Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control
The five steps
- Identify hazards (task, location, people, substances, energy).
- Decide who may be harmed and how - include cleaners, contractors, visitors, young and pregnant workers.
- Evaluate the risk and decide precautions.
- Record the significant findings.
- Review and update on change, after incidents, and periodically.
Cover routine, non-routine (start-up, maintenance, shutdown) and emergency situations.
Scoring
Semi-quantitative matrices multiply likelihood by severity, e.g. 5 × 4 on a five-point scale. The same score must mean the same thing across the site; keep the matrix with the assessment.
Hierarchy of control
Elimination → substitution → engineering (guarding, ventilation, isolation, LOTO) → administrative (procedures, training, rotation, signage) → PPE. PPE is the last line of defence and protects only the wearer. Administrative controls mostly reduce likelihood; engineering controls can reduce severity. Residual risk after controls must be accepted by a competent, authorised person.
Techniques
JSA/JHA splits a job into steps and lists hazards per step; HAZOP applies guide words to process deviations; FMEA ranks severity × occurrence × detection; bow-tie links threats, barriers and consequences.
Traps
"PPE first" answers are wrong. "The risk assessment is done once" is wrong. "Low risk means no action" is wrong. Forgetting non-routine work, vulnerable groups and emergency scenarios is the most common gap.
Rule of thumb
R = L × S. Show the score before and after controls, and name the control type used.