Health Risk Assessment

Monday, April 5, 2010

Who Will Carry Out Your CoSHH Risk Assessment?

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Once it has been determined that hazardous substances are present in the workplace, the first step to carrying out a CoSHH risk assessment is to decide who will carry out the assessment.

As an employer, it is your legal duty to comply with CoSHH Regulations and to control any dangerous chemicals at work so as not to harm your employees.

The smaller your business is, and the fewer risks there are, the less likely it is that many people will need to be closely involved in the whole process.

This is due to the fact that there is not as much need for technical expertise in occupational hygiene and therefore the CoSHH assessment procedure is not as rigorous. It is important to remember, that however small your company may be, serious or difficult risks may still occur.

Larger organisations will require more people to be involved in the CoSHH assessment process, as issues become more complex and varied. This is because more work is required and also the variety of situations will require various different skills and CoSHH knowledge.

As the numbers involved in the CoSHH assessment increase, so does the need for CoSHH management of their work. Whoever is responsible for the CoSHH assessment process should clearly identify individual responsibilities.

If there are a great number of CoSHH assessments, employers find that using a combination of a central coordinating CoSHH body and teams which report back to it with observations and recommendations, works very successfully.

The central body can be responsible for selecting capable team members, giving CoSHH guidance to ensure that teams are looking for the right things, monitoring recommendations and providing a source of occupational hygiene expertise.

It is important to remember that employers need to involve their employees in the CoSHH assessment process. Employers need to look to their employees as to how they do their job as this information will be crucial in completing an accurate CoSHH assessment.

Employee participation can be either on an individual or representative basis, and usually with larger companies, representatives are more appropriate.

As an employer with recognised trade union safety representatives, it is crucial that they are notified of any situations relating to the health of employees and so they can check the effectiveness of such measures. Including consultation on matters covered by CoSHH.

Employees that are not covered by such health and safety representatives must be notified through elected representatives of employee safety according to the Health and Safety Regulations 1996.

Dale Allen develops systems and online software to help you succeed in HSE CoSHH compliance. Find out more about how to effectively manage and produce a compliant HSE CoSHH assessment free with the UK's leading CoSHH compliance authority, COSHH365.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dale_Allen

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Sunday, April 4, 2010

What Are the Basic Ideas Behind Risk Assessment?

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The process of risk assessment is part of the risk management process and is shrouded, some would say, in a certain degree of mystery. It is true to say that being able to accurately assess risk is quite complex and is often carried out incorrectly.

In this article we'll look at the basic ideas behind assessing risk and look at how someone might become better at it.

The main problem with risk assessment is that it is very difficult to quantify risk of any kind. In the usual equation that those charged with risk assessing risk, 'R' equals the magnitude of a potential loss, 'L' represents loss, and 'p' equals probability of that loss occurring.

The methods used to arrive at a conclusive risk assessment vary a great deal depending on the department of body doing the assessing.

One of the common problems is that fact that many of those who do the assessing consider something very bad happening that has a very low chance of occurring, is treated very differently than something of little magnitude happening - that is very likely to happen.

In the realm of public health, it is said that risk assessment is the process of working out what the probability of bad effects of people or segments of populations form particular person-oriented activities.

In the vast majority of nations, the utilisation of particular chemicals of substances - or the function of certain facilities (for example nuclear power plants or factories) is not permitted unless it can be demonstrated that they do not elevate the risk of fatality or sickness above a previously identified threshold.

For instance, the United States Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) is the body charged with regulating food safety through vigorous risk assessment.

This body insisted that cancer causing compounds must under no circumstances be contained within meat products in amounts that would lead to the causing of a cancer risk that is larger than one in a million lifetimes.

It is of course true that any assessing of risk cannot take the stance that if there is a risk, it should be either eliminated or the associated activity should be ceased, it is simply that if a risk goes up to an unreasonable level - where it would be costly to medical systems and ultimately the state - then there should be moves towards making the activity as safe or risk free as possible.

There are a number of firms in the UK and indeed around the globe that offer training on this important issue.

Gino Hitshopi is highly experienced in the realm of risk assessment, having worked in the risk assessment industry for many years. For more information please visit: http://www.britsafe.org/qualifications/level2-ra.aspx

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gino_Hitshopi

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Saturday, April 3, 2010

The Importance of Risk Assessment and Identifying Hazards in the Work Place

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Everyone will agree to the fact that health is the most important thing in our life. We all want to live a healthy life in a clean environment. Most of the people who work spend their entire day in the offices.

It is very important to identify the hazards in the workplace and then start the process of Risk Assessment. We should know that risk assessment process helps us find the reasons that can create some health issues at work places. Risk Assessment is a long procedure; however, it should not be taken as a complex procedure.

