Risk management is the practice of controlling risks to people, plant, and places in which work is done. As described by the Model Work Health and Safety Act, the primary duty of care of a person conducting a business or undertaking is to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers engaged, or caused to be engaged by the person; and workers whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the person, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking. Subsection 3 contains seven clauses supporting this, the first five of which instruct the person conducting the business undertaking to provide a safe work environment, safe plant and structures, safe systems of work, safe usage, handling, and storage, and adequate work facilities. The practice of providing these assets in a manner specifically designed to ensure the health and safety of workers is informed by risk management.
Risk management is therefore the result of a systematic, methodological, and informed process of controlling risks in the workplace. Risk management begins with the consideration of the risks to which workers are exposed throughout the day, which itself begins with the identification of hazards within the workplace that arise as a consequence of work done and the methods in which that work is organised. 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. Hazard assessment requires comprehensive inspection of the workplace and the people in it through process-based, people-based, and environmentally-driven hazard analysis processes to determine 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.
Risk appraisal is the determination of risk, which is the likelihood that a hazard which can cause harm will in fact cause harm, and the significance of the harm that may arise. In informal and simple settings, this is undertaken by considering a hazard, and then comparing the likelihood that harm may arise from that hazard against the severity of that harm occurring. A hazard that is highly likely to occur but whose potential harm is not significant will be prioritised differently when compared with a hazard that is as likely to occur but which may cause more harm. Not all harm is the same, and the stratification of potential damage against likelihood through informal and more formal assessment matrices can be used to inform the application and review of controls.
Control Application and Review is the practical stage of risk management, where after having identified hazards and considered their likelihood and their potential to cause harm, appropriate controls are considered. Controls are changes to work processes, plant, the work environment, the worker's arrangement of tasks, or the workers themselves, in order to mitigate the risks to which workers and their peers, environment, and community are exposed. Controls are applied in line with the hierarchy of controls, which ranks the effectiveness of controls in eliminating risk to workers. Elimination - removal of the hazard and effective elimination of the risk, is the highest control. Where elimination is not possible, the isolation of the worker, substitution of risk, administrative controls or protective equipment may be used to provide protection. The arrangement of controls in a workplace should be undertaken with consultation with the workforce, being mindful of work adjustments, and the management of change within the context of workplace operations.
EEach 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.