Keep workplaces safe with an office risk assessment checklist

What is an office risk assessment checklist?

An office risk assessment is a systematic process ensuring that offices are free of health and safety risks. These assessments are regular inspections of office facilities and equipment.

Conducting such inspections with an office risk assessment checklist helps to standardize the process and to make sure you’re being as thorough as possible. Properly-performed risk assessments help companies create a safer, more comfortable, and cost-effective office environment.

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5 steps of any office risk assessment checklist

When considering employee health and safety, it’s your responsibility as an employer to control and minimize workplace risk. Safety managers need to think about what could harm people in the office and decide whether the controls in place will help prevent harm to workers. The following 5 basic steps have been developed to make an office risk assessment more effective:

1. Identify hazards

   Conduct a risk assessment in the office with walk-throughs and site visits. Also remember to arrange work equipment correctly in the room and make sure there is adequate lighting.

2. Record
   Consider who is at risk from identified hazards. Where and how are workplace accidents most likely?
3. Document controls
   Note down any existing controls and how well they’re working. What could you improve? Can work surfaces, such as work tables, be better aligned?
4. Set priorities

   Most of the time, a hazard analysis reveals several risks. It’s important that you know how to prioritize which risks to address first. Make a detailed list and plan for each risk factor, including corrective actions.

5. Document all results
   Finally, it’s important that all the findings of your office risk assessment checklist are documented. You want to be able to refer back to them at a later date when implementing your corrective actions. Also remember to follow up regularly with more risk assessments, so you’ll know how well your safety measures work.

The 6 most common risks to cover on an office risk assessment checklist

Offices, like other work environments, have many hazards that can affect ongoing business and harm workers. Some hazards are more common than others and pose greater risk because of their frequency. These are:

1. Slipping/tripping over spilled liquids and objects
   You can solve this problem with good housekeeping. Make sure any laid cables don’t constitute tripping hazards. All rooms and corridors should be well lit, and paths and corridors should be free of obstacles.
2. Manually handling heavy materials
   
   Employees should judge for themselves whether they can lift heavy materials or not. If not, employees should be encouraged to get help from colleagues.
3. Poorly designed workstations
   Ergonomic hazards that result from sitting and using computers should be taken seriously. Employee posture is an important way of avoiding discomfort or musculoskeletal damage. Every employee should be trained on proper ergonomics.
4. Falling from height
   Falling from any height can cause bruises and fractures. So it’s important to make sure that any chairs and ladders in the office are in good condition.
5. Stress-related hazards

   Stress at work has several causes; a high workload, poor work-life balance or even workplace bullying. Every company should develop guidelines on working hours, holidays and workload to prevent burnout, as well as train employees to recognize and manage their stress.

6. Electrical and fire hazards
   Fire and electrical hazards are often associated with faulty equipment and machine explosions that can cause burns, property damage, and even fatalities. All employees must be trained to recognize and report fire safety hazards, and you should have an evacuation plan in place for emergencies.

Prepare your office risk assessment checklist with workflow automation software

Regular office risk assessments are a critical way to reduce the amount of hazards employees are exposed to. But paper-based inspections make the process longer and more complex than it has to be. That can lead to delays in risk management. To prepare and perform risk assessments more effectively, use workflow automation software like Lumiform.

Lumiform’s mobile app and desktop software are everything you need to design office risk assessment checklists that vastly improve safety in your business. Avoid injuries and damage to office property by inspecting the premises at any time thanks to the mobile app. Lumiform’s workflow automation platform streamlines office safety by:

• Making inspections up to 4x faster, since the checklist guides inspectors through each item
• Improving data gathering, generating weekly and monthly analytics based on your results and highlighting patterns
• Facilitating continuous improvement thanks to automatic reporting and real-time data, and by allowing you to edit your checklists at any time
• Making risk management easier since it allows you to assign and adjust tasks with one click