Risk Assessment
An important and valuable procedure in safeguarding the health and safety of workers and the public is 'risk assessment'. Health and safety law places duties on employers and self employed people to assess risks in the workplace. A risk assessment is a careful examination of what could cause harm to people at work so that a judgment can be made as to whether sufficient precautions have been taken, or additional measures are needed to prevent harm. There are acknowledged to be five key steps to risk assessment:
- look for the hazards;
- decide who might be harmed and how;
- evaluate the risks and decide whether the existing precautions are adequate or more should be done;
- record the findings;
- review the assessment and revise it if necessary.
For more detailed advice and guidance on Risk Assessment procedures, reference should be made to 'Five Steps to Risk Assessment' (see Appendix 3 : References and Further Information) and other guidance published by the Health and Safety Executive (see above for contact details). In addition, the following two sets of government regulations are of particular relevance to safeguarding the health and safety of workers and the general public in respect of the construction and use of the types of structure included in this Design Guide.