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Download risk assessment template in Microsoft Word format.
A Closer Look at a Risk Assessment Example
Are you a business owner or manager looking for a risk assessment example that you can use as a model? If so, the following information may prove very useful to you. In this article we will briefly define what a risk assessment is and show you the five steps you should take to ensure both your workers and your business are protected.
What Is a Risk Assessment?
Risk in the workplace is often unavoidable, but as a manager or business owner you have a legal obligation to try and manage that risk and keep your employees and customers protected as best you can. This is where a risk assessment is so vital. Simply put, a risk assessment is a careful and methodical examination of your workplace to determine what could possibly cause harm to people. This step is taken to try and minimize that risk and weigh what precautions, if any, can be put into place to minimize it.
A Risk Assessment Example
Naturally, there is no “one size fits all” risk assessment example, as every type of business is different, however, for most organizations, the following example can usually be used as a model. Generally speaking, your risk assessment should include each of the following five steps:
• Identify the hazards. The first step in risk assessment is to identify potential hazards. This can be accomplished by carefully walking around your workplace and looking at those areas which could possibly cause harm. In this step it may also be beneficial to ask your employees what they think, as they may have noticed hazards that you missed.
• Take a close look at who might be harmed and how. In this step you will want to look closely at each hazard and decide who might be harmed and how. This does not necessarily mean you have to list each employee by name, but rather the type of job performed by those employees. Next, you’ll want to decide what the potential risk is, for example, illness or injury. Doing this will allow you to come up with the best possible plan for preventing the listed risk.
• Evaluate the risk and develop precautions. Once you’ve identified potential hazards and the risk they present, the next step is to develop precautions so as to minimize the risk. You may not be able to eliminate the risk altogether in this step, but you can put safety policies into place that will help reduce the number of harmful incidents.
• Carefully record findings and put precautions into place. Now that you’ve developed the types of precautions you will use to manage risk in the workplace, record your findings on the risk assessment example and put each of those precautions into place.
• Review and update as necessary. Regularly reviewing your risk assessment plan will ensure that new precautions can be put into place as new hazards develop.
This risk assessment example is admittedly fairly generic, but it should give you at least some idea of why risk assessment is so very important. Injuries to workers can be devastating, if not life threatening, and as the supervisor you have an obligation to make sure they are reasonably protected.