Unit 3: The Risk Assessment Process in Practice

4. 3.4 Risk assessment stage 4: personal assessment of risk

This is an informal assessment of day-to-day risks carried out as you are going about your work and life in general. It is a technique used to ensure that we perform even the most mundane of tasks without getting hurt. It is used to maintain awareness of our environment at all times and aid in the identification and control of immediate hazards as we go about our work. Use of personal assessment of risk should be developed and encouraged.

This is about taking a few minutes to step back, look at the job to be done, consider what could go wrong and how it may occur, and what steps you can personally take to avoid any incident occurring. As the work is proceeding, you should also monitor the worksite for any change in conditions that might alter the hazards and controls in place. If there is any concern, stop the work, re-assess the controls and, if necessary, re-plan and re-assess the task. This approach may also be called a ‘dynamic risk assessment’. If the person does not believe that the dynamic risk assessment is sufficient move back to stage 2. Every task carried out on board the vessel should be subject to risk assessment. This does not mean that a risk assessment needs to be written every time a simple task is carried out, but the existing risk assessment must be referred to as part of a toolbox talk (stage 3) before the task can commence to ensure that the hazards and controls are fully understood, still relevant and appropriate. Once the task commences, it is important to monitor the work site for any changes in conditions that might alter the hazards and controls in place. If there is any concern, stop work authority should be used. In all cases, on completion of the task, it is important to record or feedback any lessons learned and make improvements for next time including, where appropriate, reviewing and updating existing risk assessments. Everyone should be encouraged to contribute. It is recommended that a proactive hazard-reporting system with empowerment and expectation for immediate corrective action is also in place and that information on hazards and risks is shared as widely as possible.