The European Campaign for Safety and Health at Work for 2008-09 will focus on risk assessment.

European Week is October 20-24 this year. This two-year campaign is aimed at a wide range of stakeholders, including employers, workers and safety representatives, and is intended to promote the benefits of completing and implementing a risk assessment. The campaign seeks to demystify the risk assessment process to show that risk assessment is not necessarily complicated, bureaucratic or a task only for experts.

The campaign also aims to raise awareness on this issue, provide information and practical advice, encourage activities that have a positive impact in the workplace, and identify and recognise good practice.

Why should I carry out a risk assessment?

For many small companies the management of health and safety issues and compliance with the multitude of regulations related to occupational health and safety seems like a daunting task. For some the answer is to ignore it and convince themselves that it does not apply to their business: for others the answer is to pay a third party organisation to "sort it out" and provide the required policies and documentation. In truth, neither option is the correct approach and both can be very costly to the business.

What are my legal responsibilities?

Section 2. of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 imposes a duty on all employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health safety and welfare of all employees. The Act also requires that employers of five or more employees have a written statement of their health and safety policy and that this is, and any revisions are, communicated to the workforce.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 placed further duties on employers to:

• Carry out assessments of risks to employees and other people, resulting from their work activities;
• Introduce effective arrangements for planning organising and controlling and monitoring of controls and precautions;
• Appoint one or more competent person to help and advise on health and safety matters;
• Provide employees with relevant and understandable information relating to the risks arising from their work activity and the controls/precautions to be followed.

Failure to comply with Health and Safety law can result in heavy fines or imprisonment.

What is a risk assessment?

Many small companies think that completing a risk assessment is a difficult and complicated process and is often misunderstood. As a result many companies employ third party consultants to complete a series of assessments, prepare the required documentation and relegate the manual to a remote bookshelf.

The simple approach to risk assessment published by the HSE comprises of 5 steps:

Step 1  Identify the hazards

Step 2  Decide who might be harmed and how

Step 3  Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions/controls

Step 4  Implement the controls and record your findings and actions

Step 5  Review your assessments regularly or where there is a significant change   In the risk and update/adjust as necessary

Remember, the process should involve your employees who will know how the work is presently carried out and whether the appropriate controls are being adopted.

You can use the website to support you in your risk assessment 'journey', by using both the content and the download documents. Ask the Expert is there should you have any queries, or you can contact us direct should you need further guidance or competent advice.