This article is the second in a series on Hazard and Risk Assessments, and addresses the requirements of a contractor’s Health and Safety file, which is legally required when a contractor works on a customer’s site.
Probability
The theory is that the more frequently you do something the more likely it will go wrong. Murphy’s Law says, “If something can go wrong, it will go wrong,” we add, “If you do it often enough.” Therefore if we do something all the time we have a 100% chance of it going wrong. In the case of a contractor, doing a specific job, the chance of it going wrong is less. We have a table to estimate how much less that we will discuss later.
Current Controls to contain or prevent
This needs some explanation. The current controls are those controls that are in place by the company, or that are routinely in place by the contractor. If the control you think of is not routine, it belongs as a corrective action and comes later in the analysis. For example, if the area of work is inherently noisy, and that noise will continue during the contractors work, there will be a sign saying, “Wear hearing protection.” This applies to the contractor’s employees as well as everyone else and is a “current control.” If the contractor is going to cause the noise, in a normally quiet area, then you must protect the normal employees from noise induced hearing loss. This would be a corrective action and the answer under current controls would be “None.”
Mitigation
This is a numeric value given to “Current Controls” and I will discuss this later.
Significance Priority Number (SPN)
This is a relative number calculated from Severity, Probability and Mitigation. We use it to apply the 80/20 rule, also called the Pareto analysis. This rule states that 80% of results come from of 20% of causes. For example, 80% of sales come from 20% of customers. 80% of customer complaints come from 20% of customers, not necessarily the same 20% of customers that provide 80% of sales.
In the case of Hazard and Risk Analyses,
20% of hazards cause 80% of injuries.
As we cannot eliminate all risk from work, we would never do anything. The Hazard and Risk Analysis is an attempt to isolate those 20% of hazards that are most likely (80%) to cause injuries and to safety proof against them.
There is a set of tables below the Hazard and Risk analysis form that I use to calculate Severity, Probability, Mitigation and, from them, the SPN. When I am conducting a Hazard and Risk Analysis, I fill in all the information to this point and then calculate Severity, Probability, and Mitigation and, from them, the SPN. I then sort out the top 20% SPNs for action. The team also applies common sense and adds items that, while they may not make the top 20%, are obviously sufficiently serious as to require corrective action. Remember that, while you hope it never happens, you may have to explain your decisions someday to a judge.
Recommended Actions
Decide on and record “Recommended Actions and target date” for the 20% plus items you identified for action above.
Responsible Persons
Record “Who” will carry out the action.
This is as far as the Hazard and Risk Analysis goes in the meeting. The secretary ensures that the Hazard and Risk Analysis is legible and gives copies to everyone at the meeting and to any action person not at the meeting. I usually type the Hazard and Risk assessment and then send it out to everyone, but typing is not essential.
The secretary follows up on the corrective action and the contractor does not proceed until the corrective action is complete. The team, or usually the secretary, recalculates the SPN, considering the completed corrective action. This documents the improvement.
You can decide to close the Hazard and Risk Analysis at this point or you can consider if any other items you think you should deal with.
Please contact me at mike@sheqandbeyond.co.za if you would like any further information or help with Hazard and Risk Analyses. I am based in Boksburg, South Africa and my cell number is 083 316 6083.
Author
Mike Morrison
