All businesses are required by law to manage their workplace risks to ensure as safe a working environment as possible. Workplace risk management is critical to ensure the longevity of your business.
There are no completely safe workplaces. Accidents will happen, but effective risk management programs allow businesses to identify the hazards that exist in the workplace; assess how dangerous those hazards are; and identify the most effective ways of mitigating those risks.
We’ve put together a handy checklist of how best to approach effective workplace risk management:
Identifying workplace risks: through workplace inspections, employee feedback and close scrutiny of incident reports, identifying the key risks in your working environment can be a relatively straightforward task. Remember to consider risks brought about by equipment and chemicals in the workplace; the demands on employees’ physical and emotional well-being of completing their assigned duties; and any impact to, or caused by, activities carried out by contractors or customers.
Assessing the risks: The next stage is to determine how likely the identified workplace risks are to occur, and how serious their potential impact on individuals is. Consider how often and for how long individuals are exposed to the hazard; the capabilities and experience of employees; and the physical working environment itself to establish which risks pose the most serious threat. These are the ones you should look to mitigate against as a priority.
Risk mitigation: Once identified, steps should be taken to eliminate risks where possible, or minimize them where not. Risks which cannot be eliminated can be minimized through a combination of actions including: isolating or segregating the risk to reduce its impact on employees; substituting the risk with less hazardous materials or equipment; provision of improved safety equipment to employees; and staff training to improve their awareness.
Regular reviews: Once risk mitigation measures have been put in place, you must ensure they are reviewed on a regular basis to assess their effectiveness. If they have not had the desired effect, reassess and look to mitigate them in a different way.
At Emjay Risk Solutions, our workers compensation consultants can help you interpret your risks and trends, and engage experts to deliver thorough on-site assessments.
You can read more about Emjay Risk Strategies’ full range of workers compensation services and solutions here. If we can be of assistance to you, please contact us on 02 9796 0400.