Module 3:

Controlling risks
Key learning points
1. How do you reduce risk?
2. How do you decide which risk control to use?

Notes:

How do we reduce risk?

Now that you’ve learned how to assess risks in the work environment, what’s next? It’s
one thing to know that a risk exists, but you need to know what to do about it.

Risk is an ever-present part of our daily lives, at work and at

home. Risk is affected by several factors. For example, the
risk of falling off a ladder will be affected by its stability, the
distance you fall, your ability to use the ladder and your
method of working.

Remember learning to drive again – a novice driver on the road is a risk to themselves and
other road users, but having a qualified and experienced driving instructor and dual
controls in the vehicle helps to control or mitigate this risk.

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Risk control involves introducing changes in the way we work in order to minimise risk.

Whatever you plan to do, you’ll need to estimate its impact on the likelihood
and consequence of the risk.

Remember: risk = likelihood x consequence

Therefore, if you want to reduce risk, you need to look at:

a. reducing the likelihood of the hazardous event happening

b. reducing the consequence of the hazardous event

c. reducing both factors.

Let’s consider how implementing risk controls will impact on each of these factors.

To show this, we’ll use the five-point scales for likelihood and consequence that
we introduced in Module 2.

Let’s assume you manage a woodworking shop employing several cabinet makers. You’ve
carried out a risk assessment and estimated and evaluated the risks on site, so you know
that you need to reduce a number of risks.

a. Reducing the likelihood of the hazardous event

Suppose the likelihood of someone getting caught in the table

saw is 4 and the consequence of this is 5, so that the risk rating is
20. Action is needed!

Providing a guard will reduce the likelihood of getting caught in

the table saw. If we assume that the guard is used most but not
all of the time, the likelihood is reduced to 1, which in turn makes
the risk rating 5.

Did you know?

An injury to a worker using an unguarded drill cost a small

engineering company £45,000 – and that wasn’t all. The managing
director was prosecuted and two employees had to be made
redundant to keep the company afloat (www.hse.gov.uk).

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b. Reducing the consequences of the hazardous event

Suppose the likelihood of the paint sprayer being

exposed to a harmful substance contained in the
paint is 3 and the consequence of this is 4, giving
a risk rating of 12. If the paint can be replaced with
one containing less harmful substances, then the
likelihood of exposure remains at 3 but the
consequence of exposure can be reduced to 2,
giving a risk rating of 6.

c. Reducing both likelihood and consequence

If in the above example, we use the less harmful paint,

which reduces the consequence to 2, but we also replace
the paint sprayer with a robot and we enclose the
process, we can also reduce the likelihood of the worker
being exposed to the harmful substance. The worker
controls the spraying operation from outside the enclosure
and only enters the enclosure to position and remove
items for spraying. The likelihood could be reduced to 2,
giving a risk rating of 4.

Notes:

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The level of risk that’s left after we’ve introduced our control measures is often referred to
as residual risk.

For example, before you go on holiday, you’ll make sure that your house is as secure
as possible. You’ll put the alarm system on, make sure that all the windows are closed
and the doors are locked and you might even arrange for your neighbours to keep an
eye on things. There is, though, still a possibility that these ‘controls’ could fail, and you
end up being burgled.

Notes:

How do we decide which risk control to use?

We’ve shown in the previous examples how we can reduce the likelihood and/or
consequence by using the guard, the face shield and the robot. These options all reduce
the risk and are referred to collectively as risk controls.

To help decide on a risk control, there’s an order or hierarchy of risk control that we can
use. Basically, risk control options at the top of the hierarchy are the preferred option
because they’re much less reliant on people to do something. They can also protect
larger numbers of people.

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We can categorise risk control options as follows:

1. Eliminating the hazard

The most effective method of risk control is to

completely eliminate the hazard.

One way to do this is to replace something hazardous

with something that removes the hazard completely. So,
instead of unloading a lorry-load of heavy gravel bags by
hand, you’d use a crane to lift the bags off instead – this
eliminates the need for manual handling.

