Risk Assessment is an important tool to manage occupational safety and health at an enterprise. It is a useful practice that encourages the employees of the organization to be proactive, identify hazards and take action to solve the problems that can cause accidents and ill health.

 If you are working in industries that demand a good level of physical activities like construction, manufacturing, and healthcare or office jobs like marketing, business, and tech, safety risks can occur without proper control measures being taken.

Risk assessment is a structured management process that includes identifying potential hazards, assessing risks, and implementing controls to eliminate or reduce associated risks. This assessment is a legal requirement for employers and is usually carried out in the workplace before new procedures or activities are introduced to ensure the health and safety of employees or even customers.

As an example, in most companies, fire extinguishers and elevators are regularly maintained to avoid malfunction when needed. Ignoring them or not doing proper maintenance on them can cause a potential safety risk, so to control this and avoid unwanted damage and loss, they are kept in top condition. The purpose of a risk assessment will vary from industry to industry, but it is generally intended to help businesses prepare for potential risks and plan effective ways to deal with them.

What Statistics Say?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an estimated 2.8 million workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in 2019 alone, and since Covid-19 spread around the world, this number has only increase. While these estimates are horrifying, they also highlight the importance of appropriate risk assessment training. Although risk assessment may seem like a simple concept, not all employees have the skills to apply the same to their day-to-day practice. This is why proper training in risk assessment is essential.

When should an employer perform a risk assessment?

·         Each new job brings significant new risks. In the case of high employee turnover, how new employees perform their jobs should be checked with a risk assessment and training in safe work practices if necessary.

·         Whenever something happens to alert the employer to the presence of a hazard – for example, an unusual number of sick absences, complaints of stress and bullying, or an unusually high employee turnover.

·         To deal with specific changes in the level of risk for each employee - for example, when an employee returns to work after a long-term sick leave.

·         When an employee is pregnant or breastfeeding and her job may pose a risk to the health and safety of her or her unborn child.

Fire risk assessment

This is a mandatory assessment in all workplaces to ensure businesses can avoid potential fire hazards or put in place appropriate procedures in the event of a fire emergency. Here, the role of Fire Wardens comes into play. If you hire a fire warden, then he/she must possess the ability to counter the event of a fire. For this purpose, he/she must be qualified and undergo the perfect Fire Wardens Training. 

Risk Assessment Training - Why It is Required At The Workplace?