3.4 Risk assessment

3.4 Risk assessment and Specification of Risk Control Measures

Policy

Foreseeable and non-trivial risks must be avoided or minimised, so far as is reasonably practicable, and formal written assessments must be produced which describe the nature of the risk, the relevant preventative and protective measures, and provide a record that such measures have been implemented. All written risk assessments must be kept up to date.

Purpose

To ensure that adequate controls are in place such that activities do not pose significant risk to the health and safety of people.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities for assessment and control of risk are detailed in Part 1 Operation. In summary:

• Heads of department ensure that activities with significant risks are assessed and effectively controlled, and that records are kept. They must inform their corporate manager about any significant risks that they cannot resolve.
• Staff who manage or supervise people, classes, activities or areas ensure that risk assessments have been carried out, appropriate controls are in place, and the findings of the assessments have been communicated to those affected by them.
• Members of the VCEG/CMT and corporate managers ensure that there is effective control of significant risks where the level of control lies outside the authority of specific heads of department and ensure that proposed changes to operations are risk assessed before implementation.
• Staff with a responsibility for managing others or who are in control of an activity on behalf of the University of Bedfordshire must either complete the risk assessment training course run through the University of Bedfordshire's Staff Development and Training Unit or, delegate to another who must undertake the above training.

Procedure and Guidance

• i. Risk assessment must be applied to activities or processes where foreseeable risks exist. The application of identified control measures will reduce the level of risk. Note: assessments of work areas are covered in the section on 'Safety Inspections'.
• ii. It is recommended that people producing risk assessments enlist the help of those involved in the process or activity. This will increase the breadth of thinking applied to both the identification of risk and definition of appropriate controls. People familiar with the detail of the activity should be involved in the discussions and the conclusions. This approach will also increase ownership of the outcome.
• iii. Staff must use the current University Risk Assessment Form (HSF-01(a)) to record their findings and conclusions unless alternative documentation has been approved by the Health and Safety Department.. When completing the Risk Assessment Form:

• a. Describe the activity that is being assessed. It is important to define the scope, i.e. what is or what is not being assessed. For instance an assessment could be carried out on the use of a particular photocopier in a specific office or it could be addressing the use of photocopiers across the university. Risk assessments should be applied to all aspects of the activity from start through to completion and if relevant from receipt through to disposal of materials as in the case of chemicals. If only specific phases are being addressed then this should be made explicit.
• b. Itemise the risks and their causes posed by the activity; often an activity can give rise to several different risks. You should also consider what could go wrong and highlight risks arising from these unplanned events. Consider whether any particular groups of people may be at extra risk. This specifically includes people aged 17 years or less and new and expectant mothers. It may include people working alone, those with specific medical conditions, and students who are still developing skills.
• c. Each risk must be prioritised using the categories given in 'Risk classification'. Note that the risk priority also defines the necessary response.
• d. Define appropriate control measures. When defining practical control measures you must reduce the risk so far as is reasonably practicable. In decreasing order of preference the risk may be eliminated, 'engineered out', formal procedures may be defined, or protective clothing provided. Control measures can include specification that the activity is only carried out by named individuals who have demonstrated competence in performing the activity. It may be appropriate to specify checks that will confirm that the activity or process is operated within margins of safety.
• e. Implementation: In many cases the controls will already be in place. If they are not then you need to consider how practicable it is to implement the control measures. Actions must be defined and assigned to individuals with dates for completion based on ease and cost of implementation and on the extent of risk to which people are exposed in the meantime. If they are easy and low cost to implement then they should be implemented as soon as possible. If they are costly or difficult to implement then it may be possible to put in place other less preferred control measures for a short, specified period of time until the preferred measures can be implemented: such short term measures may be likely to involve high levels of supervision or use of highly competent people to ensure the necessary level of safety.

• iv. If you judge that even with the control measures people are still at risk of serious injury, then you must advise your manager of your findings.
• v. Record keeping: The head of department must ensure that the Risk Assessment document is retained in an appropriate and accessible file in the area where the activity is performed, and that any changes to the risk assessment are approved by them and annotated on the copy in the appropriate form. They must maintain a list of the locations of all their risk assessments.
• vi. Review of assessments: The assessment must be kept up to date. It should be reviewed and revised if it is evident that there are circumstances where the control measures are or will not be effective, and on a periodic basis.