Safety, Health, Environment and Risk Management
Core toolkit
The Workplace Safety and Health Act requires every employer and self-employed person to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety and health of workers and others affected. In practice: documented risk assessment, safe work procedures, communication and review. Apply the hierarchy of controls - eliminate, substitute, engineering controls (guarding, ventilation, interlocks), administrative controls (procedures, training, permit-to-work), then PPE as the last line. Apply ALARP: reduce risk until further reduction is grossly disproportionate to the benefit. Control regimes examiners reference: permit-to-work for confined spaces, hot work, work at height and isolation/LOTO; lifting plans for crane operations; major hazard installation duties; incident reporting and root-cause investigation rather than blame.
Environmental side: noise limits, air emissions, trade effluent, chemical and waste management, and the link between energy use and carbon.
Traps
- Reaching for PPE or toolbox talks because they are cheap - hierarchy questions reward the highest-order control.
- Confusing hazard (potential for harm) with risk (likelihood x severity, given exposure).
- Treating residual risk as zero once controls are in place.
- A risk assessment written once and never reviewed after a change or an incident.
Worked example
A task scores likelihood 4 x severity 4 = 16 (high). Fitting a fixed guard with an interlock drops likelihood to 2, giving residual 2 x 4 = 8 (medium), still needing procedure and supervision. Show both initial and residual scores - markers look for the re-score.