Hazards can also be eliminated by avoiding some

activities. A business may decide that since road
travel is riskier than rail travel, it’ll encourage its staff
to travel by train for business trips where possible.

2. Reducing the hazard

The next preferred option is to reduce the hazard. So, instead

of trying to carry a box of photocopier paper, which holds five
reams, carry one or two reams at a time.

A business may also decide to continue with business travel by

car, but specify that a rental vehicle meeting high safety
standards is used, and that all staff who drive on company
business must complete an approved defensive driving course.

Elimination or reduction are the best methods of risk control.

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3. Preventing people coming into contact with the hazard

These control measures rely on preventing people from coming into contact with
the hazard by:

a. putting distance between people and the hazard.

If, for example, hazardous chemicals are held on

site, store them in a remote location. Separation can
often keep most people away from hazards most of
the time, but there are occasions when people will
deliberately or inadvertently be close to the hazard.

If people need to get chemicals from the store,

they’ll be deliberately close to the hazard, while contractors, visitors and trespassers, who
don’t know it’s there, will be inadvertently close.

Other examples include keeping people away from noisy machinery, and
automated processing.

b. enclosing the hazard.

For example, place guarding around the

dangerous parts of machinery to prevent
operators coming into contact with them. Barriers
occasionally need to be removed for good
reasons, such as cleaning or maintenance.

However, this also means that they can be

removed without good reason. You can make
sure that a machine can’t be operated without the guard being in place by connecting
the machine guard to the equipment’s power supply.

Other examples include putting an enclosure around a noisy machine, or carrying out all
painting in a painting bay.

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4. Safe systems of work

Safe systems of work include safe work procedures, permits to

work and safety rules. These all detail how activities should be
carried out to minimise risk.

If people understand how important it is to work in a particular

way, it’s more likely that they’ll follow procedures, permits
and rules effectively and consistently.

• When followed, safe systems of work can effectively

minimise risk. A good example of this is specifying that a job
in a noisy environment is done on rotation by two or three
people, so that each individual’s exposure to noise is limited.
But for this to work, it’s essential that people keep to their
allocated time limit and rotate to other jobs.

5. Personal protective equipment

Using personal protective clothing and equipment – such as

goggles, respiratory protection, gloves and hard hats – can prevent
harm to people if they come into contact with the hazard. Personal
protective equipment should not, however, be considered as a first-
choice control measure, except in exceptional circumstances (eg
an emergency). Its success always relies on people to use it!

Notes:

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 Remember – all of these methods have weaknesses but some
are less prone to failure than others. Usually, risk controls that rely
on people to do something or behave in a certain manner are
weaker than those that don’t. For example, even though you’ve
given your employees PPE and they’ve been trained how to use it,
you’re relying on them to wear it and wear it correctly.

We need to be aware that we, as humans, have several options for the way we behave,
and that we tend to opt for behaviour that gives us the most satisfaction. For example, if
we can get the job done more quickly without using safety equipment we might be tempted
to do that, especially if that’s become the norm for us.

Notes:

Putting the hierarchy into practice

To explain the hierarchy, let’s assume that you’re employed as a manager for
a waterworks company.

You’ve received a report that a water pipe has burst under a busy dual carriageway and
it’s your team’s responsibility to repair it. You’ve calculated that it’s going to take your
team about two days to complete the work.

As team manager, you’re responsible for deciding on and implementing control

measures to protect the workforce from the traffic. It’s important that you start at the top
of the hierarchy and work your way down.

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1. Eliminate the hazard

The most effective method of risk control is to eliminate the

hazard.

It’s possible to do this by closing the road and diverting

traffic while the work takes place. But is this practical for a
two-day job?

2. Reduce the hazard

If it’s not possible to close the road, you’ll need to think

about how you can reduce the hazard.

You may consider it safer to work at night when the traffic

flow is lighter.

3. Prevent people coming into contact with the hazard

What if it’s not practical to close the road or work at night?

