Risk Assessment
Columbia Southern University
Safety Engineering
Risk Assessment
Overview
Manufacturing companies have requirements of quarterly assessments and audits. These
assessments and audits help safety professionals determine if hazards are present that weren’t
before. The importance behind doing these on a scheduled basis is because things change over
time. The human that is preforming the task changes. The equipment changes. Also, the integrity
or condition of the equipment changes over time. The safety professional must be able to realize
the useful life of the equipment to know when is poses the greatest risk to the human that uses it.
Before a hazard assessment is conducted, the Safety professional should meet with other
members of management to determine an acceptable risk level. Acceptable risk level should
never be left up to the employee’s opinion. Most likely the employees do not follow the intended
standard operating procedure (SOP) because there has never been an injury with the way they
have preformed the task in the past. The employee then accepts the level of risk they are
currently at and do not try and eliminate or minimize it. Risk level needs to be left to
management to compare costs of possible injury (both direct and indirect) to likelihood of the
injury being sustained and what the company is willing to pay for, let alone accept on their
record.
Different hazards become present throughout the lifespan of equipment and employees. A
hazard assessment is conducted quarterly to ensure the safety of the operators within a
, manufacturing company. This allows safety professionals to identify new present hazards. Once
the hazard assessment is conducted, the safety professional takes those hazards to other members
of management and determines a risk level. Risk level refers to the likelihood of the hazard
affecting the employee. There are different risk assessment methods, this report was conducted
with the quantitative risk assessment.
Quantitative Risk Assessment
Quantitative risk assessment was the most appropriate method for this project. The
quantitative method takes different data variables in consideration before generating a risk level.
The different variables are likelihood of occurrence, frequency of exposure, degree of possible
harm and number of persons at risk. These areas are then assigned a number that when all
multiplied together form the hazard risk number. The hazard risk number is then evaluated to
determine if it is low, medium, high or extremely high. The safety professional then uses this
data to justify implementation of mitigation efforts or the justify why nothing needs to be done
(hence acceptable level of risk). Other methods of risk assessment, such as the 4-way, do not go
this far into detail. This detailed data is very important when needing to convince management of
high dollar changes through the manufacturing plant.
Results of Data
The below information was determined based upon the data in the attached appendix.
Hazard 1
The first hazard identified is a step that over time has been bent. This poses a slip, trip
and fall hazard to the employees. The employees use the stairs about once an hour throughout an
8hr shift. Due to frequency and severity rate of the possible injury and the likelihood of it
happening, the hazard is determined to be at a medium risk. Based upon the risk score ®, this
hazard needs immediate attention. My recommendation would be to hire a contractor to replace
the step unless it can be don ein-house.
Columbia Southern University
Safety Engineering
Risk Assessment
Overview
Manufacturing companies have requirements of quarterly assessments and audits. These
assessments and audits help safety professionals determine if hazards are present that weren’t
before. The importance behind doing these on a scheduled basis is because things change over
time. The human that is preforming the task changes. The equipment changes. Also, the integrity
or condition of the equipment changes over time. The safety professional must be able to realize
the useful life of the equipment to know when is poses the greatest risk to the human that uses it.
Before a hazard assessment is conducted, the Safety professional should meet with other
members of management to determine an acceptable risk level. Acceptable risk level should
never be left up to the employee’s opinion. Most likely the employees do not follow the intended
standard operating procedure (SOP) because there has never been an injury with the way they
have preformed the task in the past. The employee then accepts the level of risk they are
currently at and do not try and eliminate or minimize it. Risk level needs to be left to
management to compare costs of possible injury (both direct and indirect) to likelihood of the
injury being sustained and what the company is willing to pay for, let alone accept on their
record.
Different hazards become present throughout the lifespan of equipment and employees. A
hazard assessment is conducted quarterly to ensure the safety of the operators within a
, manufacturing company. This allows safety professionals to identify new present hazards. Once
the hazard assessment is conducted, the safety professional takes those hazards to other members
of management and determines a risk level. Risk level refers to the likelihood of the hazard
affecting the employee. There are different risk assessment methods, this report was conducted
with the quantitative risk assessment.
Quantitative Risk Assessment
Quantitative risk assessment was the most appropriate method for this project. The
quantitative method takes different data variables in consideration before generating a risk level.
The different variables are likelihood of occurrence, frequency of exposure, degree of possible
harm and number of persons at risk. These areas are then assigned a number that when all
multiplied together form the hazard risk number. The hazard risk number is then evaluated to
determine if it is low, medium, high or extremely high. The safety professional then uses this
data to justify implementation of mitigation efforts or the justify why nothing needs to be done
(hence acceptable level of risk). Other methods of risk assessment, such as the 4-way, do not go
this far into detail. This detailed data is very important when needing to convince management of
high dollar changes through the manufacturing plant.
Results of Data
The below information was determined based upon the data in the attached appendix.
Hazard 1
The first hazard identified is a step that over time has been bent. This poses a slip, trip
and fall hazard to the employees. The employees use the stairs about once an hour throughout an
8hr shift. Due to frequency and severity rate of the possible injury and the likelihood of it
happening, the hazard is determined to be at a medium risk. Based upon the risk score ®, this
hazard needs immediate attention. My recommendation would be to hire a contractor to replace
the step unless it can be don ein-house.
