I can't guarantee I still have it but we used something similar when I worked in accommodation to aid those who did not speak English as their first language. If I don't have anything PM and and I am more than happy to help in any way I can

But that isn't the point or purpose of risk assessment!

Thank you everyone for taking the time to contribute.

Avocetboy and Jodie I have PM'd you my email address, anything you can send over would be very much appreciated.

Yeah, I agree Ashley, I've worked as a labourer myself before becoming a safety advisor and in my experience risk assessments are often overlooked and do not receive the attention they deserve because they are too wordy, time consuming and generic. Therefore, getting the point accross becomes an issue.

My aim is to help get the point across by grasping the attention of front line staff with pictures, drawings and familiar work scenarios that would complement the risk assessment by making each assessment visually different as opposed to having pages of text with no distinguishing difference.

Hi all,

We retain the services of Citation Plc for our corporate H&S advice (not sure why) and they have an online RA generation "App", for want of a better word. It churns out generic RAs all based on pictograms, some standard Mandatory or Hazard icons, but others less clear and for more complex requirements. I don't like them at all and don't use them.

The printed page is a jumble of colours and shapes and without careful consideration of each pictogram and what it might mean they are of very little practical use.

I agree with others above - The RA should be a text based but that the results of the RA, turned in to a SSOW, could be represented in a pictorial form. Also agree that pictures are open to interpretation leaving room for issues to arise.


Andy

Thanks Andy, PM'd you my email address if you could send me an example of the risk assessment based on a pictogram I would really appreciate it.

Yeah symbols are commonly used on COSHH assessments and I believe they work well as a quick reference.

One area where I feel picture based risk assessments may be useful is in identifying safety exclusion zones around moving plant (excavators etc) these could be done to scale and also identify driver blind spots. I believe it is a lot easier to communicate vital information in scenarios like this via pictures and text as opposed to just text alone.

We were recently subject to an investigation by the HSE after an injury during a relatively straightforward small-scale construction job. We have generic RA's in place and expect staff to add any site-specific risks. But there was no site-specific risk assessment on record for this job. However, the chaps had discussed the job beforehand and decided on a course of action - the inspector accepted that a risk assessment had been carried out but described it as an "administrative breach" because is hadn't been recorded.

The discussion then moved on to how the RA should be recorded and he suggested either recording the conversation into a phone and/or a simple drawing or photo annotated with a few relevant comments.

The law only requires the significant findings of a RA to be recorded, so not the whole RA thought process nor does it need to take the form of text on paper.

Ian

I used to add a picture of equipment to a risk assessment just so people could identify to what piece of equipment the assessment was for. The reason I did this was we had a large workshop in the prison and it helped prisoners identify equipment and then read the assessment. I also added it to the SSOW and attached these to the equipment.