safety
Paper details:
risk analysis article please do not change wording, check for apa format and plagiarism only
Total Environmental Health and Safety Management
Unit 5 Article Review
Abstract
The need for a safe work environment has been a necessity since the first of the industrial age. The need to keep workers safe is not just a moral issue; it is a smart business decision. A facility cannot function without skilled and trained employees, and without a safe work environment the retention of these employees will be challenging. Without safety in the work place the chances of an accident are greatly increased, this is why the need for the risk assessment is important for the safety of the employees and the health of the facility. This article is from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and is titled Risk Assessment. This article has struck points that are international in the safety field, and I will strive to point out the similarities of these points in this article and compare them to the lessons in our text.
The need for safety and well being of the employee is international; this concept is well known throughout the business community worldwide. Although the company is already taking steps to protect the employee, a risk assessment will help ascertain if it has covered all it needs to for the safety of the employee. The need for a company to have safety professionals that are well trained and can stand back and see the big picture is vital to this aspect of safety. The article agrees with the text on the steps needed to be followed to perform a successful risk assessment. But in fact the risk assessment is a systematic method of looking at work activities (and the people doing them), then considering what could go wrong as a result of them, and then deciding on the steps needed to prevent injury to workers , and anyone else likely to be nearby ( visitors, members of the public, sub-contractors, ect) (Steemson, 2015). This concept follows the text concept as well
as the steps of the risk assessment put forth in this article. The RoSPA article goes on to explain the on to explain the importance of identifying potential risks. The need for gathering information on the risk by back tracking records, analyzing the equipment manuals, Safety data sheets, and procedures to help identify risks. The author stresses interviewing employees as a good source of information on the processes risk. Employees are a vital source of information, since they may notice things that are not obvious to the risk assessor and may have some good ideas on how to control risks (Steemson, 2015).
This article imparts the importance of determining the hazard, and evaluating the level of risk, and assessing the level of control needed that is manageable. Generally, this means doing everything “reasonably practicable “ by balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control it in terms of money, time, and trouble (Steemson, 2015). The article goes on to stress the importance of the hierarchy of controls: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and Personal Protective equipment. The need for employee involvement and input is stressed through out this article. All these steps stand a far greater chance of being sucessful if the workforce is involved and consulted (Steemson, 2015). The need for the personnel to understand the risks that were noted, and why controls put in place and need to be adhered to is pointed out in this article, as well as the need to record any findings, controls put in place, and a on going record and assesmentof the results initiated. So it makes sense, and it is necessary to review risk assessments on a regular basis, asking:
• Have there been any significant changes?
• Are there improvements you still need to make?
• Have your works spotted a problem?
• Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses? (Steemson, 2015).
Conclusion
I feel that this article covers the lessons put forth in the text very well, this article in my openion explains the process of the risk assessment in an informative and interesting way. I was somewhat concerned when first reading this article being that it is a article from the United Kingdom that it may not coinside with the lessons of the text, but at the finish of it I knew that this was the article was the one to review.
Works Cited
Steemson, J. (2015). Risk assessment. Rospa Occupational Safety & Health Journal, 45(10), 13-16.