Workplace Safety, Risk Assessment, and Loss Prevention
Risk assessment
Risk assessment is a structured process: identify hazards, decide who may be harmed and how, evaluate the risk, implement controls, record, and review. Use the hierarchy of controls: eliminate, substitute, engineer, administrate, and only then rely on personal protective equipment. A risk assessment that is never reviewed is a filing exercise.
Workplace safety and loss prevention
Workplace safety covers slips, trips, manual handling, electrical hazards, fire, and fatigue; supervisors must correct unsafe conditions and report defects. Loss prevention protects people, property, information, and reputation. Common measures include access control, inventory checks, segregation of duties, exception reporting, CCTV, audits, and visible security presence. Insider theft often defeats perimeter controls, so watch for poor cash handling, unlogged stock movements, and unusual access patterns.
Worked example
A warehouse reports missing cartons. The weak response is to search staff randomly. The reasoned response: define the loss (item, quantity, period), review gate logs and CCTV coverage, check stock records and dispatch paperwork, interview by following procedure, tighten access to the loading bay, and introduce reconciliation checks. The reasoning: loss prevention starts with evidence and control gaps, not accusation, and controls should be proportionate and non-discriminatory.
Traps
Ignoring insider risk; treating a risk assessment as a one-off document; relying on CCTV alone; random searches without policy or dignity; failing to record near misses.