033
+27 21 650 1059
+27 21 685 5209
IHRG-admin@uct.ac.za