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Posted By Alan Hoskins
Hi everyone,
Examples of mitigation of risks that office staff can relate to (if indeed, there are any)?
I currently use nets/airbags in construction as examples but these are not within the everyday experience of most people.
Anything considered - or near offers!
Many thanks
Alan
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Posted By holmezy
Alan,
in office
tidy or covered cables - trip hazards
checking of plugs, cables etc - electrical hazard
position of keyboard, screen, seat, dse assessment etc - muscoskeletal hazards
Fire exits kept clear - fire (evacuation) hazard
hot mugs of tea on trays - manual handling hazards
Sack trucks - manual handling hazards
out of office
traffic lights - colision hazard
motorcyclist helmet - sore head hazard
cricketers box - sore ***** hazard
farmers gate - bull attack hazard
Flu jab - sickness hazard
suncream - burn hazard
speed camera - 3 point hazards
bunch of flowers - angry wife syndrome hazard
Millions of them, just think laterally.
Holmezy
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Posted By Alan Hoskins
Thanks H,
Most of your examples though, are for the control of risk.
What I need are some examples of where a risk cannot be adequately controlled - as with falls from height during construction works - where you cannot provide barriers or tie people on to the structure, it has to be assumed that someone might actually fall and so we mitigate the outcome by giving them something softer than concrete to land on.
...but relating to an office...
A
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Posted By Tarquin Farquor
Alan,
The only thing I could think of was the provision of first aiders. Don't prevent any injury but potentially mitigate the consequences by providing initial treatment.
Regards,
TF
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Posted By Brian Hagyard
Alan.
Been racking my limited brain all weekend (how sad is that!) and cannot think of any really good examples in an office. Most risks should be easily eliminated or controlled in that type of environment.
About the only one I could come up with (and I accept its a bit tenuous) is the use of safety film on old glass windows/panels in high risk areas as per Workplace Reg 14. Does nothing to reduce the chances of someone falling into the glass but reduces the risk of laceration.
Any good for you?
Brian
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Posted By Alan Hoskins
Thanks everyone for trying...
I think I may have answered my own question in my reply to holmezy - there aren't (or shouldn't be) any uncontrolled risks in an office situation.
First Aid cover suggested by Tarquin is perhaps the nearest in mitigating the outcome of any incident resulting in injury.
Not sure about the film. Need to think about that one. (yes Brian - it is sad)
I suppose the example doesn't need to be directly office related, but should be more generally familiar to office staff than the construction one is.
Alan
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Posted By Seamus O Sullivan
Hi
What about working with a computer DSE in office, using the wrong seat may result in back, neck problems, wrong wrist position with keyboard ..carpel tunnel syndrome,,
to control this,, use correct seat
correct wrist position reduces chances of carpel tunnel syndrom,
also requires staff training to show how to adjust seat, adjust screen height, etc
any good?
seamus
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Posted By Alan Hoskins
Thanks Seamus,
Again, your suggestion is more to do with controlling the risk, so preventing the injury in the first place, rather than mitigating the outcome should the risk be realised.
Not easy is it?
Alan
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Posted By Tabs
Tricky ...
How about ...
Fire extinguishers
Smoke detectors
Emergency lighting
Emergency exits
Sprinkler system
Fire drills
and very tenuous ... rounded edges/corners to desks; rounded tips to scissors; hypoallergenic plasters; five legs to swivel chairs;
any prizes?
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Posted By Andy Brazier
There seems to be confusion about what counts as mitigation. In my opinion, mitigation is not for a situation where a hazard cannot be controlled. Instead, it is where a control of the hazard cannot be guaranteed 100%, and hence the mitigation protects against the loss of control.
Therefore, as suggest by tabs, fire detection and fighting is a good example. You do what you can to prevent fires, but cannot guarantee there will never be a fire. However, tabs' suggestions of rounded edges etc. does not apply because that reduces the hazard, which is a form of control and not mitigation.
Most PPE should only be used as mitigation. You wear a hard hat in case the controls to prevent falling objects fail. However, people often see PPE as a form of control. A good example is gloves. People think because they are wearing gloves they can put their hand in a bucket containing a hazardous material and will be safe. In fact the main controls in this case are the selection of material and selecting methods that do not require people to put their hands in the bucket. But this point is often missed.
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Posted By Alan Hoskins
Thanks for that Andy, it appears that it is often unclear what we mean by some (many?) of our well used H&S terms...
No prizes Tabs, but I think you are probably as near to the mark as I will get with your suggestion of automatic sprinkler systems. I hadn't even thought about fire risk!
Many thanks to everyone who contributed.
Alan
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