Defining Hazards & Risks

HSE's guidance on managing risk tells employers to look around the workplace and think about what may cause harm. What does HSE call these things?

• AFaults
• BHazards✓
• CRisks
• DLosses

Answer: HSE calls the things in a workplace that may cause harm hazards, and asks employers to identify what could cause injury or illness. Risk is a different idea, being how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously. Losses and faults are not terms HSE uses for the sources of harm in its risk-management guidance.

In HSE's guidance on managing risks and risk assessment, what is meant by 'the risk'?

• AAnything in the workplace with the potential to cause injury or illness
• BThe number of accidents recorded in the past year
• CHow likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously✓
• DThe written list of precautions the employer has already put into place

Answer: HSE defines the risk as how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously. Things with the potential to cause injury or illness are hazards, not risks, and the precautions an employer already has are controls. Past accident numbers can help identify hazards but are not what HSE means by risk.

A cleaner has left a bucket of water at the top of a busy staircase in a school. Which statement uses HSE's terms correctly?

• AThe bucket is the hazard and the chance of a fall is the risk✓
• BThe staircase is the risk and the water in the bucket is the hazard
• CThe bucket is the risk and the fall is the hazard
• DThe cleaner is the hazard and the bucket is the risk

Answer: A hazard is something that may cause harm, while risk is how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously. The bucket on the stairs is the thing that could cause harm, and the likelihood and seriousness of someone falling over it is the risk. The other statements swap the two terms or label a person as the hazard.

HSE describes managing risk as a step-by-step process with five steps. Which list gives them in the order HSE uses?

• ARecord your findings, identify the hazards, assess the risks, review the controls, control the risks
• BAssess the risks, identify the hazards, record your findings, control the risks, review the controls
• CIdentify hazards, assess the risks, control the risks, record your findings, review the controls✓
• DIdentify the hazards, control the risks, assess the risks, review the controls, record your findings

Answer: HSE's five steps for managing risk are to identify hazards, assess the risks, control the risks, record your findings and review the controls, in that order. Hazards have to be found before their risks can be assessed, and controls are decided after the assessment and then recorded and reviewed. The other lists put assessing, recording or controlling before the step it depends on.

HSE says some workers have particular requirements that must be considered when risks are assessed. Which group does HSE give as an example?

• AStaff who are based in an office
• BWorkers with ten years' service
• CNew or expectant mothers✓
• DEmployees on permanent contracts

Answer: HSE names young workers, migrant workers, new or expectant mothers and people with disabilities as examples of workers with particular requirements. These groups need extra thought when deciding who might be harmed and how. Permanent contracts, office work or length of service are not the examples HSE gives.

HSE says employers are not expected to eliminate every risk. What does HSE say they must do instead when deciding on controls?

• AWeighing the risk against the money, time or trouble of controlling it✓
• BEliminating every risk in the workplace, whatever it costs the business
• CDoing whatever a majority of the workforce, when consulted, agrees is enough
• DSpending no more on controls than the insurer, in writing, requires

Answer: Reasonably practicable means balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control the real risk in terms of money, time or trouble. HSE says employers are not expected to eliminate all risks but must do everything reasonably practicable to protect people from harm. What an insurer asks for or what a majority of workers will accept is not the test HSE describes.

When deciding how to control a hazard, HSE says to start by asking which question?

• AHow much would controls cost?
• BHas anyone been hurt by it before?
• CWhich PPE will protect people from it?
• DCan I get rid of the hazard altogether?✓

Answer: HSE's first question when controlling risks is whether the hazard can be got rid of altogether, and only if it cannot does the question become how to control the risk so that harm is unlikely. The overview of managing risk puts it the same way, telling employers to eliminate the hazard or, if that is not possible, control the risk. PPE, cost and accident history come into play later and do not replace the question of elimination.

A workshop supervisor wants to deal with fume from a process by handing out masks and nothing else. Where does providing PPE sit in HSE's list of further controls to consider?

