Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Figure 5.4
Training to support risk assessment

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Principles of risk assessment
87
➤
Safety 
representatives
➤
Designers
➤
Process 
engineers.
Once the team has been assembled a list of all activities 
within the chosen area, or list of areas, would need to be 
compiled as part of the initial inventory preparation. (This 
key issue is discussed in Chapter 14.)
It will normally always be necessary to support the 
assessor and/or assessment team with appropriate 
training to fulfi l their role. The exact nature and duration 
of such training will be dependent upon their role, 
existing levels of knowledge and the work activities being 
assessed.
Any training designed to support a risk assessment 
process is likely to include:
➤
Organisational policy on risk assessment
➤
Legal requirements for risk assessment and the 
interpretation of legal standards
➤
How to identify hazards using sources of information 
(HM Government guides, HSC ACoPs, safety event 
reports and inspection reports)
➤
Evaluating risks using qualitative and quantitative 
mechanisms
➤
The 
identifi cation and selection of appropriate con-
trol measures (taking into account those that are 
reasonably practicable)
➤
Recording the assessment (forms, reports and 
recording skills)
➤
Communication and dissemination of the outcomes 
of the assessment.
While the above list is not exhaustive and any training 
programme will not make a person or persons ‘compe-
tent’, a basic programme will provide underpinning know-
ledge from which an assessor can become competent.
5.5
The risk assessment process
Because of the fundamental role risk assessments play 
as a starting point for developing safety management 
systems, they must be conducted systematically. A sys-
tematic approach will help satisfy the law and ensure 
that nothing which could present a risk is inadvertently 
omitted. What appears to many to be the daunting task 
of conducting all the necessary risk assessments for any 
given work undertaking can be relatively easily achieved 
by a straightforward progression through a number of 
logical steps.
There are a number of different methodologies that 
are currently used throughout industry and commerce 
to achieve a systematic approach to risk assessment. In 
its guidance
 Five Steps to Risk Assessment
the HSE has 
suggested the following stepped approach to assessing 
risks to health and safety in the workplace:
1. Identify the hazards
2. Decide who might be harmed and how
3. Evaluate the risks (in terms of likelihood and sever-
ity) and decide whether the existing precautions are 
adequate or whether more should be done
4. Record the signifi cant fi ndings
5. Review the assessment and revise if necessary.