1. Heath, Safety and Risk Management in Construction
By Dave Allen and Paul Whitehead – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share Alike License

2. Introduction to Health, Safety and Risk Management in Construction
Section 4: Risk Assessment

3. Risk Assessment
A careful examination of what could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions
The aim is to ensure no one gets hurt.
It is a legal requirement for existing legislation
Written record required if five or more employees

4. What is a hazard?
Definition: An activity, substance or process with the potential to cause harm
Categories include
Mechanical - moving parts on machinery
Chemical – hazardous substances COSHH
Physical – slips, trips and falls, moving objects
Biological – e.g. Leptospirosis
Ergonomic – poor seating and workstation design
Manual Handling hazards – lifting etc
Electricity – 1000 incidents a year, 30 fatalities
Stress – to much or to little to do, poor relationships etc

5. What is Risk?
Definition: The likelihood of an substance, activity or process to cause harm. Therefore Risk = severity of harm x probability Examples: Electricity is a hazard, whereas an associated risk is electrocution. Working over water is a hazard, whereas an associated risk is drowning
It is important to be able to distinguish between hazards and risks as they are commonly confused. The two examples seek to clarify this – note that there may be more than one risk from any hazard.

6. The legal position Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
“General duty to ensure health, safety and welfare at work of all employees so far as reasonably practicable”
Remember that reasonably practicable implies the risk is placed against the sacrifice whether time, money or trouble to avoid the risk

7. 5 Steps to Risk Assessment http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg163.pdf
Look for and list the hazards
Decide who might be harmed and how
Evaluate risks
Record the findings
Monitor and Review when necessary
The HSE outlines its simple approach to risk assessment in its guide 5 steps to risk assessment INDG 163 (rev2) 06/06 available via the hyperlink.

8. Step 1: Identify hazards
Walk around the workplace and look at what can cause you harm.
Concentrate on significant hazards
Some sources of information:
Ask employees
Use manufacturers instructions
Refer to accident / incident book
Reports of near misses or close shaves
As the Watch Your Step video in section 2 illustrated (matting for uneven ground) it is important to consult the employees as they are often more attuned to the hazards present in the area. Other sources are also useful for such as the accident book – remember the accident triangle.

9. Step 2: Decide who can be harmed
Consider
Employees in particular the new and young, new or expectant mothers, disabled
Cleaners, visitors, maintenance workers
Public
Other employees not associated with the task
The people involved in the task are generally obvious however others are also owed a duty of care such as other workers, visitors and members of the public.

10. Step 3: Evaluate the Risk
Minimise risks
Can I get rid of the hazard altogether
Control the risk so that harm is unlikely
When Controlling risk follow ‘Principles of Prevention’
Consider likelihood
Even after all precautions have been taken there is still residual risk
For each significant hazard classify the residual risk as high, medium or low
Make sure that you do everything that the law requires
Are there industry standards?

11. Principles of Prevention
In the following order:
avoiding risks;
evaluating the risks which cannot be avoided;
combating the risks at source;
adapting the work to the individual, especially as regards the design of workplaces, the choice of work equipment and the choice of working and production methods, with a view, in particular, to alleviating monotonous work and work at a predetermined work-rate and to reducing their effect on health;
adapting to technical progress;
replacing the dangerous by the non-dangerous or the less dangerous;
developing a coherent overall prevention policy which covers technology, organisation of work, working conditions, social relationships and the influence of factors relating to the working environment;
giving collective protective measures priority over individual protective measures; and
giving appropriate instructions to employees.
The first principle is avoid the risk. For example, if working at height can be avoided then there is no associated risk.
The principles should then be considered in order. Interestingly the issue of PPE is very low down the list (h), as is instruction and training (i).

12. Step 4: Record significant findings
If there are five or more employees then significant findings of your assessment and your conclusions must be recorded
Remember that you must be able to prove a proper check was made:
taking into account the significant hazards, people affected and precautions are reasonable and risk low.
and you've communicated findings to staff (signature)
To ensure that you can demonstrate in a court of law that a proper check was made this record is very important.

