1.3 Risk Assessment Team

Risk assessment is a systematic, step-by-step approach for evaluating risk. It is the process for determining the probability of a risk occurring and the consequence of that risk. It is a fundamental component of an effective risk management program. This program is a basic management tool consisting of risk assessment and risk control. Risk assessment is the data gathering component, while risk control is the application of the risk assessment evaluation.

1.3.1 Team Approach

Individuals will respond to a risk or perception of a hazard based on their influences, environment, and biases. What one person may perceive as a relatively low risk, another may consider highly dangerous no matter what controls are in place. If one or two individuals are asked to perform an assessment, some relevant factors may be missed or ignored. When determining the best course of action for performing a risk assessment, it is important to remember people will bring their own perceptions. Even in respect to experts, different experts will perceive different risks and from those perceptions, conclude different results or controls. In general, you want to bring together a group of people who work in the environment to work together as a team.

1.3.2 Team Representatives

Before any assessment of the risks can be started, a determination of who should be involved or who makes up the risk assessment team needs to be considered. The right group of people with the right mix of experience. The team will be between 5 people up to 10–15, if necessary. The team will include people from all sorts of different jobs and experience.

Risk assessment is never a one man show; it should be conducted by a multidisciplinary team, who has a thorough knowledge of the work to be undertaken. Team members should include management, process or facility engineers, technical personnel, supervisors, production operators, maintenance staff, and safety personnel, if available.

The team members will vary from assessment to assessment, company to company, and industry to industry, but the following elements are common:

1. Management should be involved to give practical application in the decision-making process of risk reduction controls and accepting residual risk level.
2. Engineers should be involved in the risk assessment process, as they are involved in the development of the design decisions that will impact the overall risk and risk controls.
3. Workers/Operators/Supervisors should be involved and included in the team, as these people are the most familiar with the tasks and uses for which the assessment will directly effect. These are the individuals best suited to identify the possible hazards associated with the end use. They can provide valuable insights on the possible controls and the practical application of those controls.
4. Health and Safety Professionals, if available, can offer valuable insights into what control measures might be available. They can identify possible hazards and propose risk reduction methods and their application.
5. Maintenance is another component that needs to be represented to understand the ramifications of implementing controls on the system or process being assessed.

The goal of the risk assessment team is to reduce risks to tolerable or acceptable levels. This assessment is completed by

1. identifying hazards and/or potential hazards;
2. identifying users and/or tasks;
3. determining the level of risk;
  • low, acceptable
  • medium, moderately acceptable
  • high, not acceptable
4. evaluating potential controls—elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administration controls, and/or use of personal protective equipment;
5. developing a report;
6. implementation and review.

The resulting risk assessment report must be evaluated, approved, and endorsed by senior management.

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