Risk Assessment Checklist

What is a risk assessment checklist?

Systematic occupational health and safety in the company begins in the company with the risk assessment. It is created to prevent accidents and occupational diseases. When designing a workplace, employers should always ask: Is there a hazard to the worker? If so: In what form does it manifest itself and how high is the risk? Measures are then decided upon to minimize the risk to employees.

In addition to financial and moral-ethical interests, legal obligation plays an important role in risk assessment. The obligation to conduct a risk assessment is enshrined in various laws, ordinances and regulations, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health and the Ordinance on Hazardous Substances. Due to the different circumstances in the companies, the legislator has not defined exactly how the procedure and the form of the documentation must look like. However, a risk assessment must always be complete and factually accurate.

A risk assessment checklist is the right tool to meet this requirement. A checklist can be used to identify hazards in all work areas and prioritize safety controls. It involves a systematic examination of the workplace to identify hazards, assess the severity and likelihood of injuries, and implement control measures to reduce risk. A risk matrix is then used to evaluate the consequences, probability, and risk rating of a hazard area.

This article provides information on:

1. 7 steps of risk assessment

2. 5 tips for successful implementation

3. 3 typical implementation mistakes

4. A digital solution for a risk assessment checklist

What are the 7 steps of an risk assessment

The risk assessment must be designed in such a way that it can be traced that the risks in the company have been recorded and the necessary measures have been determined. In this way, companies increase their legal certainty in the event of damage. It's important to note, that it is different to a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) and that conducting a proper job safety analysis may also be required.

According to the recommendation of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), a risk assessment is successful if the following 7 steps are followed:

1. Define work areas and activities
2. Identify hazards
3. Assess hazards
4. Determine measures
5. Execute measures
6. Verify effectiveness
7. Update hazard assessment

5 tips for hazard assessment

Hazard assessment reduces the likelihood of workplace accidents occurring, thereby increasing the safety of all employees. The following 5 tips will help companies successfully implement it:

1. In advance inform about the existing risk assessment at the workplace.
2. Inspect workplace and identify potential hazards.
3. Determine whether accidents have already occurred.
4. Develop a plan that enables a safe work environment and from which corrective actions, if necessary, can be derived.
5. Control plan and measures, to what extent they are implemented.

3 typical mistakes in risk assessment

A risk assessment helps companies and employees in occupational health and safety issues as long as it is done and implemented correctly. The following three mistakes are more common and should be avoided at all costs:

1. No isolated incidents
   A hazard assessment should be an ongoing process, one-off inspections and corrective measures will not ensure sustainable health and safety.
2. Involve outside contractors
   When placing orders with outside companies, the company is also jointly responsible for the safety of their employees. The risk assessment should accordingly also be carried out there.
3. Multiple responsible
   The inspection should not be carried out by a single specialist, but by several safety officers to ensure a thorough safety inspection.

A digital solution for a risk assessment checklist

A good security record-keeping system is needed to help organizations keep track of hazards, risks, control measures and corrective actions. In addition to complying with government regulations, a reliable hazard analysis system helps identify trends early to proactively improve workplace safety.

A digital risk assessment checklist replaces existing paper forms and spreadsheets as well as additional work such as scanning and faxing. Switching to digital work processes offers companies the following benefits in risk assessment:

• The flexible form builder transforms any individual paper list into a digital checklist within minutes.
• Always keep track of everything that happens on site.
• The very simple operation provides no margin for error for on-site auditors. The app offers less complexity in documenting or filling out checklists than complicated paper or Excel lists.
• Risk assessments are completed circa 30%-50% faster overall, depending on the use case.
• Reports are generated automatically after each completed risk assessment, saving all manual follow-up.