THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
CONSULTANCY TRAINING UNIT
NAME: DANIEL MULOBELA
COURSE: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY
COURSE ACRONYM: OHS
LECTURER: MR. BAINED NYIRONGO
TASK: ASSIGNMENT
DUE DATE: 15TH AUGUST , 2022.
QUESTION:
As a Manger at your work place, explain five steps of risk assessments process and how you can
control these risks from occurring.
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An Occupation Health and Safety risk is defined as the combination of the likelihood of
occurrence of a work-related hazardous event or exposure(s) and the severity of injury and ill
health that can be caused by the event or exposures. For the purpose of this piece of writing, it is
also important to understand what a hazard is, A hazard is a potential source of harm. Companies
are in charge of lowering the risks that employees are exposed to while performing their jobs,
and occupational health and safety (OHS) risk management is a crucial procedure.
Accidents happen at the worst possible times, especially at work. The risks to employee health
and safety vary by organization. Everything relies on the kind of work done. Employers and
employees both share responsibility for the commitment to health and safety at work. Employees
are more inclined to adhere to protocol, cooperate, and participate in the process if the
organization shows that it takes health and safety seriously. One of the first steps to creating a
culture of safety in an organization is undoubtedly enlisting the help and influence of leaders to
promote safe and healthy attitudes and behaviors.
A continuous process called risk assessment is used to pinpoint possible workplace dangers and
develop strategies for dealing with and controlling them.
It is best to have this framework in place for an organization or company since you will be able
to identify the risks in your business, analyze them, prioritize them, and come up with solutions.
In order to monitor the situation and prevent any more threats to business, it is also crucial to
establish an effective risk management approach.
Any organization should implement an appropriate risk assessment procedure. Employees of the
company often implement and manage this process gradually. Because of this, any workplace
requires a defined risk management strategy that can be implemented with sufficient resources
and that the organization can easily understand in order to minimize workplace danger.
It's likely that every project or day to day of a company or organization will have its own unique
hazards. Since it is hard to totally eliminate them, companies’ oath to have a method in place for
assessing risks in order to have a better response when they do occur. The business will operate
efficiently once it has a risk management process in place in order to reduce the number of
accidents, sickness and deaths at workplace.
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The first step in the risk assessment process is to Identify hazards, i.e. anything that may cause
harm. Employers are required to evaluate the hazards to their employees' health and safety. An
employer is required to routinely look for potential biological, chemical, physical, and mental
dangers. A hazard as defined in the latter section of the literature is a potential source of harm.
Hazards can be classified in the most obvious way. The common classifications of hazards are:
Physical: e.g. lifting, awkward postures, slips and trips, noise, dust, machinery, computer
equipment, etc. Mental: such as a heavy workload, long hours, serving clients who have high
needs, bullying, etc. These are sometimes known as "psychosocial" dangers since they have an
impact on mental health and happen in working relationships. Chemical: for instance, asbestos,
cleaning agents, aerosols, etc. Biological: These conditions include tuberculosis, hepatitis, and
other infectious diseases that affect healthcare professionals, particularly those who provide
home care. Other kinds of hazards are ergonomic hazards which include repetitive movements,
incorrect posture, incorrect set up of work environment.
However, identifying risks is crucial to avoiding occupational injuries. Additionally, it plays a
significant role in ensuring that your workplace complies with health and safety regulations. One
of the most effective strategies for employees and employers to increase workplace safety is to
recognize and report dangers. Many workplace accidents and incidents are caused by dangers
that have not been identified or by a failure to take steps to reduce the risk posed by a given
hazard.
The second step in the risk management process involve deciding who may be harmed by the
hazards identified in the first step, and how. It’s about understanding the nature of the harm
caused by the above hazard, including how severe the harm would be and the likelihood of its
occurrence.
Starting with the full- and part-time employees of your organization, determine who is at risk.
Employers are also required to evaluate the dangers that agency and contract workers, guests,
clients, and other members of the public may encounter while on their property.
Employers must evaluate daily schedules in all the many places and circumstances where their
employees are engaged. For instance: In addition to ensuring safe working and lifting conditions
for their own home care workers, home care supervisors must take into consideration their
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client's personal safety while at home. Also hazards in a place like a supermarket include
repetitive duties at the checkout, carrying heavy objects, and slips and trips due to spills and
barriers in the store and storage areas. Particularly at night, employees are at risk of violence
from both customers and trespassers. Each employee's workstation equipment in call centers,
such as the desk, screen, keyboard, and chair, must be customized to their personal needs.
Employers have particular responsibilities for the health and safety of young workers, those with
disabilities, people working nights or shifts, and women who are pregnant or nursing.
The third step is also one the important step in the risk assessment process that can not be
undermined. This is the implementation stage. In involve taking appropriate actions after the
hazards have been identified and the likely victims and known. This step entails putting into
practice practical and doable control measures that lessen the risk's likelihood and severity. This
means that employers must take into account the likelihood that any hazard may result in
damage. Depending on this, a company may or may not decide to lower the amount of risk.
Some risk typically persists even after all safety measures have been taken. Employers must
determine if the risk is still high, medium, or low for each danger that exists.
Eliminating and controlling risks in the workplace helps to: prevent and reduce the number and
severity of workplace injuries, illnesses and associated costs, encourages innovation, enhances
job quality and increases output and is also promote and enhance the well-being, productivity,
and health of employees. One will be able to recognize at-risk personnel and understand when,
when, and how they are exposed to risk if there are proper risk control mechanisms in place.
