The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (MHSWR) is based on the concept of Risk Assessment.
A Risk Assessment is a quantifiable process to identify risk and hazards in a given task or undertaking, and then putting control measures in place to reduce/eliminate the incidence of accidents and ill health.
Occasionally there will be occasions when a specific assessment may be required for example, an employee showing signs of stress, a practicable approach would be to conduct an assessment of the cause and the exact state of the employee’s health.
Monitoring, support and action should be taken to ensure the employer does not breach his duty of care. Although a medical assessment may not always be required by the employer, when the employer is aware of the problem, it would be advisable to take the more positive step to actively monitor the situation and not rely on the employee informing you of their condition.
Specific areas may include:
- Bullying
- Drugs and alcohol
- Smoking
It is unrealistic to carry out a Risk Assessment for every mundane day-to-day task. Employers will not be brought to task if the carrying out of a Risk Assessment would not have prevented the accident/ incident.
There is however a number of regulations that stipulate a Risk Assessment should be carried out. For example; Control of Asbestos at Work, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH), Young Persons, Expectant Mothers, Manual Handling and Display Screen Equipment/ Visual Display Units.
Other areas where attention is required is that of confined spaces and working at height where the philosophy of Risk Assessment should be adopted.
For further information on health and safety please see here.