This week I've been talking about the adequacy of risk controls, or more to the point, failures in implementing them properly or reviewing things once implemented (How's that for a mouthful?).
As investigators, we regularly see the results of failure to implement controls properly. Unfortunately, too many of these incidents result in fatalities or serious injuries.
Some quick tips when undertaking risk assessments-
- Identify the hazards in the task. Ensure multiple people are involved in this process
- Assess the risk of those hazards so we have a benchmark score
- Implement controls while ensuring those implemented controls don't create additional or other unseen hazards and byproducts
- Re-assess the hazards with the controls. Have we reduced the risk levels?
- When implementing the controls, ensure what we imagined on paper, is what is actually done in the work front. If not, revisit the process
- Stay alert for changes in the process. Has the scope of work changed for example? If so, undertake a review again
Likewise, you can do the same with your investigation actions- how do you evaluate the effectiveness of recommendations? Have your reports and recommendations addressed all absent/failed defences and organisational factors identified during the ICAM process?
Do you engage a third party (such as Safety Wise!) to undertake a review of your completed reports and recommendations?
Looking for some resources to use as training and toolbox talks? There are two case study examples of investigations we did- one was a near miss event (Roadworks) and the other could've resulted in more serious or even fatal injuries (Maintenance work). These are downloadable videos and sample reports at https://www.safetywise.com/resources