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Risk Assessments

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Edward Nutting edited this page Feb 3, 2017 · 2 revisions

Overview

We run a wide range of workshops with many different types of risk. Risk assessments guide each workshop leader and helper to ensure every activity is safe and all potential risks have been minimised as far as reasonably possible. Risk assesments are not there to block our activities!

Purpose

Risks range from electrocution, to potential small cuts to blinding to choking. These all sound pretty serious and they would be without certain precautions being taken (e.g. ensuring electrical safety of all equipment such as laptop chargers).

The purpose of this task is to identify all potential risks and work out how to minimise them as far as reasonably possible. Minimising risk might involve forward planning or testing (e.g. PAT Testing) or it might involve leaders and helpers taking particular action during a workshop (e.g. watching out for people; only allowing one soldering iron; or similar ideas). Risk assessments don't stop us doing stuff, they are an active document that help us to combat risk.

Details

  1. A risk assessment is generally done per-workshop, per-venue.
  2. For the workshop, work out everything that could go wrong, from small to large. Think about every material or tool involved in the activity and how someone might be able to use it (intentionally or accidentally) to harm themselves or other people. This sounds rather morbid (which it is) but it's necessary to identify how things could go wrong.
  3. For the workshop, work out what could happen that doesn't involve human intervention but could still go wrong. E.g. a laptop charger left on top of a pile of saw dust could cause it to catch fire (seems like an unlikely event but it's just an example). Work out whether these risks are likely to occur in the venue. In the example, it's unlikely to occur in a school but extremely likely if a laptop was being used in a garage or workshop. Here it is obvious that some risks are context-sensitive.
  4. For each risk, work out what could cause it and what action can be taken to minimise the chance of it occurring. Actions taken ahead of time to minimise risk are always preferable to relying on someone spotting the risk during an event.
  5. Write up your risk assessment, noting these important things for each identified risk:
  • Short description of the risk
  • Level of risk (High, Medium, Low)
  • Potential outcomes of the risk (Death by chocolate, etc)
  • Actions to be taken to minimise the risk
  • Any other important notes
  1. Submit your risk assessment to Caroline for review. Repeat the process if necessary.
  2. Ensure everyone involved in leading or helping to run the event that the risk assessment was for has received a copy and read it so they are aware of the potential risks and (most importantly) any actions they must take.

One risk that must not be overlooked is trip hazards, particularly in schools. Workshop leaders must be aware that if they use the laptop chargers in a classroom and the charger cables run across a floor, they must handle the trip risk. This means asking the teacher to make sure no children leave their seats without permission. This ensures minimum risk of children tripping on the cables. It seems a little OTT, but it is what the majority of schools have decided is the best way to minimise the risk. The workshop leader mjst make sure this happens and cannot necessarily rely on the teacher to remember.

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