Controlling Risk

Controlling risk

Once a hazard has been risk assessed, the hazard and associated risk must be controlled. Controlling hazards and associated risks within the event environment is the responsibility of employers and employees and will ensure that the event is operated to the safest level possible and practicable.

Hierarchy of control

The hierarchy of control is a tool to assist in the identification of safety control measures. The aim of applying the hierarchy of control is to reduce the risk of a hazard occurring or minimise the risk to the lowest practical level. The hierarchy represents measures that can be implemented to reduce risk from highest order control measures to lowest order control measures. A combination of control measures within each element will ensure that the lowest level of risk is achieved.

The hierarchy of control is as follows:

1. Eliminate the hazard.
2. Substitute with a lesser hazard.
3. Use engineering controls.
4. Isolate or separate the hazard.
5. Use administrative controls such as workplace procedures.
6. Use PPE (personal protective equipment).

1. Eliminate the hazard

The first level of the control hierarchy is to eliminate or remove the hazard. This is the preferred option but is not always possible. The job can be redesigned or a substance eliminated so as to remove the hazard. However, the alternative method should not lead to a less acceptable product or less effective process.

Examples of elimination controls may include:

• planning an event to ensure hazards are designed out of the event (eg positioning exhibition stands to ensure they fit over the access pits as well as facilitate egress from the venue)
• redesigning an activity at an event
• cancelling an event (eg lightning or storm hazard at an outdoor event).

2. Substitute with a lesser hazard

The substitution control measure replaces a material or process with a less hazardous one but should not result in a less efficient method of performing a task or an inferior piece of equipment.

Examples of substitution controls include:

• using a retractable knife instead of an non-retractable one
• replacing a hazardous chemical with a less hazardous chemical.

3. Use engineering controls

Engineering involves the redesign of equipment or work processes to reduce or eliminate risk.

Examples of engineering controls include:

• providing mechanical aids to assist with lifting, carrying and transporting material and supplies around the event venue
• using equipment in a different way to minimise the hazard and risk
• installing or using additional machinery such as local exhaust ventilation.

4. Isolate or separate the hazard

Separation of the process can be by distance from the rest of the workplace or by a physical barrier between the process and any person.

Examples of separation controls include:

• the use of safeguards that include a guardrail or fence to isolate spectators or other workers from event activities
• the use of barriers or distance between the crowd and the stage area
• providing a locked cage area for storage of fireworks
• the use of machine guards on mobile plant.

5. Use administrative controls

Administrative controls are ‘policy’ or behavioural type controls that are put in place. These controls can include the time of work, hours of work, who does the work and who has access to a work area or plant. Administrative controls also include the ‘safe systems of work’ and documented policies and procedures that a business may implement in a workplace.

Examples of administrative controls include:

• installing or increasing safety awareness and warning signs
• providing training in procedures and processes
• excluding non-essential personnel from access to event activities
• limiting the number of hours in a work period
• ensuring that outdoor tasks are done at the most appropriate time of day to overcome problems associated with heat and ultraviolet exposure
• changing a work practice (eg entry into a confined space where there is a requirement for an extra person to be present in attendance outside the confined space).

6. Use personal protective equipment (PPE)

The control or exposure to risks should be secured by a combination of elimination, substitution, isolation, engineering controls, and administrative controls. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) should be considered only after all the previous measures have been tried and found to be ineffective in controlling the risks to a reasonably practicable level. PPE may also be used as a temporary control measure until other alternatives are installed. A long-term strategy using other measures may require the short-term use of personal protective equipment to attain this aim. For example, you may need to use hearing protection for workers exposed to the noisy equipment prior to quieter equipment being sourced.

If chosen, PPE should be selected and fitted to the person who uses it. Workers must be trained in the function and limitation of each item of PPE. Personal protective equipment means clothing, equipment and/or substances which, when worn correctly, protect part or all of the body from risks of injury or disease at work or in the workplace.

Examples of PPE controls include:

• gloves, masks, safety eyewear, safety footwear
• sunscreen and hats
• high visibility vests
• hearing protection.

Assigning control measures

Risks to workplace health and safety should preferably be controlled in order, by elimination, substitution, or isolation measures. These control measures reduce or minimise risk in a more reliable manner than administration or personal protective equipment.

