TABLE OF CONTENTS Risk assessment is an essential part of the planning stage of any health and safety management system. HSE, in the publication HSG 65 Successful Health and Safety Management, states that the aim of the planning process is to minimize risks.
Risk assessment methods are used to decide on priorities and to set objectives for eliminating hazards and reducing risks. Wherever possible, risks are eliminated through selection and design of facilities, equipment and processes. If risks cannot be eliminated, they are minimized by the use of physical controls or, as a last resort, through systems of work and personal protective equipment.
The general duties of employers to their employees in section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 imply the need for risk assessment. This duty was also extended by section 3 of the Act to anybody else affected by activities of the employer - contractors, visitors, customers or members of the public. However, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations are much more specific concerning the need for risk assessment. The following requirements are laid down in those regulations:
the risk assessment shall be suitable and sufficient and cover both employees and non-employees affected by the employer's undertaking (e.g. contractors, members of the public, students, patients, customers, etc.); every self-employed person shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which they or those affected by the undertaking may be exposed; any risk...