This makes it simpler to get rid of or cut down on such dangers. Additionally, you will identify
risk variables that are typical of your workplace.
Step number four of the risk assessment process comes after a number of works have been done
in terms of managing risk. It comes after hazards have been identifies, potential victims have
been noticed and how they can be affected, and some control measures have been put in place. It
typically involves making a record of the findings. The principal conclusions of the risk
assessment must be documented in writing by employers with five or more employees. This
record is to detail any risks identified during the risk assessment as well as any steps done to
lessen or eliminate risk.
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This documentation serves as evidence that the evaluation was completed and serves as the
foundation for a subsequent review of working procedures. The risk analysis is a work-in-
progress. It ought to be readable for you. It shouldn't be kept hidden in a cabinet.
The final step which is the fifth is monitoring and evaluation. This is done so that changes can be
made to the already existing risk management techniques. It typically involves reviewing and
checking performance of the latter implemented measures.
Workplaces change frequently. A business will eventually introduce new tools, materials, and
practices that could create fresh risks. Therefore, it makes sense to continually evaluate what has
been done. Reviewing the company's status formally once a year or so ensures that it is
continuing to advance or at the very least is not regressing. As a manager, take another look at
your risk assessment and make inquiries. Has anything changed recently? Do you still need to
make any changes? Have any of your employees seen an issue? Have mishaps and near misses
taught you anything? Maintain the accuracy of your risk assessment.
It's all too easy to overlook monitoring risk assessments while running a firm. till it's too late and
something has gone awry. Why not schedule this risk assessment's evaluation right away? It
should be noted as an annual occurrence in your diary and written down. If there is a substantial
shift during the year, one shouldn't wait. examining the risk assessment and making any required
changes. When planning any change, it is vital to keep the risk assessment in mind. The daily
operations would then have more freedom.
Make sure that established safe working procedures are followed (for instance, that supervisors
and line managers abide by management's safety directives); and take into consideration any new
working procedures, new equipment, or more challenging work targets. In conclusion, these few
steps that are required to have a safe and healthy work environment can never be
overemphasized if the occupational health and safety goals of any company complying with
regulations are to be met.
The second part of this assignment requires an outline of how these possible risks can be
controlled. Controlling these risks and hazards requires a series of activities to be done as it is the
responsibility of all the stakeholders involved with a company. Employers should provide the
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necessary environment and materials that can help anyone stay safe. Employee on the other hand
should do everything it takes to stay safe in their work environment. This includes, wearing
personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriately such as head hats, high visibility clothing,
safety gloves and boots. Uttermost safe operation of work equipment also regular inspection and
maintenance of equipment should be a matter of priority. This ensures they are working to the
expected standards.
Additionally, employees should be trained enough to know very well to operate any machine or
equipment to insure maximum protection and safety of workers at a workplace. Another thing
that its importance can not be overemphasized is the aspect of hydration. Staying hydrated at
workplace is utterly relevant, this is because some workplaces if not all have extreme dangerous
physical hazards such as hot temperatures, humidity and fumes. Staying constantly hydrated will
help the physical body stay put all the time throughout the working hours. Good bodily
movements should also be embraced without fail to prevent certain physiological illness such as
Muscular skeleton disorder and any other related illnesses. This is very common in the tertiary
sector of the economy. Such as customer service, consultants, banking staff etc.
Controlling and preventing risks associated with Occupational Health and Safety and staying
safety at a workplace and staying safe also include understanding the nature of the hazards in
order to control them at uttermost. There are a number of hazards depending on the nature, these
includes electricity, trips and falls, fire, confined spaces, physical hazards, ergonomic hazards,
chemical hazards, biohazards and asbestos to mention just a few. For instance, in the case of
physical hazards i.e plant or equipment, one should avoid contact if they don’t know how to use
or operate an equipment. Hazards that are in form of ergonomics, risk can be controlled by
increasing job satisfaction and reducing fatigue. Introducing task variates and training employees
would uttermost control the risk of ergonomic hazards from happening.
Risk associated with Chemical hazards can be controlled by minimizing exposure to chemicals
and employees need to be made aware about the storage of these various chemicals. Biological
hazards risk can be mitigated through immunization of employees, this can relate to the Covid 19
virus that ravaged the world recently. Cleaning and regular disinfection of the surrounding can
also help reduce the risk of harm from biohazards.
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In conclusion, workplaces that practice occupational health and safety practices have an
advantages and positive public opinion over those who don’t. This is done through the thorough
risk assessment process step by step and putting in place measures that control various risks from
happening at workplace.
REFERENCES
Badri, A., Gbodossou, A., Nadeau, S., (2012a). Occupational health and safety risks: Towards
the integration into project management. Safety Science, 50, 190-198.
ISO 45001: (2018). Occupational health and safety management system. Requirements with
guidance for use. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva.
Marx, U.,Metze, E.,(2018). ISO 45001: The newinternational standard governing occupational
safety and health management systems.KAN Brief, Kommision Arbenitsschutz und Normung, 2,
10.
ISO 31000: (2009). Risk management. Principles and guidelines. International Organization for
Standardization, Geneva
Council Directive of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements
in the safety and health of workers at work. (89/391/EEC); OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1, with
amended
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