What is the Hazard & How to Identify the Hazard?

Here are the common definitions of the terms hazard, risk, risk assessment and control as they apply in the workplace.

HAZARD

HAZARD in general means anything that can cause harm but, for your purposes, this must be workplace-generated (e.g. dangerous chemicals, electricity, working at heights from ladders, poor housekeeping).

RISK

RISK is the likelihood, great or small, that someone will be harmed by the hazard, together with the severity of harm suffered. Risk also depends on the number of people exposed to the hazard.

Hazards and risks are not the same things.

A hazard is an act or condition that has the potential to cause damage to plant or equipment or result in an illness or injury. Hazards can be categorized by the type of outcome, energy exchange process or geographic location, e.g. manual handling hazards, slips and trips, laundry hazards. A risk is the likelihood of a specific consequence occurring. Risks are usually expressed in terms of likelihood and consequences, e.g. the risk of contracting Ross River Fever while working in Tasmania might be considered to be very low.

In many cases, the terms ‘hazard’ and ‘risk’ are used interchangeably, however, remember that hazard has a more general application and risk a specific application. Risk management has 3 main stages, risk identification, risk assessment and risk control. In many cases in the early phase of identifying risk, we may, in fact, be looking to identify all the risks associated with a particular activity or process, in which case the activity is more properly referred to as hazard identification, risk assessment and the risk control.

RISK ASSESSMENT

RISK ASSESSMENT is a careful examination of what, in the workplace, could cause harm to people, so that the employer can weigh up whether he or she has taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm.

CONTROLLING RISK means that the employer (as the law requires) does all that is reasonably practicable to ensure that a hazard will not injure anyone (e.g. by eliminating the hazard, enclosing it in a totally enclosed container, using general or local exhaust ventilation, implementing safe operating procedures, or providing personal protection, as a last resort).

The first step in safeguarding safety and health is to identify hazards from materials, equipment, chemicals and work activities. You are required to systematically examine your workplace and work activities to identify workplace-generated hazards.

If you control more than one work location, different types of work activity or changing work locations (as in road repairs or building work), you may need to prepare a safety statement that has separate sections dealing with the different locations or activities.

Employers will be familiar with the hazards associated with the type of work they are involved in. But to identify the main hazards and put risks in their true perspective, employers can also check:

Records of accidents, ill health, and insurance claims

• Any relevant legislation or standards covering the hazard (e.g. the Construction Regulations for construction-site hazards, the Chemical Agents Regulations and Code of Practice for chemical hazards and their control)
• Manufacturers’ instructions or datasheets

Some hazards are obvious, such as unguarded moving parts of machinery, dangerous fumes, electricity, working at heights, or moving heavy loads. Less obvious, but at the root of many accidents, are hazards presented by untidy workplaces and poor maintenance. In the case of some hazards, such as excessive noise, it may take months or even years before damage materializes.

Don’t be overcomplicated. In most firms in the office, retail, commercial, service and light industrial sector, the hazards and hazardous work activities are few and simple. Checking them is common sense, but necessary. In small firms, employers understand their work and can identify hazards and assess risks themselves. For larger firms, a responsible experienced employee or safety officer should be used. Consult and involve as necessary all employees, including the safety representatives. But remember – the employer is responsible for seeing that the work is adequately done.

If you use external advisers to help prepare the safety statement, make sure they know the work activity and have the appropriate experience. If you do the work yourself, walk around the workplace and look afresh at what could reasonably be expected to cause harm. Ignore the trivial and concentrate on the significant hazards that could result in serious harm or affect several people. Ask employees and their representatives what they think. They may have noticed things that are not immediately obvious.

