Strategies to control risk

The management of risk is a strategic approach to health and safety that organisations must adopt in order to control the hazards that employees, contractors, community residents and others are exposed to. It requires more than just a focus on the hazard itself. The control of hazards requires organisational and administrative processes in order to be effective. Those processes need to be in place to influence the behaviours of directors, managers, supervisors and employees so that harm does not occur. They should also be bound together by a policy and their effectiveness established by measurement, review and audit. A structure to accommodate these processes is necessary if the risks from hazards are to be controlled. Its success is demonstrated when the hazard has been eliminated. Elimination is the first step in the risk control hierarchy. 

A risk control hierarchy is a structured approach whereby for each hazard a set of action options is considered. The action that should be adopted is the one that gives the greatest degree of protection, not only to the operator but also to others who may be exposed to the hazard. The options in order of decreasing effectiveness are  

1 Elimination by the removal of the hazard itself to ensure that injury or damage will not occur. Many injuries occur each year from manually handling objects. By changing the work method and employing mechanical handling, the hazards from manual handling are eliminated. Boxes 

2 Substitution is sometimes possible by ublising a less hazardous material instead of a more hazardous one. An example is in the replacement of benzene (WEL1 ppm) that is a proven human carcinogen by toluene (WEE 50 ppm) which is in many cases as good a solvent. This option requires a good xmderstanding of the hazardous properties of both materials to ensure that new or addibonal hazards are not introduced into the workplace by the replacement material. 

3 Reduction in the risk faced can be achieved by reducing the quantity of materials held in the workplace. This was recognised in the HFL Regulations that allow only sufficient flammable materials for the work period (day or shift) to be kept in the work area. 

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