Hi

Where I work we often have jobs to undertake on various sites that have no RAMS package and may only take a day or so from start to finish. 

For these jobs we have a Task Specific Risk Assessment form for the supervisors and the guys involved in the job to complete on site (tick box for hazards and then write in the procedures to overcome these hazards).

We do however have some employees who refuse to fill these in due to "lack of time".

Where do we stand regarding any consequences from working without undertaking a risk assessment of  a specific task?

We do have Generic Risk Assessments for individual equipment and tasks but not for individual areas of work and individual machines etc at customers premises, so nothing specific.

Just want to clear up how/where we stand.

The devil is in the detail of what risk assessmets you already have and how they might cover the work that employees are refusing to complete basic risk assessments for.

It is of course regulation 3 of the Management of health and safety at work Regs that applies.

SOunds like the company need to be more forceful in implementing your safety management system if necessary, up to and including discipliary action. Weak management I would suggest.

As ever, in the event of an incident leading to HSE involement you are likely to have some difficult questions to answer. Prosecution is always an option.

Sorry but this looks like the classic don't give the supervisors/operatives sufficient resources (time, training etc) to do what you say they must, and them blame (discipline) them when it is not done. You have the feed-back that your current system is not working, so work with your staff to identify a system that will.  

Hi,

As with previous comments risk assessment is a legal requirement and is fundamental document to complete to ensure that significant risks have been considered, eliminated, mitigated and controlled.

The HSE (and I quote from two of their inspectors) "Expect a suitable and sufficient risk assessment will have been carried out of the proposed work, to identify any hazards associated with such work and ensure that the health and safety of persons exposed to risk are controlled."

Not having a suitable and sufficient risk assessment in place potentially exposes the individuals and the organisation as a whole.

I hope this helps?

If the refuseniks are saying there`s no time, it is still the system they are working to thats at fault.

In my experience though there can be a false perception from the front line guys that there`s no time. So you need to gauge both `sides`.  Operational guys will, however, hide behind this false perception as a way of wriggling out of doing/ contributing to RAs.

I hate the word `generic` and indeed `generic` documents. There are no such things in my opinion. Steer everyone in your organisation away from this.

As others have said a suitable & sufficient risk assessment is fundamental to any work activity.

bod212

I'm with RayRapp on this one. R/A is a statutory duty placed on the employer. What you refer to as a "generic" must cover alll foresseable risks, and relevant employees should be involved in the process.

Should your employee come across any issue he considers outwith his training, knowledge or experience then he should be contacting his supervisor. He should not be writing a story about it.

All to common this. and a dereliction of duty by the employer.

suggest a timesheet and they set out how they are going to do the job prior to going to site, so that they can adequately plan their activities, and in addition bill back the time they are going to have, plan what they need, and do the work safely. 

to me the way written suggests an issue of "I can't do the job because i have all the paperwork to do" and belies an attitude of I'm Alright Jack. 

I have had a number of people I have tried to work on over years, and as such, taking them to working well together mock trials and similar events allows them to think "I could be in the dock", allowing them also to get to understand some of the issues as to why it's needed to do the paperwork side of things, something that may not be top priority at present. 

I'd be inclined to use some of the safety videos such as available from latitude productions - Jen Deeny's and Ken Woodward's, and I would also be looking to encourage them that it's a reasonable request to follow the procedure, and whilst valuable to the company, there is a limit to the level of tolerance of what is acceptable. At the same mock trial, take the managing director, and get people to interact with other organisations too - some of the people from other organisations will indicate to said individuals that the grass is not greener elsewhere, and the forms you will have come up with will be "better than what we have"...

in addition, the alternative of no work till it's done, or someone standing over them ensuring they do everything as required means no leeway, so pretty please, with a cherry on to, fill in the ****ing form, and do so with a productive mindset. 

If they can't it'll have to go down the disciplinary route, and a trip to work for someone who cares less, and they will be injured more. 

perhaps they could record it or have a body warn camera as an option as an alternative option instead to ensure that they do it? 

we also put them, and supervisors on iosh 4 day managing safely so they had had a chat & discussion ref h&s with others, ideally only 1 or 2 on external course so hear the groups' opinions as well as instructor's for a h&s attitude injection. 

Edited by user 08 September 2017 12:27:06(UTC)  | Reason: added ref to iosh 4 day managing safely

the suggestion I got from the post above was a day on site and can't do a form with a few boxes and lines on it, suggesting in 8 hours can't find 10 minutes to do it, and so have taken it to mean:

is related to an attitude:

probably toward the explanation of why the form is needed 

or how it's explained,

or protect your back not mine.

don't like it

i decide what and how to do it. 

Agree this is a legal requirement, and agree some encouragement from management would be a really good idea - The only thing I would add to the discussion is there may be other reasons for the workers not filling in risk assessment paperwork such as literacy issues.  Seen this a number of times over the years, and as much as we encourage people to let us know (in advance, please!) that they are dyslexic (I think that's how you spell it...!) or have difficulties with reading or writing, the people themselves will always consider their situation will be seen as weakness.

May be worth a thought though, considering the legal repercussions that have already been alluded to above.