The following checklists provide a systematic, though not exhaustive, approach to identifying hazards:

PHYSICAL HAZARDS

Some common causes of accidents, with examples, are:

• Manual handling (heavy, awkward or hard-to-reach loads, handling patients, treating farm animals)
• Slipping/tripping hazards (poorly maintained or untidy floors, passageways or stairs)
• Falling from a height (from mezzanine floors or scaffolding)
• Being struck by material falling from above
• Getting caught or cut by machinery, especially moving parts of machinery (blades or rollers, power take-off shafts on tractors and farm machinery)
• Equipment (poorly maintained or whose guards have been disabled)
• Falling objects
• Being struck by internal transport (fork-lifts) or external transport (delivery trucks at loading bays)
• Introduction of new machinery or work systems
• Fire (from flammable or combustible materials, hay, waste material)
• Ejection of material (from plastic molding or woodworking machines)
• Electricity (poor wiring or not being protected by residual current devices)
• Special hazards of maintenance of equipment and the workplace itself (the roof, windows or gutters)
• Injury by another person or an animal
• Hot substances or surfaces
• Hand tools (noise, eye injury, electrocution)
• Poor housekeeping
• Burial in trenches or by loose material such as grain or soil
• Suffocation by drowning or from exposure to carbon monoxide (from portable generators)
• Pressure systems (steam boilers)

You can find out the most common causes of accidents in your sector by consulting the Health and Safety Authority website or the most up-to-date ‘Summary of Fatality, Injury and Illness Statistics’ published by the Authority  – https://paksafetysolutions.com/

HEALTH HAZARDS

• Negative stress (e.G. From poor work organization or control, repetitive strain, etc)
• Noise (e.G. If people must raise their voices to be heard)
• Harmful dust (e.G. From grinding)
• Unsuitable lighting levels
• Some types of light (e.G. Over-exposure to ultra-violet light can cause skin cancer)
• Vibration (e.G. From pneumatic rock or concrete breakers or drills)
• Sources of radiation
• Extremes of temperature
• Injury through poor design of tasks or machinery
• Radiation hazards including naturally occurring radon

CHEMICAL HAZARDS

Chemical substances are used in nearly all organizations. They range from common everyday products such as glues and correction fluids to industrial solvents, dyes, pesticides or acids. In most cases, the hazards are well documented and the information is available on safety precautions to be taken. Regulations require certain chemicals to be labeled according to their hazards.

Manufacturers and suppliers are legally required to provide material safety data sheets, which give information on the safety and health risks of any chemical substances. They should be asked for this information. The code of practice for the Chemical Agents

Regulations list several hundred dangerous chemical agents. Check this list if chemicals are used in your operations.

To identify chemical hazards and assess their risks, you need data on at least the following:

• Immediate problems, (e.G. Acute toxic effects or catching fire)
• Long-term effects of exposure on health (e.G. Cancer-causing)
• Likelihood of an explosion
• Likelihood of skin problems (e.G. Skin irritation or sensitizer causing dermatitis)
• Likelihood of chest problems (e.G. Respiratory irritation or sensitization, asthma)

BIOLOGICAL AGENT HAZARDS

These include viruses and bacteria that can cause infection and substances from plants or animals that can lead to other health problems. These hazards are likely to occur in places such as laboratories, hospitals, farms or abattoirs. They include:

• tuberculosis from contact with infectious cases
• Brucellosis
• Farmer’s lung, caused by spores from moldy hay
• Hepatitis from the unprotected handling of infected body fluids or waste

If you work in or are responsible for any of the above activities you should consult the Biological Agents Regulations for further information on identifying biological agent hazards and methods of control.

HUMAN-FACTOR HAZARDS

Apart from physical surroundings, human factors must also be taken into account when identifying hazards:

• People should be mentally and physically capable of doing their jobs safely.
• The workplace, the work system, the organization of work and the job should be designed so as to avoid causing sustained stress.
• Workers should not be subjected to bullying by or violence from other workers or members of the public.

Some groups are particularly vulnerable:

• Young workers, who have a higher accident rate
• Pregnant women (see the general application regulations)
• People with disabilities
• New or inexperienced workers
• Workers who have recently changed roles or jobs or started work in a new workplace – older workers, workers whose first language is not English