Contents
How do you report these risks in your workplace?
Hazard Reporting Process – You should submit the hazard report to the appropriate person or department within the organisation. Depending on the size and structure of an organisation, this may be a manager, supervisor, health and safety representative (HSR), Workplace Health and Safety Officer (WHSO), or health and safety committee.
Where should risks be documented?
Purpose of the Risk Register –
A risk register is a document maintained in order to monitor potential risks. A risk register tracks the actions taken to minimise risks. A risk register provides contingency plans that should be invoked if a risk does occur. A risk register provides details of costs involved in mitigation of the risk A risk register is a record that may be used for audit purposes to demonstrate that risk management has taken place.
The register should be kept up to date and reviewed regularly. New risks should be added as they are discovered. The probability or severity rating of each may be adjusted as the project progresses. Furthermore a risk register may provide details of:
The probability that a risk will occur Severity of the risk, that is the impact that it would have if it occurs. Time in which mitigating action must be taken in the event of its occurrence Unmanageability of the risk Criticality of the risk to the mission of the organisation
Why is it important to report risks?
Encouraging Hazard Reporting – It’s important to encourage workers to speak up when it comes to reporting identified hazards. This all comes down to having a responsive reporting system that employees feel comfortable adopting. There are a few deterrents that can discourage employees reporting hazards in the workplace:
- The maturity of the employee, or their discipline to act.
- Pressure to get the job done in a short amount of time.
- Ridicule from peers, supervisors or management.
- Lack of feedback from reported incidents.
- The employee feels that the hazard does not directly affect them, that it’s not their responsibility.
So it’s important to adopt that culture of support amongst employees, provide timely feedback and solutions, and supply the training needed for employee safety awareness.
What is a safety report?
What are safety reports used for? – Safety is a constant priority in workplaces all over the world. But it’s often most pressing and most ‘vulnerable’ in the industries – in industries like construction, oil and gas, forestry and mining. The activities, equipment and sites where work is conducted in the industries is inherently dangerous, and maintaining high safety standards is critical to the safety and success of projects, companies and of course of actual workers.
So where do safety reports fit into actually keeping people, communities and assets safe? A safety report is a document prepared to ‘report’ on a specific safety incident, process or outcome. Safety reports are the mechanism for capturing what is happening on site so that safety teams, engineers and management can understand what’s happening and make decisions about how and what to improve.
Safety reports are mostly used to ‘report’ incidents, near misses and hazards, but the overarching intention of these reports is to feed into a positive feedback loop whereby a company learns what went or is going wrong; analyses what went wrong; and then improves their processes, equipment etc.
When should a risk assessment be carried out?
How often should a risk assessment take place? Published date 22 Sep 2022 The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says risk should be assessed “every time there are new machines, substances and procedures, which could lead to new hazards.” An employer should carry out a risk assessment:
whenever a new job brings in significant new hazards. If there is high staff turnover, then the way new staff do their work should be checked against the risk assessment, and training provided in safe working practices if necessary; whenever something happens to alert the employer to the presence of a hazard – for example, an unusual volume of sickness absence, complaints of stress and bullying, or unusually high staff turnover; in response to particular changes to the level of risk to individual employees – for example, where an employee returns to work after a period of long-term sickness absence; or Where an employee is pregnant or breastfeeding and their work might involve a risk to them or their unborn child’s health and safety. (Regulation 16, Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999).
Note: This content is provided as general background information and should not be taken as legal advice or financial advice for your particular situation. Make sure to get individual advice on your case from your union, a source on our free help page or an independent financial advisor before taking any action. : How often should a risk assessment take place?
