This week I posted a couple of videos and a short post regarding risk and management. The links to these are: Discussion Video, Short Post and Promo Video.
The reality is, we're surrounded by hazards. Every day we make decisions, often with no real thought, that could impact us. If we look at the work front, there are many forms of risk management tools and processes from Take 5's, HAZOP's, Hierarchy of Controls, Bowties, and others. And in principle, they all have their place, depending on circumstances and the work situation.
However, there's a flaw with all of them- you don't know what you don't know.
By this, I mean, if you don't recognise something as a hazard or understand the risk, how will you assess it and control it effectively?
We see it almost daily on the worksite and repeatedly in social media- people undertake so many tasks in an unsafe manner, however, I've always been curious as to why?
Why do they do it?
Do they not see what they're doing as unsafe?
Are there conflicting demands on them?
Is there a training issue?
Is there a supervision issue?
The reality is, there could be and often is a myriad of reasons!
Likewise, we need to help people understand the limitations of the Hierarchy of Controls. By that, I mean that we need to educate people to realise that some control measures may address the original hazard, however they can create other hazards that may, in fact, be a higher risk.
We can't implement a control measure in isolation. We need to ensure it addresses the original hazard effectively (lowers the risk) and that it doesn't create others.
We also need to consider potential byproducts of that control measure. For example, just because we have line-markings or traffic cones "separating" traffic from pedestrians, it doesn't eliminate the chance of being struck by a vehicle, nor does it mean we don't need situational awareness whilst working in that environment.
As safety professionals, our role is to educate and help people understand how to identify, assess and control hazards and risk. I've argued many times, that we can't be everything to everyone. We can't possibly know every single task that's being undertaken in our workplace, and we most certainly can't know every single hazard associated with that task.
But we can have meaningful and two-way conversations with people. We can facilitate discussions. We can research. We can help people to understand.
What do you do to help others manage hazards and risks in your workplace?