The hierarchy of controls

Risks are controlled in accordance with the hierarchy of controls prescribed in the WHS Regulation, which are outlined in the following:

Control measures are drawn from as high up the hierarchy as is practicable, according to the severity of the risk, current knowledge about the hazard and its risks, and the availability and cost of control technology.

A combination of control measures is required if a single measure does not effectively control the risk, for example, using engineering controls and PPE w hen working with paint containing lead.

Risk assessment meeting outcomes

Outcomes from the RA meeting are critical information to manage OHS issues on construction projects; they relate or feed as follows:

• The initial project RA record constitutes the Project hazards register and must be included in the CPMP for the project. This is updated throughout the life of the project, through subsequent RA meetings and RA reviews.
• OHS hazards and controls identified during the RA are then entered into the Safe Work Method Statements for the activity and environmental risk and controls entered into the Environmental protection measures table.
• SWMS and environmental protection measures are detailed in the Construction Project Management Plan (CPMP) for the project
• Foreseeable emergencies and activities requiring health surveillance must be communicated to workers during induction.
• Safe work method statements must be developed for medium and high risk activities where the hazards cannot be eliminated. Refer to IMS-SP-21Developing Safe Work Method Statements procedure.
• Design changes identified are formally submitted to the client.
• Foreseeable Emergencies should be documented in an Emergency Plan – refer to IMS-SP-13 Emergency preparedness and response procedure

Risk assessment review

The PM reviews the RA with the project team once a month or when new activities are introduced to verify that the risk assessment is still valid, all known and foreseeable hazards are included, and that the controls are implemented.

Other triggers for review:

• incidents indicate that the risk assessment may not be adequate
• there is other evidence that the risk assessment is no longer valid
• subcontractors are engaged who might introduce additional hazards such as
• plant or hazardous equipment and substances
• significant changes are proposed in the work.

Safety risk assessment reckoner (Illness and injury)

Risk Rating

If you’ve got questions about anything in this article or anything related to Ensafe or the construction industry, you can contact us via phone or email or leave your question in the comments below.

When it comes to construction works, there are many misconceptions about conducting an effective OH&S and environmental risk assessment. We hope that this 2-part article allows to dispel some of the myths and makes it an easier process for you.

Why

Risk assessment (RA) is undertaken to:

• identify foreseeable hazards and assess the risk of those hazards
• eliminate, or at least control, the risks by applying the ‘Hierarchy of Controls’
• monitoring the controls and reviewing their effectiveness.

Hazard is defined as “A source or situation with potential for harm in terms of human injury or ill-health, damage to property, damage to the environment, or a combination of these”.

The WHS Regulation and AS/NZS 4801 requires a risk management approach to health and safety hazards in the workplace. This approach requires:

• systematically identifying any foreseeable hazard that may arise
• assessing risks and taking any necessary action to eliminate or control them
• developing systems that ensure control measures are used and maintained
• reviewing risk assessments regularly and whenever circumstances change
• verifying the accuracy of the risk assessment and the effectiveness of applied controls.

Who

Project Managers (PMs) are responsible for:

• organising, facilitating and documenting risk assessment meetings
• implementing outcomes of those meetings, and monitoring and recording progress.
• ensuring that a risk assessment is undertaken for each project
• ensuring that SWMS are developed and issued for high to medium-risk activities prior to the commencement of work
• ensuring that the hierarchy of controls is applied
• ensuring that emergency procedures are developed and implemented
• ensuring that works done under contract for and by Xyz are in accordance with the appropriate OHS and environmental specifications
• rejecting or quarantining and stoping the use of unsafe work areas, work methods, materials, plant and equipment

Supervisors are responsible for:

• Implementing the outcomes of risk assessment meetings
• Identifying any additional hazards during the whole construction period and ensuring that risks are assessed before work begins
• requesting or developing SWMS when they are required

When

Risk assessment meetings are held when a project is identified and before work begins on site. The meeting should be held with sufficient lead-time for outcomes to be documented and acted on.

Risk assessments are reviewed once a month, and when circumstances change or new activities are to be introduced.

Risk assessment must also be reviewed to prevent reoccurrence following an incident to assess the:

• likelihood of re-injury or further plant damage
• degree of risk reduction achieved after corrective actions have been implemented.

How

Risk assessment meetings are held to consult with the project delivery team and involve them in clearly scoping the delivery of project works, documenting the sequence of work activities and identifying critical OHS and environmental hazards that may result in illness or injury, harm to the environment in order to assess the risks and discuss and agree on appropriate OHS and environmental controls for the project.

The process involves the delivery team including subcontractors, with a facilitator, ‘stepping through’ the work activities and identifying risks and hazards entailed in each activity.

The risk assessment meeting is organised and facilitated by the Project Manager; the facilitator must:

1. Schedule the RA meeting and invite the project team (including subcontractors) and support staff (Systems Manager, Quality Systems Officer, OHS representative)
2. Bring the following documents:

a. copy of this procedure and associated forms

b. the project scope

c. the construction drawings

d. works program

e. Environmental impact assessment or Review of Environmental Factors

3. Systematically work through the proposed sequence of activities for the project with the team to identify all the steps involved and the associated OHS and environmental hazards (encourage the active involvement of team members and seek innovative approaches). Use form IMS-SP03-F01 Risk assessment checklist as guide to help identify any issues and the controls required to be implemented on site.

• Review the project design to identify design changes that will improve safety, productivity, environmental outcomes and ongoing maintenance.
• Consider issues, hazards, foreseeable emergencies, incident history and identify activities requiring health surveillance

Note: If the project has a planned duration of several months it may be best to only cover the activities programmed for the first 6–8 weeks in detail. Cover other activities at subsequent meetings reviews when hazards become more apparent. In this case list the future activities and note – “To be assessed during RA review prior to the activity commencing”

4. Lead the process of ranking all the OHS and environmental hazards using the risk assessment reckoners attached to this procedure. Where a safety risk ranking between 1 and 3 is determined within any component of an activity, SWMS must be developed for that activity.

Note: Consider the likelihood that more than one activity may be taking place on site at a given time.

5. If the hazard cannot be eliminated, controls need to be adopted in Hierarchy of Control order – first considering controls for Substitution, then Isolation, then Engineering controls. Administrative Controls and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) should only be considered in conjunction with one or more of the higher level controls.

6. Document outcomes of RA meeting using form IMS-SP03-F02 Risk Assessment record.

The Risk assessment process also identifies potential emergencies for the project. These are addressed in accordance with IMS-SP-13 Emergency preparedness and response procedure.

Continue to Part 2 of this article by clicking HERE

If you’ve got questions about anything in this article or anything related to Ensafe or the construction industry, you can contact us via phone or email or leave your question in the comments below.