the ice making machine at a fast food
outlet had been leaking for several days
and although the normal practice was to
mop up any spillages as soon as they
appeared on the day of the accident they
were short-staffed and no one had
stopped to clear it up a 16 year old
girl who just started working at the
restaurant slipped on the wet patch and
instinctively put out a hand to break a
fall but unfortunately it went into a
deep fat fryer and she was very badly
burnt it's not hard to see how this
accident could have been avoided and in
fact the environmental health officer
who investigated the incident believed
that the accident and therefore the
injury the girl suffered had been
completely avoidable everyone is
entitled to work in an environment where
risks to their health and safety are
properly controlled and the main
responsibility for this forced to the
employers but you also have a
responsibility for your own health and
safety and for that of your colleagues
customers and anyone who may be affected
by what you do or what you don't do for
example if someone anyone had cleared up
the spillage that accident almost
certainly wouldn't have happened so
health and safety is about looking after
yourself and those around you and it's
also about how the risk of harm or
injury is managed and reduced we do this
with our personal safety perhaps we
don't think of it in those terms but we
go through a process of assessing risks
and taking precautions look at this Kate
rides her bike to work she knows that
there are lots of hazards the things
that can cause her harm
and she's wait up the risks from these
both in terms of them happening and also
how serious any injury could be and come
to the conclusion that by taking
sensible precautions such as wearing a
helmet and bright reflective clothing
and making sure her bikes in good
working order
she'll reduce any risk to an acceptable
level the same three steps form part of
a risk assessment at work the hazards
are identified the risks are assessed
and precautions or control measures as
they're called in health and safety are
taken to reduce or eliminate the risks
when accidents happen any injuries are
often immediate but sometimes a person's
health can be harmed over a period of
time look at what happened to Jerry
Jerry had been working in a loud factory
environment for a number of years then
one day when he was at home he realized
that he couldn't hear the phone ringing
anymore his hearing loss had happened
little by little and over a period of
time although he was only 40 when he
found out about his loss now that it's
gone there's no way for him to get it
back but quieter machines or hearing
protection and regular hearing checks
could have prevented this both the cases
we've looked at are based on true
stories and show how small changes to
working practices could have made a huge
difference to the victims lives so let's
look at how risk is managed in a work
environment Jackie's just started
working in an office where she'll spend
a large part of a day using a computer
when doing this sort of work harms such
as back pain eyestrain or painful wrists
can come from things like poor posture
or using a workstation that hasn't been
set up correctly for the user so some of
the hazards are already known but jackie
also needs to take part in a risk
assessment to identify any particular
needs that she may have once the hazards
are all identified the risks are
assessed in terms of their severity and
the likelihood of them happening to use
one example a lot of people who work at
computers for long periods and without
any control measures being in place
experience back pain the problems which
caused the pain can be serious and the
pain itself can be quite severe so the
control measures to reduce the chances
of this happening will need to match
this level of risk
Jackie will receive display screen
equipment training and learn things like
how to adjust her chair and the monitor
correctly so that she can maintain a
good posture while working and there
might also be some other recommended
measures such as a footrest or an
alternative pointing device as a result
of the individual assessment she did and
it doesn't end there if Jackie's
situation changed for example if she
moved to another desk or she felt
something was wrong
she'd have to do another risk assessment
so risk assessment is an on
in process
since health and safety legislation was
brought in the numbers have reported
fatal and non-fatal injuries at work
have fallen dramatically so let's have a
look at some of the things everyone
needs to do in order to keep the
workplace as safe as possible you must
cooperate with your employers and
colleagues on anything to do with Health
and Safety and follow any training
that's provided also let your supervisor
or the person responsible know if you
see anything which you think is or might
be a potential hazard
report accidents and near misses this
helps identify any new hazards so that
control measures can be put in place in
our personal lives we take precautions
to keep ourselves our family and our
friends safe and at work we also have a
responsibility and an obligation to help
keep ourselves our colleagues customers
and visitors safe from harm and injury