QUARTER 2: WEEK 15

LO 3. HANDLE MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

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Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) legislation requires that all

foreseeable hazards are identified and the risks arising from these hazards are
eliminated or controlled.

Objective

3.2.1. Maintain a clean and safe work site while working in

accordance with OHS procedures.

Specific objective

Enumerate the steps in risk management

Vocabulary Lists

Hierarchy - an arrangement of items in which the items are represented

as being "above".

Isolate- to set or place apart; detach or separate so as to be alone.

Acronym

OHS -Occupational Health and Safety

Pre-Assessment

Identify the following items correctly.

__________1. This step of hazards can be identified through workplace

inspections
_________2. This step of hazards involves deciding what needs to be done to
eliminate or control the risks to health and safety.

_________3. This step of hazards determines how likely and how serious the
effects will be on people in the workplace being exposed to the hazard

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 _________4. This step of hazards can be achieved through safety audits, regular
workplace inspections, consultation with employees and review of incident
investigations.

__________5. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control that can be done
through the use of barriers, introducing a strict work area, enclosing a noisy
process from a person.

__________6. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control that can be done
through the use of machine guards, effective ventilation systems etc.

_________ 7. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control that can be done
through where possible remove the hazard or substitute with less hazardous
materials, equipment or substances.

__________8. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control provide suitable and
properly maintained personal protective equipment and ensure employees are
trained in its proper use (examples include gloves, earplugs etc.).
__________9. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control ensure that hazards are
designed out when new materials, equipment and work systems are being
planned for the workplace.
__________10. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control establish appropriate
procedures and safe work practices such as job rotation to reduce exposure
time or boredom.

Information Sheet

MANAGING OHS RISK IN YOUR WORKPLACE

https://study.com/academy/lesson/risk-control-vs-risk-management.html

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 Risk management is a legal requirement for all businesses regardless of
their size and basically it involves asking the following questions:
• what hazards exist in the workplace?
• how serious are the hazards?
• what can be done to control these hazards?
Risk management is a four-step process whereby you identify hazards in the
workplace, then assess the risk of those hazards and then implement control
measures, which will eliminate or minimize the risk of injury from the hazards
you identified.

Control measures which have been put in place must be reviewed periodically
to check that they actually fix the problem, without creating another one.

STEP 1: HAZARD IDENTIFICATION

Hazards can be identified through:

• workplace inspections
• incident reporting
• register of injuries
• consultation with employees
• feedback from employees.
•
There are a number of business activities which can involve risk to safety.
These can include:
• Purchasing: the equipment or chemicals purchased to run your
business may introduce safety issues (e.g. plant and equipment; cleaning
agents)
• Work activities: in carrying out work tasks the physical and
psychological demands of the tasks, equipment used, working
environment can place employees at risk (e.g. repetitive movements,
length of time spent on the computer, air quality, materials handling)
• Contractors/casual employees/customers: other workers who come
into the workplace can be at risk or place your employees at risk from
the work activities they conduct (e.g. cleaning agents used by cleaners,
electrical contractors, verbal abuse by customers).

STEP 2: RISK ASSESSMENT

Risk Assessment determines how likely and how serious the effects will be on
people in the workplace being exposed to the hazard. Work out which hazards
are most serious and deal with them first. To assess the risk, you should
consider:

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 • the type of hazard
• how severely could the hazard injure or cause illness (consequence)
• how likely is this consequence going to happen (likelihood)
• the frequency and duration of exposure
• who it may affect
• capabilities
• skills, experience and age of people
• layout and condition of the working environment.

STEP 3: RISK CONTROL

Risk Control involves deciding what needs to be done to eliminate or
control the risks to health and safety. Where possible, you should always try to
remove or eliminate the problem from the workplace, for example by using a
different process, or changing the way a job is done.

If it is not possible to eliminate the hazard, the Hierarchy of Risk Control must
be used to determine the most effective measures to minimize the risks.

Hierarchy of risk control

1. Design or reorganize to eliminate the hazard from the workplace: try to

ensure that hazards are designed out when new materials, equipment and
work systems are being planned for the workplace.

2. Remove or substitute the hazard: where possible remove the hazard or

substitute with less hazardous materials, equipment or substances.

3. Enclose or isolate the hazard: this can be done through the use of
barriers, introducing a strict work area, enclosing a noisy process from a
person.

4. Minimize through engineering controls: this can be done through the use
of machine guards, effective ventilation systems etc.

5. Minimize the risk by adopting administrative controls: establish

appropriate procedures and safe work practices such as job rotation to reduce
exposure time or boredom; timing the work so that fewer employees are
exposed; routine maintenance and housekeeping procedures; training on
hazards and correct work methods.

6. Personal Protective Equipment: provide suitable and properly maintained

personal protective equipment and ensure employees are trained in its proper
use (examples include gloves, earplugs etc.).

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If no single control is appropriate, a combination of the above controls needs to
be taken to minimize the risk to the lowest level that is reasonably practicable.

STEP 4: REVIEW

Periodic reviews of control measures and risk assessments should be

conducted to ensure the control measures implemented are appropriate and
effective and the risk assessments are still valid. This be built into all
workplace activities that can give rise to safety issues.

Practice Task 1

Enumerate the steps in managing OHS risk in your workplace

and explain how you prevent hazards.

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 Practice Task 2

Explain the hierarchy of risk control

Risk control Effective measures

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Post-Assessment

Identify the following items correctly.

____________1. This step of hazards can be identified through workplace

inspections
____________2. This step of hazards involves deciding what needs to be done to
eliminate or control the risks to health and safety.

_____________3. This step of hazards determines how likely and how serious the
effects will be on people in the workplace being exposed to the hazard

____________4. This step of hazards can be achieved through safety audits,

regular workplace inspections, consultation with employees and review of
incident investigations.

_____________5. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control that can be done
through the use of barriers, introducing a strict work area, enclosing a noisy
process from a person.

_____________6. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control that can be done
through the use of machine guards, effective ventilation systems etc.

_____________7. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control that can be done
through where possible remove the hazard or substitute with less hazardous
materials, equipment or substances.

46
_____________8. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control provide suitable and
properly maintained personal protective equipment and ensure employees are
trained in its proper use (examples include gloves, earplugs etc.).
_____________ 9. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control ensure that hazards
are designed out when new materials, equipment and work systems are being
planned for the workplace.
_____________10. This is one of the hierarchy of risk control establish
appropriate procedures and safe work practices such as job rotation to reduce
exposure time or boredom.

Assignment/Additional Activity

How can you improve your workplace safety? Give

suggestions.

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ANSWER KEY
Pre/Post-Assessment

1.Hazard Identification
2. Risk Control
3. Risk Assessment
4. Review
5. Enclose or isolate the hazard
6. Minimize through engineering controls
7. Remove or substitute the hazard
8. Personal Protective Equipment
9. Design or reorganize to eliminate the hazard from the workplace
10. Minimize the risk by adopting administrative controls

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