13. Step 5: Monitor and Review
Check the conditions remain unchanged, controls are available adequate and being used.
Review
Ensure methods still effective
Bring precautions up-to-date
Whenever methods or materials change
When existing assessment ineffective
It is important to continuously monitor particularly in the construction industry. For example as the majority of the industries activities are undertaken outside, then the weather can have an impact on whether the controls are adequate. What was suitable on a sunny day may not be acceptable in heavy rain. It is also important to ensure that the method is being followed – the best controls available are useless if they are not being implemented.

14. Example - Carling Cracking Ad
Consider a simple example using this Carling advert. Watch the advert by clicking on the link below and identify hazards as you do so.
Source:

15. Step 1 – Identify Hazards
E.g. Trip hazards
Hopefully you will have identified a number of hazards while watching the advert. If you didn’t consider the list on Slide 41. For simplicity we will only consider trip hazards for now.

16. Example Step 2: Decide who might be harmed
Both the crab and the man could be injured
Obviously both need to be considered!

17. Example Step 3: Evaluate Risks
For each risk use the risk matrix chart to evaluate.
For low risk activities no specific action is required
For medium risk activities apply measures to reduce risk to acceptable levels
Consider alternative measures for high risk activities
Almost certain
Likely
Improbable
Negligable
Moderate
Very high
KEY
Low
Medium
High
Severity
Probability
RISK MATRIX CHART M H L M H L M
A risk matrix is a common way of ranking risks. This is a simple 3x3 matrix however, they can become very complex. For example the nuclear industry grid can be in excess of 25x25.

18. For our example without controls - inherent risk
Due the nature of the aircraft wreckage (twisted metal with sharp edges) then if a trip was to occur a severe cut may result. This has been ranked as a moderate injury. Given the amount of aircraft debris on the beach it is almost certain that, with sufficient exposure, that either the man or the crab would almost certainly trip. If this hazard is ranked using the matrix then this is a high risk. This is obviously unacceptable!

19. What is a method statement?
The method of control that is used after a risk assessment is carried out for high risk construction activities
For a particular section of work they detail:
the order and method of construction
its boundaries
resources / PPE required
temporary works design
quality requirements
Lets briefly consider method statements prior to returning to our scenario. A method statement details a number of items to enable the work to be undertaken and safely.

20. Who produces them and their format
For construction activities they are usually:
written by engineers doing the work
submitted to resident engineer prior to work commencing
Suggested headings are:
Description of the works
Work Sequence
Resources
Assessment of significant risks and control measures
Personal and Protective Equipment
They are usually produced and reviewed by site management and although the format can vary, this slide suggests a list of sensible headings which can be used to format the document.

21. Example - Back to the advert
Hazard - tripping
Method
Clear up
Ensure excess materials are stored in clearly defined areas
Make people aware of the site requirements with regard to storage, clearing up, tidiness etc. - brief the crab
Now back to the advert. We now have a method. If the area in which they needed to work was cleared then this will reduce the risk of a trip. As a suggestion, the aircraft wreckage could be stored in a clearly defined area. If the crab was briefed and access to the area restricted, then this should provide adequate control.

22. For our example with controls -residual risk
Method
Clear up
Ensure materials are stored in clearly defined areas
make people aware of the site requirements with regard to cleanliness etc. X X
So if the residual risk was ranked then although the severity remains the same, the probability or likelihood of harm is reduced to negligible. Therefore the risk of a trip is ranked as low which is now acceptable.

23. The risk and method statement!
Here is the risk and method statement – you may have identified other hazards!

24. That’s the health and safety…
. . . but is this enough to describe the process?
Now undertake the following detailed case study
Make sure that you use the headings suggested on Slide 19 and assess the significant using a risk matrix and following the five steps to risk assessment.
Solution included in the appropriate section of the notes
The answer of course is No! This is a common issue in that control measures are developed in response to the hazards/risks and little attention is given to the work element or method remember to take this into consideration as you attempt the following more detailed case study.

25. Traffic signs manual chapter 8 and signage Existing services marked
Detailed case study
SITE CONTROL
You are required to lay a service cable 0.75m deep, protected by a plastic duct, across Clay Pit Lane from the Yorkshire Bank to Queens Square House. It is proposed that each lane is in turn coned off while 2 operatives use a mini excavator to excavate, lay and refill the trench. Concrete and bituminous materials will be delivered by a truck to site.
Traffic signs manual chapter 8 and signage
SERVICES
EQUIPMENT
Existing services
Existing services marked