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Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

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sakura999
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Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by sakura999 »

Hi all,

At my workplace, we use a scoring system based on a 5 x 5 matrix for risk assessments. Problem is sometimes, more experienced colleagues and I don't always agree on scores. I may put a 3 in the severity column while they may put a 2. Is there a way to always get it right?

Like are there general rules that can be followed? If yes, it would be greatly appreciated if a book/ document was recommended.
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by Juan Carlos »

Your perception or risk might be totally different to mine. The fact that you have different numbers is neither here nor there. what is important is the controls in place you have in your risk assessment and that those are suitable.
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by witsd »

Put three risk assessors in a room and you'll end up with five opinions. The important part is to be consistent with yourself, and to aim for team consistency in terms of prioritisation - you might think issue A is a 5 and issue B is a 4, whilst your colleague thinks they ought to be a 3 and a 2, but at least you both have them in the same order. If you aren't managing this, then you may need to sit down and discuss things before committing them to paper, otherwise you are going to get internal people asking for explanations, which can be tedious to deal with.

One thing I've noticed from working in a team was that some people put more emphasis on how quickly a task could be completed, whilst others almost completely ignored this, concentrating only on the degree of danger. Best example of this was for signage: I gave our company a year to replace a missing sprinkler shut-off sign because of the incredibly low risk to life, but some colleagues put it down as to be done within a month because it was an easy fix.

I stood by my approach, and eventually convinced the rest of the team to follow my lead, but in (a few!) other cases, I've eventually been swayed by popular opinion and tweaked my time scales.
We often think that when we have completed our study of one we know all about two, because 'two' is 'one and one.' We forget that we still have to make a study of 'and.'
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by bernicarey »

It's like the Judges scoring on Strictly Come dancing, you know who's going to score low and score high because they are consistent about it.
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by Jack Kane »

I recently watched an HSE webinar on managing risk where the speakers address this very issue. I encourage people to watch the entire thing anyway, I found it really interesting and a few golden nuggets for helping people understand simple risk assessment.

Managing Risk: From Assessment to Control. Bringing your Risk Assessment to Life - https://www.hsl.gov.uk/hse-health-and-s ... aging-risk

Directly related to your original question sakura, go to 22 mins to hear Nic Rigby, HM Principal Inspector, HSE give his short talk. Then from 50 mins or so on, they talk about scoring systems and how far is far enough.

https://events.streamgo.live/HSE-managi ... to-Control

Well worth a watch, also a nice bit of value adding CPD into the bargain :D
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by stephen1974 »

Unless a company forces me to use a matrix, I dont.

The numbers are, in my opinion, completely meaningless and arbritary. On top of that, if you have actuallt read the risk assessment, you dont need some stupid number indicator to tell you you need to do something.
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by Blackstone »

stephen1974 wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:50 am Unless a company forces me to use a matrix, I dont.

The numbers are, in my opinion, completely meaningless and arbritary. On top of that, if you have actuallt read the risk assessment, you dont need some stupid number indicator to tell you you need to do something.
Completely agree. Numbers give an indication but are totally subjective.
I prefer not to use numbers and rather make people read what is in the risk assessment.
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by bernicarey »

Amazing that people are commenting about 'people reading the risk assessment'.

There is no requirement for employees to read a risk assessment.
Many more complex risk assessments will likely be totally beyond the comprehension and understanding of the people that most need to be protected.

The Risk Assessment is a tool for employers/managers/supervisors etc, not a document that all must read.

The MHSWR 1999 s10(1) basically says
(1) Every employer shall provide his employees with comprehensible and relevant information on

(a)the risks to their health and safety identified by the assessment;

(b)the preventive and protective measures;
It does not say employees have to read the risk assessment.

You might have a really good risk assessment that is full of relevant and information to determine the safety measures required, but there's no point giving it to the employee who's several steps down the ladder in their ability to understand it.

If I visit an explosives factory, do I ned to read all their risk assessments? No I just need to know the safety precautions I have to follow. Simple as that.
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by witsd »

I didn't think people were saying that all employees should read the RAs, just that the dutyholder ought to, rather than relying entirely on the numbers that the H&S staff or consultant have assigned.

Maybe I misread though, I am pretty tired today...
We often think that when we have completed our study of one we know all about two, because 'two' is 'one and one.' We forget that we still have to make a study of 'and.'
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by Blackstone »

Probably wasn't clear what i mean about "read"...

I've always involved the operators as they should be part of creating the RA's as they are SME's and know the processes etc.

It's only right that once RA is written up you go through it with them so it's not just "wear that PPE", "use that LEV".
If they understand why they need to do something, they are more likely to comply rather than just be told.

Just because they legally don't have to read a RA, doesn't mean they can or should. All depends on the approach.
I've always had the angle that if you involve someone in the conversation they feel part of the solution.

Agree that giving a RA to an employee and tell them to read it is not the solution, always better to have discussions. ./thumbsup..

Different think for a visitor. They don't need to know why a site has the rules, just abide by them for their own safety.
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by stephen1974 »

OK, lets take a deep breath before responding to that one...
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Re: Risk assessment - how to get it right all the time?

Post by quality_somerset »

My quick take on the subject.

How to get it right all the time - simple answer you can't, what you can do is keep reviewing and to keep on learning, chasing perfection will just drive you insane.

Although there is no requirement to show employees RA's I feel that involving staff gives you greater buy-in, more respect for the RA process and lots of learning opportunities you can use to tighten and refine the RA.

Giving numerical values to RA's is one of my pet hates, basically it is qualitative data masquerading as quantitative data, simply put BS x BS = BS². Going even further they can actually be dangerous. What statistical data are you using to come to a conclusion about the likelihood of an accident happening? In 99% of cases it will be a guess.

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