The people who are responsible for risk assessment procedure undergo a thorough research and study in order to find the reasons that might pose danger to health of the employees.

Make sure that you undertake a Risk Assessment according to the requirements of the company. As an employer, it is your duty to take safety measures to keep the employees safe.

Identifying hazard is not a tough task. A hazard is basically a potential risk, such as different sort of chemicals, fire risks, varying heavy loads or other stuff that might lead to an accident.

HSE have given some basic points to keep in mind, in order to reveal the basics risk assessment.

It is very important to identify all kinds of hazards from the smaller ones to the big ones. Also, you have to analyze how many people can get hurt if any unforeseen situation arises.

Not everyone is at the risk or in danger, but there are certain groups who might be in danger if the risk assessment team does not complete its job properly.

It is very important to analyze the level of the risk. Once the level is known, safety measures can be taken in accordance to the situation. Not all hazards result in high level of risk.

Once you have identified the hazard, you need to identify the groups, which can be affected. After evaluating the level of the risk and the people to be possibly affected, it is recommended that you decide on what precautions can be taken.

It is very important to communicate things properly to the staff. Write down the important points and distribute them among the staff so that everyone can have access to the detailed information.

Let us take an example of a hazard. Office boys or workers, who have the responsibility of cleaning the windows of plazas, are at the high risk level. They might get hurt while using the chemicals or slip from the lifts that are used to clean the glass windows.

These workers can get minor or major injuries, in case an accident occurs. In this manner, you have to categorize the level of the risk and then take precautions to deal with the situation effectively.

After a complete assessment and identification of hazards in a workplace, you need to take another look at all the possible hazards and think about some additional things that could help you reduce the chances of an accident.

This process is not only important for the safety of the employees and is required by law, but it is also a very good way of identifying the risks involved in the jobs being done in offices. By identifying the risks, we can save people from minor or major accidents.

You can take professional help from Risk Management Consultants to avoid business risks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_H_Jones

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Friday, April 2, 2010

Why You Need to Take a Health Risk Assessment

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Life today seems to be all drive-thru dinners, caffeine shots, and seventy hours a week at the office. Lots of things are getting sacrificed in our on the go lifestyle, perhaps the most important of which is our health.

Sitting at a computer all day, puffing away on our cigarettes and eating badly stresses the bodily systems and increases the risk for a host of serious health concerns, such as type two diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, the current number one killer of Americans.

Whatever you have on your to-do list for the day, be sure to pencil in taking a health risk assessment somewhere to help you identify your habits which are putting you at risk and begin to understand how to change them.

There are a variety of daily habits that most Americans have which can adversely affect our health in a number of ways and shorten our lifespan. The first and most common one is being overweight.

An easy way to figure out if you are overweight is to find out your body mass index, or BMI, which is a calculated ratio of your height to your weight. BMIs over twenty five are considered an indicator of being overweight, with BMIs over thirty as being indicative of obesity.

Any worthwhile health risk assessment you take will ask you to share your BMI, which you can find out quickly from a BMI table or through an online calculator. A BMI of 25 and over, combined with other poor health habits, can lay the foundation for diabetes and heart disease.

A good health risk assessment will also ask about your smoking and exercise habits. Everyone knows that smoking is hazardous to your health and can lead to cancer, but did you know that it can also increase blood pressure to dangerous levels? Long term smoking is a leading cause of heart attacks, stroke, and heart failure.

A final element that a thorough health risk assessment will inquire after is your family's medical history. Genetic predisposition is not the only factor in determining whether you will suffer a serious medical condition like diabetes or cancer, but it can certainly raise your likelihood.

When considering your family history, think back as far as you can in your direct blood line as to who suffered from what. People whose history you do not need to look to include family members by marriage, cousins, step-parents, and in-laws.

It is best to focus on your biological parents and four biological grandparents. Siblings who are dealing with an illness are also good indicators of the genes you have in your own body.

Once you have collected and prepared to share these pieces of date, enter them into a health risk assessment program. Many accurate ones may be found online that will analyze all these factors and provide you with an indication of your risk for various medical conditions in seconds.

It is important to understand that these online health risk assessment tools should not replace regular visits to a doctor, or being honest with your physician about your lifestyle habits or history.

They are meant to provide a wakeup call and get you thinking about the ways you can improve your own health today and start habits that will help you prolong your life, not shorten it.

Whether those steps are as small as walking to work or as large as joining a gym, know that it is never too late to start treating your body right. It will return the favor!

Andy West is a writer on a variety of topics, including health care. A health risk assessment can sometimes show what a person needs to do in order to have weight loss success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_West

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