Risk Assessing The Use Of Risk Assessments
We’ve all been there, sat in a boring health and safety meeting being told by the health and safety officer the correct way to pick up a box, walk with scissors or stack objects in the office. If you are anything like me you have probably been through several of them and now I usually use it as an excuse to get glassy eyed and relax for five minutes before filling out the obligatory risk assessments form.
But maybe I’ve got it all wrong; maybe there is more danger out there than I’m aware of. For instance there is the story of the young lady who managed to give herself a nasty cut of the forehead from simply turning off her alarm clock. After taking the usual morning swipe at the alarm, she managed to connect rather too well, sending her alarm clock hurtling towards her face. Clearly someone should have performed risk assessments here, no glass alarm clocks.
If that hasn’t caught your attention what about the young lady who managed to slit her eyeball open when she rubbed her eye with her nail extensions on, clearly someone should sit her down and perform risk assessments on this, millions of people wear nail extensions every day.
One of the best causes for risk assessments I have seen have to be those metal fences that are located around ponds. If you have ever dropped something the other side of the barrier you will know what I mean. If you search online you will find a number of people who have either vaulted the fence when trying to retrieve the item, while others have managed to get their arms stuck in the gap between the bars.
So it would appear that life is full of hidden dangers and although my opinion of risk assessments and health and safety was initially blinkered by the view that it was less about risk and more about common sense, maybe there are still people in the world that require some form of assistance when it comes to living.
So now for the piece de resistance, the unbelievable injury stats from the UK, some 1,230 people reported suffering injuries via leaves back in 2002, while a further 5,577,661 reported injuries while shopping. 5 million people managed to injury themselves while going shopping, a task that we take for granted every day. Clearly there is a need for people to assess the risks that we face every day. I’m just hopeful that I don’t become a statistic in the near future and I remain injury free.
Anna Stenning is a health and safety officer with many years of experience in the health and safety industry. Find out more about risk assessments at http://www.ds-healthandsafety.com/
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