Archive for category: Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is part of determining what is reasonably practicable. The duty holder, usually the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) or the safety manager, must identify the relevant factors that contribute to the risk analysis process.  In other words the PCBU must find a balance between what can be done to eliminate or reduce risks, and what is reasonable to do. The control measures used will be different for many worksites but six considerations must be made.

1: What is the likelihood of a risk occurring?

• The more likely it is that a risk eventuates; the more may need to be done to eliminate or reduce it.

2: How much harm may result if a risk were to eventuate?

• The larger the extent of harm; the more importance will be placed on effective control measures.

3: What is known, or should be reasonably known, about the risk and hazard involved?

• Commonly referred to as the state of knowledge, this is what the duty holder knows about a risk and what he/she should reasonably know about a risk. When determining what should be reasonably known about a risk, a duty holder should consult with workers and other stakeholders, complete a risk assessment, investigate previous risk assessments, and review relevant OHS laws and regulations.

4: What is known, or should be reasonably known about the available control measures to be implemented?

• Safe Work Australia’s codes of practice outline possible control measures but duty holders are not required by law to follow them. However OHS laws do require that duty holders make themselves aware of the codes of practice to ensure they understand the full scope of what is reasonably practicable in the elimination or reduction of risk.

5: What is the suitability and availability of control measures to eliminate or reduce risk?

• To ensure a safe workplace whilst maintaining an organisation’s economic competitiveness, the available control measures as well as the practicable ones should be considered. A risk control that is appropriate for one situation or business, may not be practicable for another.

6: What is the cost of eliminating or minimising risks?

• This point should be considered after all other health and safety options have been checked. The cost of implementing a risk control measure is a definite factor in determining what is reasonably practicable. This is because an organisation’s resources may be limited to a certain extent however it should be noted that the WHS Act clearly favours the prioritisation of safety ahead of cost.

In terms of the full scope and size of the WHS Act, this is but a glimpse of the recommendations on determining what is reasonably practicable. Nonetheless, there are valuable points that any business can apply to their safe operating procedures. For more information on the term reasonably practicable you can read Safe Work Australia’s interpretive guidelines.

If you’re running a construction business or managing a worksite then you know the risk assessment process inside and out. You’ll know how to implement a safe work method statement (SWMS), rate a risk assessment matrix and complete a job safety analysis – all just part of remaining compliant with health and safety rules. All this paperwork seems like a hassle (and it is) so why don’t businesses involved in high risk construction work just buy risk assessments?

There’s two answers to this question. Firstly, businesses don’t just get up and buy risk assessments because free risk assessment software alternatives already exist. Otherwise called job safety analysis software, construction safety software or health and safety management software, these digital alternatives to paperwork are known to cut costs and improve productivity. So if you’re a manager or business owner, you’d know it makes more long-term business sense to invest in risk assessment software rather than buy the paperwork (esp SWMS).

The second reason why smart businesses don’t just buy risk assessments is because risk assessments in the workplace have a nasty habit of becoming obsolete as new hazards emerge. To remain compliant with OHS laws, risk assessments must be reviewed and updated as soon as working conditions change and more risks become apparent. So there’s little point buying an expensive SWMS document only to see it become obsolete once a worker finds some rusty nails sticking out of a floorboard.

With the option of risk assessment software free download available, the key lesson here is not to buy risk assessments. With so many alternatives out there and with the limitations of paper-based risk assessments holding back your ability to improve productivity, spending your hard earned cash on a pile of paper work is a waste of resources. You can learn more about these alternative including SafeWorkPro’s risk assessment software here.

At the centre of SafeWorkPro is an aim to make Australian construction businesses more competitive. We strive to reduce the waste of resources that comes with risk assessments, in a way that will not compromise the safety of employees. As many construction businesses would know, compliance with the Work Health and Safety Act can be challenging, especially when facing the demands of never ending paperwork and administration. Although tried and tested, we believe the paper-based process is obsolete and does not deliver the best possible outcome in terms of safety and productivity. The risk assessment process is unnecessarily long and key safety information is not being delivered to workers when they need it most. So we decided to innovate and the result was a practical, easy to use tool that is available on any smartphone or tablet device.