Then you’d need to consider another course of action.

Because this job will only take two days, you decide to
minimise any risks by closing one lane of traffic. You’ll also
introduce a speed limit and set up a physical barrier to
protect your workforce from the traffic.

4. Introduce a safe system of work

As well as closing one lane of traffic, you’ll also have a safe

system of work in place, which sets out how the work will
be carried out on site and how the workforce will behave.

5. Provide personal protective equipment

To protect people individually, you must provide them with

reflective jackets, hard hats, gloves and ear defenders
where necessary.
OK, so you now have some options for risk control and a
hierarchy of risk control, but which one is going to be the ‘best’
one for your circumstances?

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No doubt you’ll have various demands to balance, such as:

• how many people need to be protected? If there’s a noisy machine on site, it may
be better to put it in a soundproof enclosure than to buy hearing protection and
expect everyone to wear it

• how reliant is the effectiveness of the risk control on human behaviour?

• how often will the risk control need to be tested, maintained and replaced?

• how much does the risk control cost?

• how much is it going to reduce the risk by? Will using the selected control
introduce other risks?

Usually, the final decision is a compromise between all of these points.

Notes:

Did you know?

About 3,500 people are killed every year and 40,000 seriously injured on
Britain’s roads. There are 250,000 incidents and 300,000 casualties
altogether. The direct costs of accidents that cause injury are estimated
at about £3 billion a year. (Eves & Gummer, 2005).

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Now, you may be wondering when you’ve done enough in terms of reducing risk.
Generally, what you need to do is reduce risks ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’.

This means that if the cost – in terms of time,

effort, money or inconvenience – associated
with the risk control outweighs the benefits of the
risk reduction, then it’s not reasonably
practicable to use that risk control.

Let’s go back to the roadworks example.

As we’ve already discussed, closing the road would be the first option. This is the safest
measure because it eliminates the risk, but it isn’t reasonably practicable, because:

• it’s very expensive

• approval is needed – this could be a lengthy process
• it’s inconvenient to road users and may increase risk elsewhere by causing congestion
on other routes.

It may also be appropriate to consider other courses of action – for example, working at
nights or weekends when traffic volumes are lower. However, because this is only a
two-day job, this option isn’t reasonably practicable either, because:

• there are still cost implications

• you’d need to install extra local lighting
• neighbouring residents may find the noise and the light inconvenient at night.

Because you can’t eliminate or reduce the risk, your third option is to provide cones,
introduce a speed limit and narrow the traffic lanes to create space between the
workers and traffic. This is the most reasonably practicable option, as it minimises the
risk to an acceptable level and:

• it’s less expensive

• it’s a simple measure.

After balancing the cost in terms of time, effort, money or inconvenience the third option
would be ‘reasonably practicable’ in these circumstances. In summary, you should use this
type of analysis for all possible actions.

However, there are circumstances, particularly where risk of injury is high,

where implementing controls is mandatory.

Most organisations do not know what accidents and ill-health really

cost them in time and money. They are often surprised to find out what
the actual costs are: accidents in construction can account for 3–6 per
cent of total project costs (www.hse.gov.uk).

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Getting it right

Where there are hazards with high likelihood and high

consequence, we expect that risks will be managed and
monitored proactively – for example, when a dangerous
machine is consistently in use, and regularly accessed for
maintenance and cleaning.

High consequence but low likelihood issues are best

suited to contingency and emergency planning. An example
of this issue is the potential for electrical failure in
organisations relying on power for safety reasons, but with
well-engineered and maintained electrical systems.

Low consequence issues with high likelihood are usually

the kinds of issues which are generally well understood.
Therefore we should be dealing with these already – for
example, slips, trips and falls can often be managed through
good housekeeping practices.

Finally – low consequence and low likelihood issues.

We’re probably going to monitor these issues for change,
but more often than not, we’re going to live with them.

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Notes:

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Summary

1. If you want to reduce risk you need to look at …

2. To decide which risk control to use, there’s a hierarchy which is…

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