Discussion on
Demystifying Record-Keeping for Hazards and Risks

The Issue

There can be some confusion in relation to whether something is a "hazard" or a "risk" and what records should be kept.

This discussion:

• presents a pragmatic way of differentiating hazards and risks, and
• outlines the benefits of having separate records of hazards and risks.

Do We Need Definitions?

So what exactly do the terms "hazard" and "risk" mean, and how does a workplace manage them?

In the 1990’s there was a strong emphasis on incident management and analysis. By keeping details of every incident, no matter how minor (even paper cuts for instance), the theory was that an organisation could assemble enough data to allow deficiencies in workplace practice to be identified and corrected. The objective was to improve things in the future, but it relied on knowledge gained from accidents in the past. This became known as a "reactive" approach: after bad things happen, work practices are improved to avoid more bad things happening.

As the health and safety, and risk, professions developed, the emphasis shifted to a "proactive" approach. The objective was to anticipate problems before they resulted in injury to a worker, and/or damage to the productivity, finances or image of the organisation.

One component of the proactive approach in WHS was the successful "spot the hazard, assess the risk, make the changes" campaign. For instance: identify that a package is very heavy and then use the correct technique to pick it up safety.

Risk management professionals don’t tend to use the term "hazard". They look at every aspect of organisational risk: health & safety risk, operations risk, financial risk, reputation risk, and more. They build a register of all identified risks and develop controls that aim to reduce the level of risk.

There are definitions of hazard and risk in the various regulations and national Standards but depending on who you ask you could get any one of several different explanations of risk.

What follows does not rely on a formalised definition of hazard or risk. Instead it is a pragmatic way to approach the management of the corresponding data.

Record-Keeping

For each of the following hazard/risk examples, consider:

• is it a hazard?
• is it a risk?
• what data would you store about it?
• what actions would you take in relation to it?

1. A very heavy parcel needs to be moved.
2. An electrical extension cable is on the floor, unattended and unmarked.
3. There is an upturned area of carpet.
4. An acid storage container is leaking.

Any of the above situations can potentially arise at any time. In deciding whether to treat each as a "hazard" or as a "risk" it is helpful to distinguish between danger that is present now and danger that could arise in the future:

• If the danger exists right now we may be able to apply a "corrective action" to eliminate it.
• If the danger is something that cannot be eliminated, or could arise in the future, we may be able to implement "controls" that aim to prevent occurrence or minimise any negative consequences. (i.e. We will aim to reduce the risk to "as low as reasonably practicable", or ALARP).

So it is suggested that:

• if something dangerous exists right now, and it can be eliminated, we think of it (and record it) as a hazard and we take (and record) the appropriate corrective actions, and
• if something dangerous could occur in the future, or it is something that is always present because of the nature of the business, we think of it (and record it) as a risk and we implement (and record) appropriate controls to reduce the likelihood of occurrence or to prevent or minimise any negative consequences.

OSHatWork allows you to keep the corresponding records:

• a register of hazards, together with details of the relevant corrective actions (and reminders to ensure they are completed), and
• a register of risks, together with details of the appropriate controls.

The four examples listed above will now be used to illustrate this. The example actions and controls are not comprehensive, and are not presented as WHS or risk advice. Instead they are outlined to illustrate how the corresponding data can be logically structured and stored.

All of the above are basic examples and a WHS/risk consultant could provide more comprehensive guidance appropriate to each particular business.

The benefit of clearly separating records of hazards and risks in the above way is that you get two separate registers (which you can do in OSHatWork), each with a clearly defined purpose:

• a list of hazards that have appeared and need to be acted upon,
• a list of risks that need ongoing control,

plus you get:

• a list of the scheduled corrective actions, related to the hazards, that you can follow through to completion (and OSHatWork provides reminders for these), and
• a list of the controls, related to the risks, that you can continue to monitor for effectiveness and adjust from time to time as considered necessary.

Risk > Hazard > Incident

How do hazard and risk records potentially tie in with incident records?

Let's use the example of a person having tripped on dangerously worn/damaged carpet.

In this case you would (in OSHatWork):

• record the incident;
• ensure that there is a record of the hazard (the specific instance of dangerously worn/damaged carpet);
• ensure that there is a record of a hazard corrective action to repair or replace the carpet;
• if the hazard was not already recorded, schedule a review of hazard identification and reporting by workers (because the hazard should have been reported before someone tripped), and record this review as a corrective action associated with the incident;
• associate the incident record with the hazard record;
• ensure there is a record of the risk (the potential for carpet to become dangerously worn/damaged);
• review the controls recorded for the risk and, if necessary, add to or modify them;
• if the risk was not already recorded, schedule a review of risk identification processes, and record the review as a corrective action associated with the incident;
• optionally associate the incident record with the risk record.

More

For more information on using OSHatWork you might like to also read these discussions:

• Risk Management and Analysis
• Hazard Management and Analysis

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