Best Practices for Conducting a Workplace Safety Risk Analysis

Performing a risk analysis can be one of the most important steps in creating a safe work environment for your employees. This is where you assess how dangerous certain hazards are and prioritize what you need to do to improve workplace safety.

Naturally, it always helps to have an example of a risk analysis to use as a guide. On top of that, we wanted to share some tips and best practices for conducting an effective risk analysis that will help you to create the safest work environment possible.

Remember the Goal of a Risk Assessment

You never want to lose sight of why you’re conducting a risk assessment. This will help those conducting the risk assessment to stay focused and perform the assessment a certain way. As mentioned, risk assessments help to evaluate potential hazards so they can be mitigated or removed. But in the bigger picture, this is done to help prevent accidents and injuries in the workplace that bring harm to employees and threaten the reputation of the business.

Know When to Do a Risk Assessment

With risk assessments, don’t discount the importance of timing. Ideally, risk assessments will be a regular occurrence. They’ll be scheduled ahead of time at regular intervals. But there are other times when a risk assessment should be performed, even if it’s not scheduled. For example, is there a new process or activity being used in the workplace or has an existing process is changed? Also, if new hazards are identified in the workplace, it’s important to conduct a risk assessment.

Use Qualified and Capable People

The people performing the risk assessment are an often overlooked factor. After all, if these people aren’t qualified to perform the risk assessment, the results may not be as accurate as they need to be. Anyone performing a risk assessment should be familiar with the tasks being performed and the equipment being used. It also helps to have multiple people performing the analysis so that multiple perspectives can be utilized.

Be Clear and Specific

As with anything else in the workplace, it’s critical to be clear and specific with the language used. If there are certain measurements or statements made in the risk analysis, they shouldn’t be vague or ambiguous. Safety is not an area of a business where there should be any gray area.

Document Everything

There should be extensive records kept of every risk analysis in the workplace and everything that happens during the risk analysis. This should include a review of each hazard, the methods used to evaluate those hazards, and any controls used to mitigate risks. The results of risk analysis should be documented, as should any decisions or actions made based on the risk analysis.

Share and Repeat

Part of the reason to document the risk analysis is so that it can be shared. Employees have a right to read the risk analysis and understand the hazards in the workplace and what their employers are doing to mitigate them. This type of transparency is critical when it comes to safety in the workplace. Also, as mentioned before, a risk analysis should become a regular occurrence. Don’t just perform one, always repeat.

Get Safety Right By Using the Right Software

In addition to performing a proper risk analysis, workplace safety can be improved by using safety management software. For instance, the system offered by EHS Insight provides a comprehensive way to monitor and manage all aspects of safety in the workplace. We leave nothing to chance so that you know all of your bases are covered when it comes to keeping your employees safe.

If you value a safe workplace, get in touch with us and we can talk about how our safety software fits the needs of your business.