A Workplace Risk Assessment is a document that outlines what risks there are at your specific place of business, what problems those risks can create, what the probability is that something bad will happen, what you plan to do to mitigate the risk, and a follow-up section on how your plan is working or could be improved based on an accident or incident reports.
There are plenty of free guidelines and even templates available online for creating a Workplace Risk Assessment. It’s not difficult to create, but it’s also not something you can readily copy from someone else because, for example, the risk assessment for a school will be totally different than a risk assessment for a manufacturing plant or a restaurant.
Parts to include:
- Risks. Figure out what physical risks apply to your business. Some of these are common to many businesses like A) someone could fall down or B) someone could get very sick or injured or C) the premises could catch fire. Others may be specific to your business like A) someone could get a caustic chemical on them (manufacturing) or B) food can spoil and make people sick (restaurant) or C) people can fall over clutter (storage facility). You can look up what risks apply to your business, and you can also have a staff meeting to get ideas.
- Problems created by risk. What are all the potential problems these risks can create? Note as many as you can think of.
- Your plan of action. What are you as a company going to do to try to cut down on your risks. For example, maybe you need some good commercial mats for the entrances and exits to increase floor traction. Or maybe you need anti-fatigue mats for employees on their feet all day to cut down on knee and back injuries. Maybe one or more persons should be trained in first aid. Maybe you need to make available personal protective equipment.
- Incident reports. Create an incident report to be filled out whenever there’s a big problem or accident or incident. Again, there are lots of free samples online. Keep these filed away, because you’ll need them to do the next part.
- Regular evaluation. So, how’s your plan working for you? Based on previous incident reports, is your plan working? Do you need to tweak or improve it? Maybe something happened that you never expected or planned for.
A Workplace Risk Assessment may sound like a lot of work, but it’s really not. It’s a way to keep your employees and customers safe and to evaluate on an ongoing basis if you’re doing a good job of it. Take the time to prepare a risk assessment for your business whether the business is large or small. Accidents in the workplace cost businesses a billion dollars a year in the US.
Do you have other questions? It’s easy to contact us, and we’re happy to help you. You can always call us at (877) 333-1018 or email us at sales@eaglemat.com for more information or if you aren’t sure what you need.
