Every employer needs to comply with their health and safety requirements and that means being super-vigilant when looking out for risks. Whenever a new piece of equipment enters your working environment, an employee’s situation changes (e.g. injury, pregnancy, etc), or when looking to change the layout of your office desks, a risk assessment needs to be done.
Check out this useful infographic which outlines the risk assessment process.
Source: www.manufacturing.net/blog/2019/03/infographic-risk-assessment-process
A risk assessment does what it says on the tin – it assess the potential risk and from that assessment you put into place ways to minimise it and control it, or get rid of it completely. For instance, if you’re considering installing a height adjustable desk, you would need to do a risk assessment for the place it’s going to go and the desk itself, and identify any changes you need to make as a result.
It’s also a good idea to do periodic risk assessments as standard, usually annually, to help catch any risks that might be down to wear an tear of equipment. You can then opt to replace that equipment before an issue occurs.
So, if you’re thinking about changing the way you work, perhaps buying some boardroom flip top tables, make sure you assess that risk and use the information accordingly.
Are you responsible for carrying out risk assessments in your workplace?