Getting to Grips: page 4

What role can employees and their representatives play in carrying out assessments?

Your employees can help you carry out the assessment - they often know what problems there are and how best to solve them. If their work is varied or not closely supervised, make sure they are aware what risks to look for when manual handling, and what to do about them. But the final responsibility for assessments rests with employers.

You have duties under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 to consult and keep safety representatives and employees up to date. Consultation with them will offer the best solutions as they are best placed to know how the job works and what can be done to improve it. It is especially useful to get your employees’ input when buying new equipment.

Do assessments need to be recorded?

It is often useful to record and keep the main findings, and this should always be done if it would be difficult to repeat the assessment. However, an assessment need not be recorded if:

• it could very easily be repeated and explained at any time because it is simple and obvious; or
• the handling operations are low risk, and are going to last a very short time.

Do I have to do assessments for each individual employee and workplace?

It is sometimes acceptable to do a ‘generic’ assessment - one that is common to several employees or to more than one site or type of work. However:

• this should only be done if there are no individual or local factors which need to be taken into account, for example differences in stature, competence etc;
• you should review any generic risk assessment if individual employees report adverse symptoms, become ill, injured or disabled, or return following a long period of sickness, as they may have become vulnerable to risk.

Remember, you may need to carry out individual risk assessments for employees with a disability and to comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (in particular section 6).

The important thing in all assessments is to identify all significant risks of injury and point the way to practical improvements.

How should I use my assessment?

Don’t just forget it or file it away. The purpose of the assessment is to pinpoint the worst features of the work - and they’re the ones you should try to improve first (see Table 1). It is also important to remember to update the assessment when significant changes are made to the workplace.

All employees covered by a risk assessment - including generic assessments - should be told about the risks it identifies.

Page 5 >>