RISK ASSESMENTS

Risk Assesments

Risk Assesments

Introduction

Health and safety legislation can often appear quite complex. There are hundreds of different regulations that companies must comply with and there are thousands of guidance documents from various Government advisory bodies. However, even with all this information about health and safety at work, there is one basic and fundamental thing that all employers must do - risk assessment.

Identifying Hazards

So, what is a hazard? The standard definition of a hazard is, 'something with the potential to cause harm to a person'. There are many hazards around, which may cause harm to a person. Fire, chemicals, handling heavy loads, slips and trips and noise are some examples.

Risk Assessment

The definition of risk is, 'the likelihood and consequence of a hazard being realised'. Hazards present risk, but not all hazards present the same amount of risk. For example, take fire as a hazard. If we go on holiday and stay in a five star hotel that is managed by a large international chain with an excellent safety record, the risk from fire (the hazard) will be very small. However, if we decide to move to a back-street hotel that has no fire precautions in place, with perhaps a poor safety record, then the risk from fire is much greater. Hopefully this example illustrates that hazards are fixed but risk is variable.

Complying with the new fire safety regulations has become a hot topic for hotels in England and Wales. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order came into force in October 2006, replacing existing legislation. Its supporters say it is a move towards more transparency. According to Fire Minister Angela Smith: "The new rules remove burdens from business, replacing over 70 pieces of legislation with a single reform. If your premises comply with current regulations, then the major difference is that the new rules are cheaper and easier to follow.

The new regulations aren't new at all but an advancement of the fire precautions workplace regulations that came into force in 1997. They remove the certification process where a fireman came round and inspected the premises and the burden was on the fire brigade. Now the burden is on the operators to produce a risk assessment (Elgers 2002)."

For hotels, a fire risk assessment means a thorough look at the premises and the activities that take place there to ascertain the likelihood of a fire starting. The fire risk assessment encourages good management of fire safety so that a blaze is unlikely to occur in the first place, and measures are in place to control or contain it if it does. In the event of a fire, there must be provision for everyone in the building to escape. The person entrusted with this in all premises with five or more employees is legally known as the 'responsible person'.

Compliance should be straightforward for those businesses that meet the existing standards. All employers and others who have a responsibility for fire safety are urged to check their procedures by using the ...