Our experience working with Cole Contracting, an electrical contracting company based in Brisbane, Australia, instilled within us a high value of safety culture. We found that safe work practices and high productivity are not necessarily contradictory. In turn our tool places an emphasis on getting workers away from paperwork and back on the job quickly. By streamlining the paperwork involved with risk assessment and safe work method statements (SWMS) into digital copies, SafeWorkPro drastically improves productivity. There’s less time spent ticking boxes and filling out forms, and more time spent on the job.

But a quick risk assessment process is useless if it compromises the well-being of workers. So SafeWorkPro helped make 140 SWMS accessible via an easy to use mobile tool. The depth and detail of SafeWorkPro comes from the 17 years experience of Cole Contracting who, using our tool, have completed 964 risk assessments, identified 370 job steps and associated all of those with one of our 140 detailed SWMS. Our method has been successfully tried and tested, all without any major safety incidences – a record we are extremely proud of. Regardless of the numbers, the core motivation for our work is to keep you safe on site and competitive in business.

Safety and productivity does not end at the worksite. Keeping records of risk assessments can be a costly administrative overhead that takes up time and space. All this is necessary to comply with legislation but doing it in a way that will not distract managerial resources is now possible. With WorkSafePro each worker signs the risk assessment on the mobile tool, which is then sent instantly to the manager who now can see in real time who is doing what job and what the risks associated with it are. With our risk assessment’s being downloadable to pdf format, any compliance request can be almost instantly met without the hassle of filing any paperwork.

Quick, safe and compliant work is what drives us at WorkSafePro. In a time of shifting economic winds and uncertain futures, these three factors are an essential part of making any construction business competitive and successful.

We joke about it now but this history of poor workplace health and safety practices highlights the importance of a risk assessment. Paper-based risk assessments have helped keep workers save for decades but now in the digital age, they are quickly becoming redundant. New software alternatives are quicker to complete and easier to administer, which begs the question: why are risk assessments carried out on paper?

The simple answer is because it used to be the easiest way of carrying out a risk assessment. That isn’t to say writing risk assessments on paper is still the easiest way to do things. The table-based risk assessment layout works well for paper but now with risk assessment software development extending well into the construction industry, it’s become clear that the future of risk assessment is found in technology.

You can find out more about construction risk assessment software here. For more useful tips and information, check out the SafeWorkPro Blog.

The old saying goes ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ and it may be true for some things in life but when it comes to risks in construction, this phrase is just plain wrong. In this age of digital technology, the traditional risk assessment is out-dated and inefficient.

But why?

The job safety analysis sheet, OHS risk assessment form or risk analysis process (all different names for the same thing) has always consisted of various forms of paperwork. Back in the day this was the best method to ensure job safety on the worksite and to remain compliant with OHS laws. But times have changed and although a free JSA template can do the job, there is now a digital alternative that’s quicker, easier to use and instantly responsive to compliance requests.

It’s called job safety analysis software and at SafeWorkPro, we developed this efficient digital job safety analysis method in consultation with both worksite managers and tradespersons. The software uses the same safe work method statements, risk assessment matrices and job safety analyses through an application that’s downloadable to any smartphone or tablet device. This means workers can update the job safety analysis as working conditions change, save the completed forms as a PDF and instantly send it to the manager for approval. Moreover, the job safety analysis software provides managers with real time business insights into the working conditions of each employee. In other words, managers know what job an employee is working on, how much risk is involved and the current status of their risk assessment.

Ready to start saving time and money? Sign-up with SafeWorkPro today and see the results for yourself. Alternatively you can read more about SafeWorkPro’s risk assessment software.