Hazard identification, risk assessment and safe working procedures
This domain tests the process skills behind every safe job: spotting the hazard, assessing the risk, choosing controls in the right order, writing the procedure and reviewing it when things change.
Hazard and risk
A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm: a moving RTG, a suspended container, a damaged sling, a wet ladder. Risk is the combination of how likely harm is and how severe it would be. Risk assessment estimates that combination before and after controls.
Hierarchy of control
Eliminate, substitute, engineer, administrate, then protect with PPE. In a terminal this means, for example: eliminate lashing at height by using a crane-mounted platform; engineer out pedestrian exposure with barriers and gates; administer with permits, procedures and training; and use PPE as the final layer.
Assessment in practice
Break the task into steps, identify hazards at each step, rate likelihood and severity, record controls and residual risk, and set an owner and review date. Job safety analysis, task risk assessment and permit-to-work systems are the common formats for high-risk work such as work at height, hot work, confined space entry and heavy lifts. Permit conditions must be verified on site, not just signed in an office.
Dynamic assessment
Conditions change during a shift: wind, visibility, traffic, a crane breakdown, a change of plan. Workers must be competent to stop and reassess, and there must be a clear route to escalate.
Worked example
Job safety analysis for replacing an RTG tyre. Steps: isolate and park the crane, apply restraints, deflate before removing fittings, use a tyre handler or cage, control the exclusion zone, inspect and refit, torque and record. Hazards include stored energy from the inflated tyre, crushing, manual handling and traffic. The highest-risk step, inflation and deflation, gets the engineering control of a restraining cage, not just gloves and a warning.
Traps that cost marks
- Listing controls where hazards were asked for, or vice versa.
- Writing risk assessments that are never reviewed after a change in equipment or layout.
- Choosing PPE as the main control for a high-severity hazard.
- Signing a permit without verifying conditions on site.