Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Risk
Assessment:
Simplified
By Raj Singh
Singh, Raj.
Risk Assessment: Simplified / Raj Singh
p. cm.
ISBN 981-05-5123-1
All rights reserved. No part of this book and its pictures may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in
any form or by any means electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, scanning, recording or otherwise, without the
prior written permission from the author Raj Singh.
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A lot has already been said and done with regards to Risks
Assessments and Risks Matrixes. Safety Consultants and
Trainers have been trying to educate their clients on how to
develop Risks Assessments.
Raj Singh
Safety Health and Environment Advisor
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Step 7- Control Measures
After Risks Assessments are carried out, the high risk
Assessment;
operations are determined and countermeasures
Assessment is the act of judging or assessing a
developed. Risks Assessments allow you to prioritize which
person or situation or event;
risks are to be lowered to acceptable levels.
Frequency;
High Risk Levels must be immediately brought down to
Frequency is the number of occurrences (near
medium or low risk. Medium Risk Levels must also be
misses, incidents, accidents etc) within a given time
reviewed to determine if there is any possible manner to
period
bring the levels down further.
Hazard;
All risks must be reduced to levels which are safe for
Hazard is a source of danger, a possibility of
personnel and any other stakeholders.
incurring loss or misfortune.
Risks control measures should be applied to the Risk
Ministry of Manpower Singapore defines Hazard as;
beginning with Elimination, Substitution, Engineering
“Hazard means anything or any source or
Controls, Administrative Controls or (lastly) with personal
situation with the potential to cause harm or
protective equipment.
injury; hazard includes physical, chemical,
biological, mechanical, electrical and
ergonomic hazard.”
Likelihood;
Likelihood is the probability of a specified outcome.
Severity;
Severity is the degree of something undesirable (no
loss time injury, loss time injury, fatality etc)
Risk;
Ministry of Manpower Singapore defines risk as:
“Risk is the likelihood that a hazard will cause a
specific harm or injury to someone or
something. More specifically, it is the likelihood
of accidents or ill health occurring at work and
the consequences of such occurrences.”
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ultimately asked to complete or do the Risk Assessment in Step 5- Evaluate the Severity
its entirety and not the team.
Why Risks Assessments should be Now you can evaluate the severity of an occurrence
Shared
Members of the Team should carry out the task. Not Hazards Severity
because it’s been handed to them. Once they take on the Failure to apply permit High (3) (Could cause lives &
responsibility of carrying out the task, they will take In compatible works at the same property)
ownership of the Risk Assessment. Once they take on the area at the same time High (3) (explosions/fires….)
ownership, the Risk Assessment becomes more than just a Gas Checks not carried out
document that is mandatory, more than a legally required Presence of flammable High (3) (explosions/fires….)
document. It becomes a tool that is used time and again. materials, gases or vapors High (3)…
High or Major
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©2006 All Copyrights Reserved ©2006 All Copyrights Reserved
Setting Limits for Likelihood Step Three- Identify the Hazards for
Each Job Step
Consider if the occurrence can happen. One way of setting
limits for likelihood is to base it on whether the occurrence
could happen. Job Step Hazards
Low: Unlikely to happen (could not Permit is applied and approved Failure to apply permit
happen/occur easily) In compatible works at the same
(Happens only once every ten years) area at the same time
Gas Checks not carried out
Presence of flammable materials,
Medium: Likely to happen (could
gases or vapors
happen/occur)
(Happens yearly) Worker brings materials to be Materials to heavy to be handled
used to site manually (sprains and strains)
High: Very likely to happen (very possible Materials cause obstructions or
to happen/occur) tripping hazards
(Happens monthly)
Welding cables are set in place Cables not in good condition
Cables cause tripping hazards
Quantifying Risks Cables in contact with water
Once you have quantified the severity and likelihood, Risks Welder proceeds to carry out tack Eye injuries to welder
can be assessed. Risks are assessed with the help of a welding Burns and scalds to welder
Risk Matrix. A Matrix can come in a 3X3 or 5X5 Matrix Burns and scalds to others
Sparks and slag cause fires
Just as Risk Assessment is a Tool in Risk Management, the carry out Job Safety Analysis for. Work from those down.
“Risk Matrix” is a Tool in Risk Assessments. If that “Risk Review all routine as well as non-routine jobs
Matrix” becomes difficult to learn and use, then it becomes
useless.
How do we improve the situation? Step Two- Break down the Job into
Steps
Let us get back to basics that we can understand.
Once a task has been chosen, break down the task into
Risk is a product of Severity and Likelihood. As severity smaller steps. Do not generalize and also do not over do it.
increases and the likelihood increases, so does RISK!
Example- Welding a metal plate to a vessel wall
By assigning values to Severity and Likelihood, it allows
people to grasp things a little better. Can this be improved Task (over simplified)
further? Yes. Assign a numeric number to Severity and Worker welds metal plate to the wall
Likelihood. 1 being the least in value and 3 being the
greatest. Task (too detailed)
Worker takes the metal plate
Worker pulls welding cable from welding set to 1st
Low severity = 1
floor
Worker pulls welding cable from 1st floor to 2nd floor
Medium Severity = 2
Worker switches on welding set
Worker takes a welding rod in on hand
High Severity = 3 Worker takes the welding rod holder in the other
hand
Low Likelihood = 1 Worker places the welding rod into the holder
….
Medium Likelihood = 2 ….
….
High Likelihood = 3 …
..
.
Something We Can Relate To
Task (Correct)
Once numerical values are assigned to severity and Permit is applied and approved
likelihood, what next? Risk is a product of Severity and Worker brings materials to be used to site
Welding cables are set in place
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is not to find faults with the people or work procedure but to Likelihood. It’s easier to work with exact numbers then just
find risks and later to counter those risks. Those in the team words.
should have some training on risk assessments or risk
assessment methodology.
According to the Ministry of Manpower, employers shall
Something We Can See
have a competent person leading the team to carry out risk
assessments. Employers shall also ensure that the risk How can risk assessment be looked at in a way that is easy
control. The employer shall keep a Risk Assessment for people to relate to and at the same time, easy for people
Register and a Risk Control Register. to see that relation? Risk is a product of severity and
likelihood. It is directly proportionate to severity and
Risks assessments and Risk Control Plans are useless if likelihood. As the severity and the likelihood increase, RISK
they are only table-top exercises that are not implemented increases. How can this be seen?
or are not highlighted to the people on the ground. All Risk
Assessments and Risk Control Plans should be
disseminated to all personnel working on those tasks.
Once you are more competent, you could use the If course limits have already been set (1, 2 and 3) so do not
Simple5©. consider 0 (zero) outcomes. What if the severity is 1(it is
low severity) and the likelihood is 2 (medium likelihood).
The team observes how a typical task (the task that was
chosen) is carried out.
If the severity is 3(high severity) and the likelihood is 3 (high Table or Matrix
likelihood. Either multiply 3 X 3 = 9 or plot it on the graph
A table can easily replace a typical (difficult) to understand
matrix
1 X 1 = 1 (low)
1 X 2 = 2 (low)
1 X 3 = 3 (Medium)
2 X 2 = 4 (Medium)
2 X 3 = 6 (High)
3 X 3 = 9 (Very High)