2.5 Risk Assessments, Method Statements, Permits to Work & Safety Signs

2.5 Risk Assessments, Method Statements, Permits to Work & Safety Signs

Learning outcome 3 of Unit 201 (7 of the 25 test questions) is about establishing a safe working environment. Before any task starts you should understand how the risks were assessed, what the agreed safe method is, whether a permit is needed, and what the safety signs around you mean.

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Hazard and Risk

Unit 201 learning outcome 4 asks you to define a hazard. Keep the two terms separate:

• A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm: a live conductor, a fragile roof, a trailing lead, a solvent, asbestos.
• A risk is the likelihood that the hazard will actually cause harm, combined with how serious that harm would be.

Many companies score risk with a simple matrix:

$\text{Risk rating} = \text{Likelihood} \times \text{Severity}$

A rating of 1 to 4 is usually treated as low, 5 to 12 as medium and 15 to 25 as high. For example, drilling into a wall where live cables may be concealed might score likelihood 3 × severity 5 = 15 (high). Using a cable detector, following the drawings, keeping to the prescribed zones and isolating the circuits nearby reduces the likelihood to 1, giving a residual rating of 5.

Situations that can constitute a hazard

The Unit 201 range lists the workplace situations you must be able to recognise. Each one has typical controls:

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The Five Steps to Risk Assessment

The HSE's approach, used to meet Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, has five steps:

1. Identify the hazards.
2. Decide who might be harmed and how (operatives, other trades, occupants, visitors, the public).
3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.
4. Record your significant findings, which is a legal requirement for employers with five or more employees.
5. Review the assessment and update it if necessary, for example after an accident, a near miss or a change of method.

Removing or reducing risk before relying on PPE

Unit 201 asks what should be done to remove or minimise risks before deciding that PPE is needed. Work down the hierarchy of control (Section 2.3):

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Method Statements

A method statement (often combined with the risk assessment as "RAMS") is the written safe system of work for a task. It typically sets out:

• the scope and location of the work;
• the sequence of operations, step by step;
• the hazards and the controls taken from the risk assessment;
• the isolation arrangements, plant, tools and access equipment;
• the PPE required;
• the competence, training and supervision needed;
• emergency and first-aid arrangements, and who to contact.

Your level of responsibility: read it, ask questions and sign it at the briefing; follow it exactly; and if conditions on site are different (for example the circuit cannot be isolated, or you find suspect asbestos), stop and tell your supervisor. Never improvise a different method.

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Permits to Work

A permit to work is a formal, written system for controlling high-risk work such as work on or near high-voltage equipment, work in confined spaces, hot work and some live work. A permit:

• describes exactly what work is authorised, where, and on which equipment;
• lists the hazards and the precautions that must be in place first, such as isolations, locks, gas testing or a fire watch;
• is issued by an authorised (responsible) person and accepted, by signature, by the competent person doing the work;
• is valid only for a stated period and must be handed back and cancelled when the work is complete or stopped.

Work must never stray outside what the permit allows.

Safety Signs

The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 require employers to provide safety signs where a risk cannot be adequately controlled by other means. The signs use standard shapes and colours:

Signs work alongside guarding: barriers around excavations and floor openings, covers over holes, and hoardings that keep the public away from the work.

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Selecting and Checking Tools and Portable Equipment

The Unit 201 range also lists selecting and checking the correct power tools, hand tools and portable electrical equipment. Before use, check that the tool is the right one for the job and in good condition, that portable equipment has been inspected (and carries any in-date label your company uses), that site tools run from 110 V or batteries, and that guards and attachments are fitted correctly. Sections 2.3 and 10.5 cover these checks in detail.