Hazard Inspection is the process of systematically assessing, categorising, and developing controls for hazards in workplaces that may arise as a consequence of the work being done, from the intersection of work tasks with workers, from the environment or construction of the workplace, or some other factor. A hazard is anything that has the potential to cause harm to workers, property, the environment, or people. While this definition is broad, it does not mean that a workplace is inherently unsafe if there are hazards present - hazards are present in peoples' homes, where they can cut themselves with knives, scald themselves with water, or trip over pets and small children. In a workplace context, hazard assessment is the backbone of managing risk, where it identifies those basic factors that may be more or less likely to cause more or less significant harm, and so which may be used to inform risk control.
Hazard assessment requires comprehensive inspection of the workplace and the people in it. With that in mind, regular discussion with workers is an essential element of hazard identification, where meetings such as tool box talks, production meetings, team meetings and face-to-face discussions can be good opportunities to discuss health and safety. This also addresses a Person Conducting Business Undertaking's obligation to consult with workers in the management of their own health and safety. Inspection of the workplace may be undertaken according to process, place, or person-based frameworks, each of which have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Process-based hazard inspections examine hazards that arise from industrial processes or production chains. This kind of analysis uses the movement of a substrate which may be chemical, as in the case of styrene that might be used when preparing degreasing solutions, wood that might be sawn, finished, treated with formaldehyde, and then stacked, or even a food product like beer whose ingredients must be prepared, mixed, and then fermented. In all of these stages, the movement of a substrate or the combination of raw ingredients creates points of articulation where hazards may expose people, plant, or the environment to harm. For example, the accumulation of styrene in enclosed spaces may make workers feel dizzy and contribute to fire risk. The buildup of wood dust can irritate skin and lungs, as well as increase fire risk as well. Beer brewing involves management of pressure, temperature, and substrate composition, all of which can create an explosion risk. While this may be comprehensive, it may not fully capture the intensity of risk to which workers are exposed as a consequence of their variable job duties, their vulnerabilities owing to unique characteristics and diversity, for jobs that are repetitious like those in restaurants or cafes or from risks that do not have linear relationships from process engagement to the worker.
People-based hazard inspections involve examining the workforce and the jobs they perform, and then stratifying those work groups against different categories of hazards. For example, in a furniture maker's business, there may be workers working with wood, fabric, metal, finishings like varnish and paint, as well as warehousemen and office staff. Each of these work groups is exposed to different concentrations of hazard - for example, carpenters finishing wood would be exposed to more dust than painters, who would be exposed to more paint fume than warehouse workers, who would be exposed to more physical strain than office workers, and so on. Examining the physical (vibration, noise, strain), chemical (fume, vapour, smoke), biological (pathogens, bacteria, diseases), energetic (light, radiation) and psychosocial (stress, overload) hazards to which workers are exposed and in what concentration can be used to build a topography of overall risk that can inform controls. However, while this may be comprehensive, it examines risk as a consequence of exposure to specific job tasks, and may not consider environmental factors comprehensively. Additionally, it runs the risk of mischaracterising risk as a consequence of worker vulnerability rather than an emission pathway.
Environmental hazard analyses are useful when work is done in open or uncontrolled environments, or when a broader examination of hazard is needed. This is useful when considering construction sites, parks, and outdoor workplaces where hazard emissions such as dust, noise, spillage or other byproducts may dissipate into the environment if not controlled. Anyone who's had dust settle on their airconditioner from works in a neighbour's house knows what this is like. Environmental risk analyses are useful in their consideration of the transmission of hazards to workers and the general public through vectors such as directly, through water, air, and animal transmission. However, given the number of stages through which a hazard may be transferred and transformed, it may only be possible to develop a sketch of a recipient individual or population's risk which would need to be further developed by experimental methodology.
Each workplace is different, with different demands, methods of business, and is staffed by people whose capacities, needs, and risk profiles are different. Managing ergonomic, environmental, and occupational health and safety challenges requires a business to examine and engage with the ecosystem of factors that give rise to risk, and how that risk may affect people. Each workplace is different and so sometimes the same problem will require different solutions. This applies to workers as well - every person is different and so may require different support, supervision, or resources to perform comfortably and sustainably. Under Work Health and Safety law, consultation with the workforce, the control of risk as far as is reasonably practicable, and the provision of information, training, instruction and support to the worker by the workplace, is essential to meet obligations to provide workers with a workplace that is as free of risk as far is reasonably practicable.
In our capacity as consultants, Atlas Physio will explore and scope the business and its needs, examining how exposures, risks, and processes contribute to the hazard ecosystem, best inform the design and arrangement of procedural, policy-based, and practical risk controls. Our solutions are tailored to the needs of those with whom we work, implemented in a simple, sustainable, and supportive fashion, designed to be robust and resilient, and to support the ongoing life of the business as well as the sustainable wellbeing of the workers who undertake the day to day activities of work.
At Atlas Physio, we provide reporting, structured control, and ongoing management of risk onsite, on the road, and wherever work is done. We are open seven days a week, and are happy to offer a brief complimentary discussion to explore the needs of your business and your workers if you are an employer, and your needs if you are a worker. Reach out today to arrange a discussion and take the first step toward managing risk and working safely, supported by expertise that is practical, reliable, and designed to deliver lasting results.