Identifying Hazards

Presented by Dr. Carl Marx and Roger Belair CRSP, CET, CRM, FRM 

Introduction

There are numerous definitions for a hazard, however the conventional academic definition when referring to workplace health and safety is “A hazard is any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone.”  A practical definition can simply be referred to as the presence of an energy source with the potential to cause a loss.

As the identification of hazards is the first step in the Risk Management process, the identification of all the hazards is of cardinal importance.  It should be noted that every hazard that is not identified will not go through the strict process that forms part of the Risk Management process.  It also implies that every hazard that is missed will be a hazard for which is not subjected to the development of preventive measures for mitigating the associated risk.

HAZARD IDENTIFICATION

In order to systematically isolate the hazards one of the methods that has been successfully utilised are as follows:

Step 1:

Ensure that all hazards involved in the process, task or activity being assessed, are identified.  To achieve a method that works well is to map the theoretical process in a specific geographical area, tasks in a process or activities making up a task, by utilising the existing company documentation.

Step 2:

To determine whether any deviations exist from the documented procedure it will be prudent to involve a vertical slice of persons from the organisation in the process to contribute.  The facilitator should be sensitive to the fact that operators often feel that they cannot contribute and therefore focus on getting input from this part of the team.

Step 3:

After mapping of the actual process is completed, the next step is to determine the energy sources that are present in the individual steps.  This may include Biological, Chemical, Electrical, Gravity, Motion, Mechanical, Pressure, Radiation, Sound & Temperature are the most common types that are considered. A complete list with icons and a description is given in the table below.

In this step it is best to make a list the types of energy sources present in each identified step, by clearly stating what it is that contains the energy source.  It is important at this stage not to try and determine whether the energy source poses a risk or not, but to make sure that all the hazards have been identified.  The use of a Risk Assessment facilitator is invaluable during this stage of the process.

The Energy table listed above provides a better understanding of the hazards implied by the different energy sources that may be present in the workplace.

Step 4:

Once the hazards have been identified the individual risks can be isolated.  It is normal to want to skip the hazard identification process, as it seems to be a bit of a waste to do it in this way.  Most people think that they know the process well enough to skip this part, however our experience has shown that, if this part is neglected or skipped, the rest of the process can easily become a mockery.

Conclusion

Overall, the aim of hazard identification is to identify and document all hazards that are present in the workplace, irrespective of the potential risk that it may pose.

The team must include both people familiar with the actual process, people who understand management implications, as well as people who have both the experience and qualifications to understand the technical aspects being assessed.

it is important to spend sufficient time on this process to ensure that everyone who is part of the team is satisfied that all hazards have been identified, before proceeding to the next step required in the risk management framework.

 If you are developing or need help to improve your Risk Management & Health and Safety management system, or looking for a consultancy support, we would be happy to help you. 

Please feel free to contact us at: drcmarx@gmail.com or roger.belair@onsitehse.com

If you would like to read our previous articles, the please click on the following link:

Risk-Based-Decision-Making: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-risk-based-decision-making-safety-risk-management-marx/

Hazard Identification Risk Assessment Process: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hazard-identification-risk-assessment-hira-process-carl-marx/