• AAnywhere, because HSE presents the further controls in no particular order
• BSecond, straight after the question of whether the hazard can be got rid of
• CFirst, because it protects the individual worker most directly
• DLast of the five, after job redesign, replacement and reducing exposure✓

Answer: HSE lists the further controls to consider as redesigning the job, replacing the materials, machinery or process, organising work to reduce exposure, identifying practical measures to work safely, and finally providing personal protective equipment and making sure workers wear it. Providing masks alone jumps straight to the last item without asking whether the fume can be removed or the exposure reduced. PPE is not the first or second consideration and the list is not unordered.

Your employer keeps a written risk assessment for the cafe. What does HSE say the main priority must be?

• AControlling the risks in practice, not relying on the paperwork✓
• BReprinting the assessment at the start of each year
• CFiling the assessment where an inspector can find it
• DHaving every member of staff sign the assessment

Answer: HSE says not to rely purely on paperwork, because the main priority is to control the risks in practice. A written assessment records the significant findings so that everyone knows the hazards and the controls, but the controls only protect people if they are actually in place and used. Filing it for an inspector, collecting signatures or reprinting it each year does nothing to reduce the risk on the day.

HSE says employers must review the controls they have put in place. Which change does HSE give as a reason to review a risk assessment?

• AA change to the equipment used✓
• BA change to the company's trading name
• CA change in the price of raw materials
• DA change to the company's bank account

Answer: Controls must be reviewed to make sure they are working and whenever changes in the workplace could lead to new risks, such as changes to staff, a process or the substances or equipment used. HSE also suggests a review if workers have spotted problems or there have been accidents or near misses, and any changes should be added to the risk assessment record. A new bank account, price changes or a new trading name do not by themselves create new risks.

The task you have been given relies on a precaution listed in the risk assessment, but the precaution is not in place and you think you are in danger. What does HSE guidance say you can do?

• ACarry on and raise it at the next team meeting
• BCarry on, but take extra care while you do the job
• CStop working, leave the area and tell someone✓
• DImprovise a substitute precaution and carry on

Answer: INDG450 gives workers the right to stop working and leave the area if they think they are in danger. The HSE law leaflet also says to tell your employer, supervisor or safety representative if inadequate precautions are putting anyone's health and safety at serious risk. Carrying on carefully, waiting for a meeting or improvising your own precaution all mean working without the control the assessment relies on.

HSE groups together the most common causes of serious injury at work. Which of these does HSE name among them?

• ALong commutes
• BWorking at height✓
• CSlow computers
• DUnpaid overtime

Answer: HSE's list of common workplace risks includes slips and trips, working at height, manual handling, electrical safety, workplace transport, noise, vibration and harmful substances among others. It also notes that some health conditions, such as lung disease, stress and back pain, can be caused or made worse by work. Commuting, overtime and slow computers are not on HSE's list of common causes of serious injury.

When identifying hazards, HSE tells employers to look beyond everyday work. Which of these does HSE specifically say to take account of?

• AMaintenance, cleaning and other non-routine operations✓
• BOnly the hazards an inspector has pointed out on a previous visit
• CThe tasks written into each person's job description and nothing else
• DWhatever the insurance company, in its last letter, asked to see

Answer: HSE says to take account of non-routine operations, such as maintenance, cleaning or changes in production cycles, when identifying hazards. It also advises looking back at accident and ill-health records, thinking about how plant, equipment and chemicals are used, and considering the general state of the premises. Limiting the search to job descriptions, an insurer's requests or an inspector's past comments would miss hazards HSE expects employers to find.

Your supervisor asks everyone on the packing line for their views before finishing the risk assessment for a new machine. Why does HSE recommend involving workers like this?

• AWorkers usually have good ideas and know their own jobs well✓
• BIt replaces the employer's duty to review the controls
• CIt means the findings no longer have to be written down
• DIt transfers legal responsibility for the assessment to the workers

Answer: HSE tells employers to involve their employees when identifying hazards because they will usually have good ideas. INDG232 adds that employees can help identify hazards, assess risks and develop ways to control or remove them, and that decisions are better when based on the experience of people who know their own job. Involving workers does not move the legal duty, remove the need to record findings, or replace reviewing the controls.