1

DIT HEALTH AND SAFETY OFFICE

PROCEDURE TITLE Risk Assessment Procedure

REVISION NO.: 5

NUMBER OF PAGES: 8

REFERENCE: Parent Health and Safety Statement
Risk Assessment Template (DITRAT)
Safety Inspection Procedure & Checklist
Plant Inspection Checklist

DATE OF ISSUE: May 2009


PROCEDURE

This document outlines the procedure to be followed when performing a risk assessment.

Definitions

Hazard The ability, nature or property of a substance or situation which has the
potential to cause harm in terms of human injury, ill health or damage to property or the
environment.

Risk The combination of the likelihood and consequence of the hazard occurring.


Risk Assessment Procedure
Heads of Faculty/Function will ensure that periodic risk assessments are
completed, taking account of all activities/areas related to their College/Function.
All risk assessments must be written and documented using the standard template
(DITRAT) in accordance with safety legislation.
The annual review of risk assessments should take place prior to commencement
of the new academic year/semester.
The risk assessment process should not delay remedial measures or prevent
immediate action during the process. This is especially important if there is a risk
of serious injury or illness.
2
Where in the opinion of the Health and Safety Officer, or other competent person,
there is a risk of serious injury to personnel, he/she will have the authority to
advise that process is stopped until adequate steps have been taken to eliminate
the risk. . Where the risk cannot be reduced to acceptable levels and departmental
or risk reduction finance is not available, the Head of Function shall require the
function to cease.
As part of hazard identification, an assessment of the risk associated with each
hazard should be conducted.
A risk assessment should also be conducted when new information about a hazard
is received or whenever there is a change in legislation or the workplace (e.g.
change in work practices & systems of work, new equipment, new personnel).
Depending on the nature of the hazard, the risk assessment process will vary from
straightforward visual inspection of the workplace, through to formal quantitative
assessment for high risk situations.

In general, the risk assessment will involve one or more of the following:
o Visual inspection/safety inspection
o Audit
o Test
o Technical or scientific evaluation
o Analysis of injury/incident data
o Discussion with designer, manufacturer, supplier, employees or other
relevant parties.
o Quantitative assessment using a risk matrix.

The main factors that need to be considered are:
The nature of the hazard
The likelihood (probability) of exposure
Frequency and duration of exposure
Number exposed
Consequence of exposure-worst likely outcome.

It is recommended that a safety inspection of the area is conducted prior to the risk
assessment, so that minor issues are dealt with immediately. This will also assist with the
hazard identification process. The procedure and checklist for this may be found in the
Parent Health and Safety Statement.

Responsibilities for Risk Assessments
The risk assessment should involve those who are responsible for and/or most likely to be
affected by the hazard. In-house expertise and information on the process/activities are
critical to risk assessment completion. This may include the area supervisor, lecturer,
technician, safety representative, health and safety committee member, postgraduate
student etc. The College/Function Director will co-ordinate the risk assessment group.
Person(s) conducting the risk assessment shall consult with those affected.

The Health and Safety Office will provide an initial introduction to risk assessment
techniques and will be available to advise all College/Functions on the process.

3



Steps to Risk Assessment

Step 1 Look at the Hazards
Hazards to health can be broad grouped into 5 categories:
1. Chemical
2. Physical
3. Biological
4. Fire
5. Human Factors.

As part of the hazard identification step, the safety inspection checklist and the plant
inspection checklist should be used to assist in the hazard identification process.
All hazards should be listed and referenced on the standard template (DITRAT DIT Risk
Assessment Template).


Step 2- Decide who might be harmed and how
Lecturers
Students - undergraduate, postgraduate, apprentice, junior
Office staff
Maintenance Personnel
Contractors
People sharing the workplace
Operators
Cleaners
Members of the public
Staff with disabilities and students
Visitors
Inexperienced staff, young workers
Lone workers
Pregnant women
Technicians
Class Aides
General Operatives

Step 3 Evaluate the risk
The risk is evaluated/assessed by looking at the probability of the hazard giving rise to
problems and the consequent severity of that hazard, should it occur.






4



The following risk matrix charts are examples of what can be used:



Consequence
should
exposure
occur
Probability of exposure to hazard
Very likely Likely Unlikely Highly Unlikely
Life Threatening High High High Medium
Detrimental High High Medium Medium
Harmful High Medium Medium Low
Negligible Medium Medium Low Low


The following two tables explain the meaning of each classification given above.

