Advice for employers: risk assessment

•  carry out a risk assessment
• take action to remove or reduce the risks that are identified, and
• monitor the situation regularly, evaluating the effectiveness of prevention measures, investigating any incidents, worker complaints or health problems, and reviewing the risk assessment when there are changes in work procedure, when new chemicals are introduced or when new processes are adopted, and in case of accidents or ill health.
  

A risk assessment is nothing more than a careful examination of what, in the workplace, could cause harm to people, so that employers can judge whether more needs to be done to prevent people getting hurt or becoming ill. A risk assessment involves identifying hazards and then evaluating the extent of the risks involved, taking into account existing precautions. The results of a suitable risk assessment should help users choose which prevention measures are most appropriate to them.

There are a number of models developed by Member States to assist SMEs to carry out a risk assessment.

A simple risk assessment for dangerous substances would involve:

1. Making an inventory of dangerous substances used in the workplace and those generated by work processes.
2. Collecting information (from Safety Data Sheets for example) on the harm that these substances can cause.
3. Assessing levels of exposure to substances, and analysing the type, intensity, length, frequency and occurrence of exposure to workers, including the combined effects of dangerous substances.
4. Ranking the risks in order of severity, to help draw up an action plan. The action plan should list the steps to be taken, in order of priority, to reduce the risks to workers.
   

Workplaces change and things go wrong. In order to make sure that workers are still protected, regular monitoring of safety and health standards is required. This includes the investigation of incidents, workers complaints, and health problems.