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Discussion on
Hazard Management and Analysis

Activities/Obligations

For information on the distinction between a hazard and a risk please read the Hazard or Risk? discussion.

After you have identified and controlled your risks you may want to ensure that:

  • hazards that are identified by workers are reported and recorded;
  • workplace inspections are carried out at intervals to look for unreported hazards;
  • if warranted by the seriousness of a hazard, an inspection is scheduled;
  • each required corrective action is completed and a close-out review is performed to confirm that the action achieved it's objectives; and
  • hazard records are analysed from time to time to identify any commonalities so that resources can be applied in the most effective manner to minimise the likelihood of future hazard occurrences.

Using The Software

With OSHatWork you can:

  • record comprehensive details about each hazard including:
    • date identified and who reported it;
    • a hazard category (such as chemical, height, heat, etc);
    • the corresponding department and supervisor;
    • the OHS representative who needs to know about it;
    • investigation details including who the investigator is, when the investigation should be completed by, and when the report should be completed by;
    • notifications that have been completed or need to be done (and these appear in the Reminders Viewer);
    • links to related incidents (so, after investigating an incident and discovering hazards which contributed to it, you can record the hazards and then associate them with the incident - and set up any necessary corrective actions on the hazards);
    • links to corresponding risks that were previously identified, or were identified as a result of the hazard;
    • any number of contributing factors - so you can analyse these later and look for commonalities (to enable resources to be targeted for maximum effect);
    • any work areas, work tasks, workteams and projects affected;
    • corrective actions needed - and close-out reviews to ensure that these have been effective;
  • receive reminders for completion of investigations and the reports on them;
  • receive reminders to ensure that corrective actions, and their close-out reviews, are completed;
  • generate reports on hazards including:
    • full details of one selected hazard;
    • a summary list of hazards (e.g. all those reported by a particular person, or in a particular work area, or identified in a particular period, or assessed as being in a particular risk rating, etc);
    • a list of the corrective actions required;
    • a contributing factors analysis which helps you to identify the key contributors so that you can take appropriate action to avoid hazard occurrences in future;
    • a frequency count analysis which helps you to identify where hazards are most prevalent (e.g. in particular work areas or departments) so that you can investigate the reasons for this and take steps to improve the situation;
  • manage workplace inspections.

More

A complete list of all the OSHatWork Guides is available here.