Hazard Consequence Table
Life Threatening Hazard may cause death or total loss of one or more bodily
functions (e.g. loss of/use of, an arm, eye, huge financial
loss etc)
Detrimental Hazard may cause severe injury, illness or permanent
partial loss of one or more bodily functions, or serious
property damage, loss of production capability.
Harmful Hazard may cause an incident that is reportable to the
Health & Safety Authority (HSA) i.e. an incident that
causes an employee to be absent for three or more
consecutive days.
Negligible Hazard may cause minor injury, illness or property damage,
first-aid treatment only or no injury, low financial loss.

Probability Rating Table
Very Likely Exposure to hazard likely to occur frequently
Likely Exposure to hazard likely to occur but not frequently
Unlikely Exposure to hazard unlikely to occur
Highly Unlikely Exposure to hazard so unlikely that it can be assumed that
it will not happen.



5

Probable consequences associated with each event to be assessed in terms of
damage to:
Life
Property
Environment
Stakeholders


6




Step 4- Control Measures
Once the level of risk is determined, the control measures should reduce the risk to an
acceptable or tolerable level.

When deciding upon control measures, the Control Hierarchy principles should be
applied in the following sequence:



1. Eliminate, Substitute, Reduce the hazard
2. Control it at source (enclose it)
3. Implement a safe system of work
4. Provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE is the last resort!)

Once the controls are listed, the following questions should be answered:
Do the precautions:
Meet the Standards set by a legal requirement?
Comply with a recognised industry standard?
7
Represent best practice?
Reduce risks as far as reasonably practicable?
If so, then the risks are adequately controlled. The precautions that are recommended
should be referred to e.g. procedures, manuals, company rules etc.

Step 5 Responsibility and Target Dates
List the people designated with responsibility for implementation of the control measures
and target dates for implementation.

Risk Priority
When assessing the risks and looking at the control measures to be implemented, the Risk
Priority table should be referred to.

Risk Priority Definitions of Priority Suggested TimeFrame
High Situation critical, stop work
immediately or consider cessation
of work process. Must be fixed
today, consider short and/or long
term actions
Now
Medium Is very important, must be fixed
this week, consider short and/or
long term actions.
This week
Low Is still important, but can be dealt
with through scheduled
maintenance or similar type
programming. However, if
solution is quick and easy, then
fix it today. Review and/or
manage by routine procedures
1-3 months


Document Control
The risk assessments and annual reviews should be planned and scheduled in advance in
the College/Function diary.
All risk assessments must be documented using the standard template (DITRAT) in
accordance with safety legislation.
Records must be kept by the College/Function to demonstrate the existence and
completion of the process. Records in relation to some hazards must be maintained in a
prescribed manner.

Hazardous Substances
Even if the assessment indicates that there is no significant risk to health, the
assessment record must be kept.

Confined Spaces
Initial assessments to establish safe operating procedures.
Assessments for each entry.

Risk assessments should be kept for at least five years. In some cases it will be necessary
to keep records for longer.
8


Communication
All staff/students in the area should be made aware of the risk assessment. A copy should
be made available and staff/students must sign it to say that they have read and
understood it. Training may be required in addition for specific areas.


Compilation of College/Function Safety Statement
The College/Function should meet with the Health and Safety Officer once the risk
assessment and health and safety statement for each School has been completed.

At all times during this process, they may consult and get advice from the Health and
Safety Officer.

Using the Parent Health and Safety Statement as guidance, an overall health and safety
statement will be then compiled for each School/Function and assembled with others to
form the College/Function Health and Safety Statement. This should contain the policy
statement, a statement of local arrangements and resources in place for securing the
safety, health and welfare of the staff and students, listed people with responsibilities,
local committee membership details, local procedures to deal with emergencies,
incidents, fire etc and safe work practice sheets relevant to the College/Function. It also
should contain the risk assessment and details of document control and review.

Audit Procedures
An audit of all controls and systems should take place annually. The College/Function
Director should ensure that this is completed and a copy of the report should be submitted
to the DIT Health and Safety Committee.

The Health and Safety Officer, or other independent officer will perform an overall audit
of the safety management system once a year and details of this will be submitted to the
DIT Health and Safety Committee.




________________________________________________________________________