A Simple Guide toHazard Identification

Bill BirchamSafety, Quality & Environmental Manager

Amey Seco Track Renewals

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Who should identify the hazards?(1)

The Team….

…or the Individual?

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• The Individual– Negative Aspects

• Vast technical competence required

• Implementing Manager required to take ‘leap of faith’ in individual

• Perpetuates ‘safety is the Safety Depts problem’

• Unlikely to be as comprehensive as team approach therefore questionable sufficiency

• Output suffers from ‘Not invented here’ attitudes

• Personal perception may influence judgement

Who should identify the hazards?(2)

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• The Individual– Positive Aspects

• Likely to produce quicker results

• Less likely to be swayed by ‘peer pressure’

Who should identify the hazards?(3)

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• The Team Approach– Positive Aspects

• Knowledge required to assess is likely to be available across the variety of positions

• Judgements and decisions can be made to satisfy a variety of organisational interests

• Promotes consultation with employees

• Inclusion of Line Managers builds ownership of the outcome

• More likely to reflect actual working practices

Who should identify the hazards?(4)

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• The Team Approach– Negative Aspects

• Committee approach can be too slow to react to changes

• Team dynamics can affect outcome

• Resource hungry in terms of total hours

Who should identify the hazards?(5)

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• Each situation is unique• Each will require a different approach• Each is dependant upon process complexity

Increasing Expertise Required

Obvious low hazard or simple process

Obvious high hazard or complicated process

Supervisor Expert Team

Who should identify the hazards?(6)

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Team Membership

• Skill requirement must drive membership of assessment teams

• understanding of assessment method in use

• knowledge of work processes being assessed

• understanding of interfaces, both internal and external

PLUS• The authority to commit necessary resources

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Structure a brainstorm?How?

• Brainstorming Rules Postpone and withhold your judgement of ideas.

Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas.

Quantity counts at this stage, not quality.

Build on the ideas put forward by others.

Every person and every idea has equal worth.

– By its very nature a brainstorming session cannot be structured, but it can be ‘guided’.

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Soliciting Ideas

• define the problem area or the opportunity area to create ideas for

• draw up a specific probortunity (problem/opportunity) statement which describes what you are trying to achieve

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Soliciting Ideas withSCAMPER

• Substitute• Combine • Adapt• Modify• Put to other purposes• Eliminate• Reverse

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Brainstorm Ideas

How to kill them...

…and how to help them

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Brainstorm IdeasKilling the weak ones!

• A good idea, but ..…– …people won't like it.– …it needs more study. – …let's make a survey first.– …against the company policy. – …the directors won't go for it.– …ahead of its time, people are not ready for it.– …let's sit on it a while.

– …we've never done it that way before. Has anyone else tried it successfully?

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Brainstorm IdeasHelping the good ones!

• Yes, ….

• …that's a good idea/point/comment.

• …great, let's try it.

• …what resources would we need to do it?

• …tell me more.

• …how can we make it work?

• …can you draw up a plan of action? What can I do to help this happen?

• …that sounds interesting, tell me more.

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Beating subjectivity with hazard criteria

• Have the team define what hazard means to them.• Explore various meanings• discourage those that are ambiguous• refine those that are succinct• don’t be afraid to suggest• agree and settle on one definition only“A Hazard is something with the potential to cause harm

(this can be include substances or machines, methods of work and other aspects of work organisation)”

MHSW Regs ACoP

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Note that we are only examining what could fail, not how often it does, how likely it will do so or the

consequences of the failure.

Invisible hazards, how to identify what you cannot see.

• For each element of the possible hazard, consider :-– Is there a source of

harm?– Who or what could be

harmed?– How could the harm

occur?

Location

People Met

hod

Hazard?

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Invisible hazards, how to identify what you cannot see.

• Use a simple matrix to record the results

Method

People

Location

Source of Harm?

Who/what Harmed?

How Harm Occurs?

• Any positive answer means a hazard exists

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Team hazard spotting

• Three main hazard types usually missed– Undetectable to unaided eye, need active searching

• look in, behind, under

• ask why and what

– Transient• unsafe behavior, listen to ‘jokes’

– Latent• contingent upon other events i.e. breakdown, fire

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New hazards,what do they look like?

• Just like the old ones– in different guises

• Two main causes of new hazards– new process, people or location– previously unknown factor becomes apparent

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New hazards,How to spot them?

• The new process, people or location hazard.

Continual improvement

Initial StatusReview

OHS Policy

Planning

Implementationand operation

Checking andcorrective action

ManagementReview

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• Previously unknown factor becomes apparent hazard– Increased coverage in trade press– publication of consultation document– approach by member of staff / public / customer /

supplier– advice forthcoming from HSE / HMRI

New hazards,How to spot them?

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Simple Hazard Identification ToolsHow effective are they?

• Several types of tool available– Workplace inspections

• see what really happens

– Job safety survey• see what is supposed to happen

– Safety Audits• measure what happens against what should happen

– Accident / incident data analysis• measure what went wrong

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Hazard Identification ToolsThe professionals choice

• HAZAN & HAZOP

• Fault Tree Analysis

• Event Tree Analysis

• Failure Mode Effect Analysis