Making Sense of Risk Assessment Chris Jerman CFIOSH, FIIRSM Safety Manager John Lewis

You can’t be 100% safe –Great ideal but unrealistic goal You can’t risk assess everything –So why are we trying to? The Law recognises this –Significance is different for everyone What does ‘safe enough’ look like? –Not to me, but to YOU Time for an open mind

Looking for rules Lack of confidence Driven by liability not law Fear of getting it wrong Shotgun approach to safety Myths and misunderstanding Rules. What rules? We’ve had 20 years to get this done Looking for rules

It’s not about doing different things

Are we agreed? Who are you? What do you do – undertakings? What does ‘safe’ look like to you? How will you know when you are there? What will you do when you get there? How will you deal with distractions? How will you preserve your achievements? Risk and safety are NOT the same thing Risk management road map

5 steps to risk management Work out what you do as a business Prioritise the significant and shelve the trivial Risk assess and record significant findings Act as appropriate and proportionate Monitor and manage the residue Don’t forget to scan the horizon for new (significant) issues! 5 steps to risk management

Are you here?

Insignificant task with significant risk (HML) Significant task with significant risk ( HML ) Significant task with insignificant risk (NSF) SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL OF RISK Insignificant task with insignificant risk (Trivia) Explaining Significance Focus and map your priorities

Let’s talk about managers

Why do managers struggle? Home truths Leaders are born; managers are made How do you become a manager? What support is there? How can WE support managers in being BETTER managers in relation to managing risk as a subject? Why do managers struggle

Learning outcomes Managers may know more than they think The subject shouldn’t matter Sometimes they can’t see past that Managers rarely get to practice If they can’t get through this then they are not going to get far with what you want them to do Is this in your course syllabus? Learning outcomes

Practical example L Develop a plan for risk management action HHHH HHH HH H H H H H H M H MM M MMM MMM M M MM M M M M M LL L L L L L L L L LL L L Practical example

Managing safely Do managers really need ‘training’ in ‘health and safety’ or would they simply benefit more from training in being better managers? Managers need to be shown the aspects of their team’s activities that require supervision and management – it’s not intuitive Give managers the tools

Clarity and confidence We assume that managers understand basic tools such as Prioritisation Planning Assigning responsibility Determining accountability Your safety management system! Clarity and confidence

Safety in 3 slides? Is that possible? Just what do managers need to understand about the law? Not what do managers need to know, but what they need to understand Being simple and clear Might be a few light bulb moments Safety in three slides?

Traditional Model Health & Safety Audits Policies Procedures Safe Systems & equipment Compliance with Regulations TrainingInvestigationsCommitteesInspections

1992 and all that Health & Safety Audits Policies Procedures Safe Systems & equipment Compliance with Regulations TrainingInvestigationsCommitteesInspections Risk Assessment

Risk Centred Risk Assessment ProceduresCompetence Critical Compliance Investigations Controls assurance

Opal Fruits v Starburst Simple understanding What could go wrong? –Assessment How will we stop that happening? –Control What will we do if it does? –Emergencies and recovery Opal Fruits v Starburst

Overlapping approach PeopleLocations Equipment Start in the right place

Process approach 3452Step 1 Process approach

Setting start and end points Priority ________ Task title ________ X X X X X Enables us to determine and demonstrate which tasks are significant and which are not There has to be less significant than insignificant Define that first then and see what’s left How would we show that we looked and said ‘no’? Can a number of tasks be grouped together?

Risk Assessment No absolute model, as long as it works Pick ‘n’ Mix from: Putting the assessment in context Identifying key hazards, not all. Identify what could go wrong, why and to whom What stops this going wrong – and does it work Scores – if and ONLY IF, you need them Risk Assessment

SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL OF RISK Sea of Trivia Risk Profile

Suitable and sufficient Just training?

Suitable and sufficient Linked to Risk Assessment?

Likelihood is key Competency plays a huge role in this – but competency in WHAT? Please don’t say Health and Safety Task driven competency Do it well, do it less often Refresh, don’t repeat Supervisors need to participate Managers need to understand to buy in Likelihood is the key to success

Do what you’ve always done You’ll get what you’ve always got. If that is good, then fine, well done If you think the end is just around the corner, then great – share your success with us If you think that there’s another 40 years’ work here then maybe you really need to have a really good think Do what you’ve always done

Will we be doing what we’ve been doing for another: 100 years? 50 years? 30? 10? 5? If a line has to be drawn, where will YOU draw it? So …… So…

End Thank you for not throwing rocks