30/09/2017
A lot of people have a not so deep understanding about what safety really is. I asked 100 safety people about a condition in a workplace whether it is a hazard or not and this is what I found out.
Before that, let us take it bit by bit. What is the definition of a hazard?
I'm sure you know it very well. A hazard is anything that has a POTENTIAL to cause harm or injury to people and damage to properties and environment.
Now, what is the meaning of potential?
Potential means possible when the necessary conditions exist.
Now let us wrap it up. If there is no possibility for a condition to cause harm or injury or damage then it is not a hazard.
Let me put it this way....
If there is no chance to cause an accident due to possibility, regardless it is an issue of housekeeping or whatsoever, then it is not a hazard based on its definition.
Let me give you an example...
There is some spill of water on a floor which is in a corner of a room. Nothing is there and there is no reason for a person to go on that corner. If that is not a pathway and no chance that a person will walk over that place or corner, will it be a hazard?
Definitely not. Do you agree?
Try to look again at the definition of hazard. Since nobody will walk over that place where a water spillage is, who else will be harmed or injured? Nobody, right?
Let's go a little bit deeper. Would you still consider it as a hazard with a very low likelihood or probability to cause harm? You should not, of course.
You will consider with a very low likelihood or probability if there is a very low chance of having an accident but if there is totally no chance at all, then why would you say "very low"?
So what's my point, we couldn't memorize hazards by words. We can identify hazards by analysis and that is what a safety professional should do.
Consider this...
If the scenario is, on that corner there's a shelf where some tools are kept. There are ten (10) workers in that workplace and only 2 people use to pick up those tools. So 2 out of 10 people has a probability to slip from a wet floor. Making sense?
There is a 20% chance that a person could be harmed or injured. So if your likelihood scale is as follows;
1 - 20% ---> Likelihood = 1
21 - 40% --> Likelihood = 2
41 - 60% --> Likelihood = 3
61 - 80% --> Likelihood = 4
81 - 100% --> Likelihood = 5
..meaning your likelihood level is 1.
How about risk level? What is the formula for risk level?
Risk Level = Likelihood X Severity
So let's find out and analyze the severity...
Severity is the maximum level of consequences, meaning to say the highest possible result of an injury or damage once the hazard exists. If someone will walk over that wet floor, and then slip, there's a possibility that a person will fall to the same level with his back not falling front, right?
If there is a chance that a person will slip and fall to the ground without any injury but he was harmed, we can consider that as a "Near-miss". If a person slip with some bruises or sprain, it could be treated as "First Aid". If a person slip and a possible dislocation or happened, it can be considered as Medical Treatment Case. If a person has a fracture and an operation or casting is necessary, he won't be able to work until he has recovered, so you can consider that as temporary disability or LTI. If a person slipped and hit the floor with his head resulting to internal hemorrhage and comatose, it is a very serious situation and is possible which could lead to death or fatality. All of these are possible consequences when a person slipped over that wet floor.
With all these probability of consequences, the last consequence has the highest level of severity. In most common Severity Scale it is considered as "5" in a 5x5 Risk Matrix.
So what does it mean?
If your likelihood is equal to 1 and your severity is 5 then your Risk level is 1 X 5 = 5.
Make sense?
So what do you think, is this how you are assessing your risk level. You can properly identify hazard if you asses first the possibility of consequences. On the given scenario above, it is clearly stated that there is no chance that a person will walk over that spillage at the corner. It means likelihood is "0" zero. So what will be the risk level?
RL = L x S
RL = 0 x 5
RL = 0
"No risk" equals "No hazard". So now, did you get the point?
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