How do people feel about Generic Risk Assessments completed by someone else from the company with every consivable hazard and control measure, then sent out to be made site speficic at each location.

Do you think this takes the thought process out, ownership and ability at a local level with the likleyhood that the just the date and location being changed on the assessments with no thought for addtional hazards because they aren't listed or do you feel it gives the Managers a good starting base, points them in the right direction and takes away the risk of them missing something?

Just looking at both sides of the argument and looking to see what my fellow safety bods feel.

One thing it is not is a Risk Assessment - it is not a consideration of the actual task/activity and the hazards the undertaking presents.

These documents are a list of presumptions and assumptions and dangerous in the extreme as by their very nature they impart a false sense of security - the author didn't consider everything and the user doesn't know enough to address potential omissions (and likely doen't recognise that omissions may exist assuming the "professional" who prepared it knew what they were doing)

These are the kind of documets that lead to blanket PPE, requirements for various skills cards and all other facets of lazy H&S because it is easier than doing the job properly every time

Auditing to a proscribed check list is a similar example - you end up missing the blatantly obvious due to focusing on the form unless it so detailed it becomes the entire employment role (just removed five notices around a site listing personnel who had left the business between five and two years ago - the managers monthly check list merely asked the notices were present rather than current!).

I agree with Roundtuit - give people an aide memoire rather than a pre-populated generic assessment unless the location and activity is really and truly low risk

I think it would pertain to what the job involved.

You can do a generic risk assessment for building a wall for example.  The bricks will be normal size and weight, the mortar will be made out of sand and cement and the operator will need to wear specific PPE and have facilities for work at height when the brick wall gets too tall - for example, very simplistic but you get the idea. 

However .......  you still need to go to site and see where the wall will be build, what the hazards are that will make building this wall different from an other wall that has ever been built and then do a dynamic risk assessment that complements the generic risk assessment taking these specific factors into account.  By the time you've done that, you might as well do the whole lot on site.

I suppose it's like a lot of things within H&S "horses for courses".

A lot of employers fall into the bad habit of "Risk Assessment by tick-box" which doesn't help anybody, especially when there is an investigation by the Enforcing Authority & that classic debate of "suitable & sufficient" rears its head.

I once had a look at a RA for building low walls around Council properties & was more than slightly confused by their inclusion of coffer dams!

So, in conclusion, yes there can be a place for them, but to rely on them solely would be foolish.

Pregnancy is not a hazard!!! side effects can include:

- lack of sleep

- indigestion/poor nutrition

- huge hole in finances for several decades (and possibly beyond)

- loss of personal time playing taxi, nurse ....

- anxiety when they start school, college, university, clubbing.....

I believe that they are pretty essential in many, if not most, jobs.

Does the shift supervisor at McDonalds fill in a new risk assessment every time someone needs to make a burger or fry some chips? Of course not. 

Against!

I work in an industry where the word/ thought/ concept of `generic` is totally unacceptable.

And even if I wasn`t in this industry I would bristle at the mere mention of `generic`.

Aide memoire...yes. Generic RA...emphatically no.

And I know where Ron is coming from. Pregnancy in itself is not a hazard. Pregnancy brings about hazards.

I'll quite happily accept a generic risk assessment for a classroom or office (new build, virtally identical) - but with the understanding that if it doesn't fit their situtaion, they have to adapt it.

I think there is a place for them in low risk environments - allowing the extra time & effort to be concentrated on the higher risk stuff.

Edited by user 13 September 2017 08:56:45(UTC)  | Reason: I type faster than I can spell!

Originally Posted by: Ron Hunter

Scary stuff. IF you're going to pull out the paper work to do a "specific risk assessment" (not a legal requirement) when the employee informs you they're expecting, then you may be too late. Hazards either exist in the workplace, or they don't.

to quote HSE:

"Your workplace risk assessment should already consider any risks to female employees of childbearing age and, in particular, risks to new and expectant mothers (for example, from working conditions, or the use of physical, chemical or biological agents). Any risks identified must be included and managed as part of the general workplace risk assessment."

http://www.hse.gov.uk/mothers/faqs.htm#q3

HSE 'While it is a legal obligation for employers to regularly review general workplace risks, there is no legal requirement to conduct a specific, separate risk assessment for an employee, once notified in writing that she is a new or expectant mother. However, you may choose to do so, to help you decide if any additional action needs to be taken'.

There will always be a place for generic R/A's. In some of the worlds most high risk industries they are the basis for evolving the SSoW. Consider a complex move of a large module from one location to another. There are many risk factors to be considered and mitigated to ensure the task is performed safely. By starting with a blank canvass, you are in danger of exposing yourself to potentially missing a key element or step in the process which would have serious consequences.

As long as the generic R/A is utilised correctly and additional information is included such as weather, environment, SIMOPS and interfaces, the SSoW will be complete and all likely hazards identified and mitigated.

Of course there is a case for aid memoires and check lists to assist with the production of a specific R/A; however by taking the approch described above, everything is within one pack including any permit requirements and can easily be communicated to the work party and reviewed and signed by the respective work responsible persons