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Risk Assessment is just the first stage of the Health and Safety process. The information that you get from these assessments needs to be used and fed back to reduce the risks if you have found them to be too high.
Principles of Prevention
There are a number of principles of prevention which underpin Health and Safety:
- Avoid risk
- Evaluate risk, by means of a Risk Assessment, where the risk cannot be avoided.
- Combat the risk at the source - control the cause not just the effect
- Adapt the work to the individual
- Adapt to technical progress
- Replace the dangerous with something that is less dangerous or something that is not dangerous
- Develop procedures and policies
- Provide information, instruction and training to staff and volunteers
- Give collective measures priority over individual ones
Risk Reduction
There are many ways in which the risks can be reduced, and many of these are outlined in the rest of this Website. It is a good idea to review these before browsing further.
The following methods can be used to reduce risks:
- Eliminate the hazard.
Complete removal of the hazard. For example, a dangerous piece of equipment can be removed.
- Substitution.
Replace the hazard with something that is less hazardous. For example, replace a caustic cleaning substance with a non-caustic one.
- Isolation.
Remove the hazard from the person. For example, prevent people from accessing high places by locking access doors to towers.
- Segregation.
Remove the person from the hazard. For example, use a guard to prevent someone touching a piece of moving or hot machinery.
- Procedures.
Design safe working practices to do a task and reduce exposure to hazards. For example, instructing someone to use equipment safely.
- Warning signs.
Display instructions or posters. For example, warning of uneven floor surfaces.
- Protective equipment.
Use as a last resort only if none of the above are possible. For example, using gloves for non-hazardous cleaning solutions.
The above items are in order of decreasing levels of risk reduction. It is not always possible to completely eliminate hazards, so one of the other methods might be employed as long as you are certain that the hazards are reduced to a low enough level. In Health and Safety, this is known as "As Low as Reasonably Practicable" and the guidance given in this Website is based on this principle.
As a basic test to see if what you have planned will be adequate ask yourself three questions:
- Will it work? - Will it reduce the risks enough? To find this out, do a Risk Assessment that takes into account the changes that are planned.
- Can it be done? - Is what you plan possible when considering cost, time or other constraints? Is there any reason why your plans cannot be put into place?
- Will it cause other problems? - Could putting this into place affect other people or change other Risk Assessments? Does it take into consideration other regulations in force?
There are some requirements of Health and Safety law that are mandatory. These must be put into place, regardless of what the Risk Assessment shows. An example of this is the need for exit signs under the fire regulations. It is sometimes expected that the measures that are being used go further that what is "reasonably practicable".
Sensible Health and Safety
The simplest things (which are often simple and free) that work the best for many of the hazards found in Places of Worship. There is certainly no need to remove all hazards, just manage them so that you can provide a good level of Health and Safety for all who use the building. Lower risks need less action, larger risks need more action.
It can also be counterproductive to put too much control into place. This can give people a false sense of security (but this is not an excuse for not doing anything at all). Additionally, be cautious of overreacting to accidents and incidents. The concept of Health and Safety is about being sensible about the controls that are put into place.
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