The template
Task or area: · Location: · Assessed by: · Workers consulted: · Date: · Review date:
| # | Hazard | Who is exposed and how | Likelihood | Consequence | Risk rating | Existing controls | Additional controls (hierarchy level) | Residual risk | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||||||
| 2 | |||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||
| 5 |
The risk matrix used with it
| Insignificant (first aid) | Minor (medical treatment) | Moderate (lost time) | Major (permanent injury) | Catastrophic (fatality) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almost certain (expected most shifts) | Medium | High | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme |
| Likely (monthly) | Medium | High | High | Extreme | Extreme |
| Possible (yearly) | Low | Medium | High | High | Extreme |
| Unlikely (once in 10 years) | Low | Low | Medium | High | High |
| Rare (once in a career) | Low | Low | Medium | Medium | High |
Extreme: stop the task until controls reduce it. High: senior approval and additional controls before proceeding. Medium: controls in place, monitored. Low: manage by routine procedures.
How do you complete it?
- Walk the task with the people who do it; list every hazard you see or they name, including the ones "that never cause a problem".
- For each hazard, write who is exposed and the mechanism of harm (crushed by, struck by, exposed to).
- Rate likelihood and consequence with the matrix, assuming existing controls are in place.
- For every medium or higher rating, add controls from the top of the hierarchy down and record the level reached.
- Re-rate with the new controls to give the residual risk.
- Name an owner for each control, set a review date, and get the controls into standard work and checklists.
A filled example row
| # | Hazard | Exposure | L | C | Rating | Existing | Additional | Residual | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forklift and pedestrians share the despatch aisle | Operators, drivers, visitors; struck by | Possible | Major | High | Hi-vis; speed limit sign | Physical barrier separating the walkway (isolate); pedestrian exclusion at the dock during loading (admin) | Medium | Warehouse manager |
Common mistakes
- Rating with the proposed controls already assumed.
- Controls that are all signs and training.
- A review date that passes without a review.
- The form in a folder while the hazard is still on the floor.
Risk assessment inside daily management
Each additional control is an action on the tier board until it exists, with an owner and a date. Once it exists it becomes a checklist step or a layered-audit question, so its presence is checked rather than assumed, and a hazard raised at the huddle that is not on the assessment triggers an update the same week.
Step by step
- Identify hazards. Walk the task with the workers; list everything that could cause harm.
- Assess. Rate likelihood and consequence on the matrix with existing controls in place.
- Control. Add controls from the top of the hierarchy; record the level and the residual risk.
- Assign and schedule. Owner for each control; actions on the board; review date set.
- Review. On change, after incidents and at the review date; update the standard work.
A worked example
A food plant assessed its despatch dock after two near misses between forklifts and drivers. The team of a supervisor, a forklift operator and a driver listed nine hazards; the shared aisle rated High. The additional controls were a bolted pedestrian barrier, a marked driver waiting zone and a rule that loading stops when a pedestrian enters the dock. The barrier was an action on the Tier 2 board for three weeks; the waiting-zone check went onto the daily dock checklist. No further near misses were raised in the following six months.