Look at the following example that shows how a combination of control measures are used to reduce the risk associated with operating a forklift at an event.

As the use of a fork lift is an essential component of many event bump-ins, it is difficult to eliminate the equipment from the operation. Based on the hierarchy of control, the following measures have been identified to reduce the risk associated with forklift use:

• Substitute—Use other lifting and/or carrying equipment in confined spaces or high traffic areas.
• Isolate — Use barriers to ensure that the area being used by the fork lift has limited pedestrian or vehicle traffic in the area other than those that are essential.
• Administrative — Develop procedures to ensure that all fork lifts are maintained in correct working order; use a ‘spotter’ is part of a safe work procedure.

• Administrative — Develop safe work procedures and train personnel.
• Administrative — Maintain a register for suitably licensed fork lift drivers.
• PPE — Provide high visibility vests for fork lift operators and others in work area.

To ensure that all appropriate control measures have been used, reference to OHS materials such as codes of practice, standards and guidance notes along with manufacturers’ instructions (plant and equipment) and material safety data sheets (MSDS for chemicals) is required. OHS reference materials must be used so as to ensure that the risk has been eliminated or reduced to the lowest level possible.

For the fork lift example on the following pagethe manufacturer’s instructions and suitable OHS materials would be referred to (eg Fork Lift Truck Drivers Guide 2007 from WorkSafe Victoria).

Assigning residual risk

Once control measures have been selected and implemented, a check is done to ensure that the control measures have reduced the risk. This is done by reassessing the hazard using the risk matrix with consideration given to all the control measures that have been put in place. This risk assessment rating is called the residual risk rating: the risk rating that is acceptable after all control measures have been implemented.

The example of a residual risk rating for a fork lift hazard is done on the following page.

The original risk assessment for a fork lift allocated a risk priority rating of E(ie severe consequences and likely to occur based on the use of the fork lift, the amount of people in the area of the fork lift use, the design and set-up of the area in which the fork lift is used and experience of people operating fork lift). This risk rating should be reduced after the control measures are enacted because:

• alternative lifting practices have been implemented in high traffic areas
• the forklift area has been isolation
• safe operational procedures are developed and staff have been trained
• high visibility clothing is worn.

When the risk matrix is now used to determine the risk it allows for the allocation of a residual risk rating at M. While the consequences of an accident are still deemed to be ‘severe’ the likelihood is rated now rated at ‘unlikely’.

Fork lift hazard

The residual risk rating should be lower than the original risk priority rating if you have considered all reasonable control measures or at least equal to the original risk priority rating if the hazard is an acceptable and unavoidable high risk hazard.

Hazard identification and the risk assessment register

Once control measures have been decided on they are recorded on the ‘Hazard identification and risk assessment register’.

To complete the hazard control process, responsibility and a reasonable projected timeframe in which the hazard is to be rectified must be assigned to each control measure. Responsibility can be appointed to any or all levels of the event management hierarchy as well as to employees and contractors. Responsibility will be dependent on the hazard identified and the control measure used.

Once the control measures have been initiated and the risk associated with the hazard has been reduced, the date is recorded on the register.

Following is a sample of a Hazard identification and risk assessment register to show:

• the recording of a potential hazard (use of a fork lift at an event)
• the risk assessment for this activity
• the control measures identified to reduce the risk of the hazard occurring
• the residual risk after the control measures have been put in place.

You will note that while the risk can not be eliminated, the introduction of control measures to reduce the risk has reduced the severity and likelihood of the fork lift causing injury at the event.

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Assess safety risks – Solo Activity 5

© Commonwealth of Australia | Licensed under AEShareNet S Licence

Hazard identification and risk assessment register

• Substitute – Use other lifting and/or carrying equipment in confined spaces or high traffic areas.
• Isolate — Use barriers to ensure that the area being used by the fork lift has limited pedestrian or vehicle traffic in the area other than those that are essential.
• Administrative — Develop procedures to ensure that all fork lifts are maintained in correct working order.

• Administrative — Develop safe work procedures and train personnel; use a ‘spotter’ is part of a safe work procedure.
• Administrative — Maintain a register for suitably licensed fork lift drivers.
• PPE — Provide high visibility vests for fork lift operators and others in work area.

1

Assess safety risks – Solo Activity 5

© Commonwealth of Australia | Licensed under AEShareNet S Licence