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.
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.
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:
The goal of the risk assessment team is to reduce risks to tolerable or acceptable levels. This assessment is completed by
The resulting risk assessment report must be evaluated, approved, and endorsed by senior management.
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