Risk Assessments are a must for any workplace

Any responsible business owner knows that they must strive to manage the health and safety risks in any work space. However, this is even more applicable in work environments where risks to health and safety are even higher- such as factories, warehouses and shop floors where materials handling equipment is used on a daily basis.

To manage the health and safety risks in your work place you will need to identify the risks where people may be in danger, and analyse whether you are taking adequate enough action in order to prevent these from occurring.  This is what is commonly referred to as carrying out a risk assessment of the workplace. Once you have evaluated the risk you will need to devise a strategy to control the risks incorporating the appropriate safety measures where needed and ensure that these are in place.

Carrying out a risk assessment of your workplace is not designed to create lots of paperwork- but rather it is intended to help you formulate appropriate measures to reduce the element of risks.  By law you are not obliged to remove every risk down to the smallest details.  However you do need to do what is needed to ensure the safety of your staff by implementing the appropriate measures that are needed to control these risks. Though you probably think you are already taking the appropriate action to control the risks, your risk assessment will probably reveal that you need to be taking more stringent control of the procedures and processes which take place on a daily basis.

It can be somewhat confusing to try to undertake your first risk assessment. It’s often advised that you begin the process by walking around your entire work place and noting down any hazards that you come across.  A hazard is anything that can cause someone to injure themselves, from the minor hazards to the more serious hazards. Get your employees involved too, and have brainstorming session where you try to think of all the hazards that are present. Then note the precautionary measures that you have in place to control the hazards and if there are any hazards without a safety measure try to devise an appropriate solution. 

These notes should be kept on file so that there is a clear record of the risk assessment taking place. The risk assessment should be carried out on a regular basis especially if more material handling solutions such as a new electric stacker or mobile scissor lifts are bought into the work space. And make sure that your notes are kept up to date too for your reference.

If you would like to find out more information about health and safety in the work place, or want to purchase some manual handling equipment please visit http://www.advancedhandling.co.uk. 

About us: Advanced Handling specialise in scissor lift design and make mobile scissor lifts, electric stackers, scissor tables and materials handling equipment as well as other various lifting solutions.  They’re also knowledgeable on manual handling legislation, health and safety at work and LOLER.

Editor’s note:  Advanced Handling is represented by Search Engine Marketing agency TRON Media. This Press Release was written by Jo-Anne Keyte. Please direct all press queries to Jo-Anne Keyte email: jo@tronmedia.co.uk or call: 02031670969.