Yes, with great success. We have an operation for rescue from height where the significant findings of the risk assessment and the safe system of work are compiled as a picture book with annotation. The photographs were taken during a practice rescue.

I'd argue that what you are referring to is the safe system of work that is created as a result of the risk assessment.

Clearly SSOW's with pictures etc. are more informative and easier to read / understand than purely text SSOWs. I'm in the low risk retail / warehousing sector but still every SSOW we create has pictures relevant to the task / hazards.

That said, I don't think what you are referring to is an actually risk assessment, as by its very nature is an assessment of the hazards and identification of the control measures, I can't see how pictures fit in with that process. Probably being too pedantic mind, so as you were!

Why do so many people refer to 'risk assessment' when they are really talking about the 'risk management'.

Whilst I am a great believer in pictures (as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words), I find it difficult to conceive of how I might illustrate pictorially a chemical hazard due to use of a particular chemical or combination of chemicals that could damage health due to skin exposure. Considering that wet work (i.e. exposure to water) is a common cause of occupational contact dermatitis, how would you illustrate the hazard? And in many workplaces as far as skin is concerned the risk assessment may well be dealing with a variety of chemicals that together may result in damage to health, but the effect being chronic, there is no simple image of the outcome.

However, I find it much easier to illustrate the control measures that are required to use a chemical safely. Isn't this really what the employee needs, after all?

Chris

Whatever you call them I think the O.P. is talking about documents that are there to guide and assist safe working at the workplace.
In such situations using pictures can be very helpful. I have used them widely in manufacturing and seen them used effectively in Europe as well. (pictures have an almost universal language)
It is often easier and safer to use pictures to inject some humour into the scenario; such use being dependent on where you are with your safety culture of course!
I have also seen s.w.p with pictures more readily accepted and used within teams as part of self-regulation of safety matters. Feedback told us it was much easier to say "check the piccie" rather than "read" the ssow/ra etc.
Don't overdo it though and if you have access to some publishing or marketing expertise it is well worth getting their help on the design and content.

p48

Thanks for all the replies so far.




Exactly what Pete said. The actual document is called a risk assessment. It forms part of the risk management process. The guys invloved won't be too concerned what it is called as long as it is easier for them to read then what we have in place now.

I happen to believe that it is a very good idea and am keen to move forward with this. More so in fact that it was a workshop employee who thought of it. I have a meeting with management next week so i will be suggesting this to them and see what kind of response i get.

I whole-heartily agree that it's a good idea, and we all know what you mean (and that it makes little difference to the operational staff what you name it) but as "professionals" I also think it's important to get our terms correct.

Undertaking Risk Assessment is a legal requirement, and a requirement to write down the findings if you've 5 or more employees. The document that shows you've done this will need to record the hazards and control measures chosen to reduce the risk. Taking pictures (in at least in some examples, see above) is impossible to achieve this satisfactorily.

Providing pictures as required is not a strict legal requirement, but part of the requirement to provide suitable information, instruction and training.

I only comment further as if you were speaking to an enforcement officer etc and said "this is our risk assessment" they may get the wrong impression!

Try getting your message across to 400 Afghan's who cant read (any language) or speak English.

Pictorial RA are just the job. Step By step photographs.

The usual pedants comments are noted-Chemicals of course are the only Hazard hmmm

To be clear, I am talking about documents that I would normally call 'procedures.' Others may call them 'instructions' or 'method statements.' I think this is what the original questions was actually referring to, despite calling them risk assessments.

The key point is that procedures have to be presented in a way that ensures they are used as intended. Pictures can definitely help in this regard.

At a very basic level, including a picture can make a procedure more visually appealing, which may mean people are more likely to use it. For certain types of activity a picture will make it easier for someone to understand what the text of the procedure is trying to say. And, in some cases pictures can overcome language problems.

There are plenty of examples that you can refer to. Instructions for putting together flat pack furniture are a good example. They are usually pictorial, with minimal text. However, I would ask you to consider how often you have made a mistake following the instructions. This highlights that pictures have their limitations. Alternatively, Haynes Manuals have always used pictures to supplement quite large amounts of text, and I think this works very well.

There are some downsides of using pictures that need to be considered. They include:

1. It is not a trivial task to take good pictures, organise them and insert them into the procedure.
2. It makes modifying procedures more difficult, which may mean that they are updated less often.
3. A layout that suits pictures may not work so well with text, so the procedure actually becomes less usable
4. They can take up more space so people are put off because the procedure has more pages
5. They can be perceived as 'dumbing down' the procedure, so that experienced personnel think they don't need to use them.

Think carefully about how a picture is going to help the end user of the procedure.

I include pictures in 'SOME' of my risk assessments but that is because they are pertinent to a remedial action I have recommended.

If, for instance, I have carried out a fire risk assessment and found a breach in a fire resisting construction I will include a photograph to aid those tasked with the remedial action.

Likewise, I would do the same during a workplace risk assessment if I found potholes in the car-park.

Isn't that a Workplace Safety Inspection? I don't "risk assess" potholes, broken railings, failed lighting etc. - I take immediate steps to have things repaired?