Morning All,

Has anyone got experience of using excel to build a semi-automated risk assessment template. We are currently exploring this avenue and would be good to hear the opinions of other in regards this. I’m aware that it can be done using formulas to pull the information in from other tabs etc but just wanted to see if anyone uses these and how user friendly they are?

Not sure what you are suggesting. Is it you want to say type (or select from a list) in the hazard column “Use ladder on grass”? Then in the Control Column automatically put in whatever you have previously listed elsewhere as control for that activity” ?  So, it just populates a template.

The problem with this is the control for using a ladder on grass may change dependant on what you are going to do when you are up there.

In theory if you only ever do the same smallish range of tasks it may be possible with a free type part to add any extras if necessary, but may not be worth the effort. I think you have to have a relatively limited business-like window washing, for this to work.

You can set up “VLookup” lists in excel, this may help you try out.

Chris

In the realm of the multiverse there are that many possible combinations the ability of a simple Excel sheet to spit out a meaningful document would be limited to waiting for all possible variables being included at the start.

You can also be sure that when documents do appear there will be an incident due to an omitted variable.

A majority of accidents happen to people doing "the same thing they have done for years" before without incident - if all the variables and controls were the same why was the outcome different?

I take a bit of an old fashioned view of risk assessment.  I think you should "tell me the story"  explain to me what can hurt me the circumstances, the how and why it can hurt me and then what can be done to stop it from hurting me.  If you are generating so many risk assessments that you need to automate writing them then maybe you need to change your approach.  I don't think automated risk assessments can really fit the bill in terms of explaining what it going on in any particular situation.

So my question back.... would be why would company’s not explore this avenue?

The idea is that we enter in a hazard and then this will automatically pull in a list of controls we normally introduce on the work site, this can then be amended to suit. There will still be an option for free text to add in any additional controls measures that are required.

Using this approach we can have a consistent standard in regards controls measure we introduce for the tasks being performed. People can also over look control measures and this can lead to incidents. Lastly when we do have incidents one of the actions is always to review and update the TRA, again using this process ensures that this is embedded across our whole business unit and not just in the location where the incident occurred. 

I would not attempt to try to assess whether this would work for physical hazards but I have reservations about its ability to work for chemical exposures. My first and major problem is defining the hazard. The hazard presented by a chemical is not a simple constant. Consider water. How would you define the hazard? It will vary depending upon circumstances. In many cases the hazard will be absolutely minimal, in others life threatening. And this is considering only water on its own. Mix it with other chemicals and the situation becomes even more complex. Consider a chemical that can initiate an allergic reaction in the skin but cannot actually be absorbed into the skin due to its viscosity. Mix it with water and the situation changes dramatically as does the hazard. Of course, if the concentration is sufficiently low, i.e. below the threshold needed to initiate the immune reaction, then the hazard may again be little different that water on its own. How will a semi-automatic system cope with the myriad of different mixtures of different chemicals that we might encounter and the resultant variations in hazard? And this is just defining the hazard and has not even considered the potential complexities of exposure.

Smuger

If you can get it to work then go for it - I was tasked with evaluating a comercial package that did something like this - but we are a very divers organisation, when we got to 100 possible controls for slips and trips my directors realised it was not going to work.

One size does not fit all - but it may work for you.

Originally Posted by: BernieGale123

A semi automated system is a very good idea especially if you have multiple sites doing identical tasks why reinvent the wheel each time.

If the system flags up tasks which require additional help then even better.

That assumes that all of the sites are the same and so have exactly the same risk.

Hi Smudger,

I do use a semi automated process using excel.

I have a hazard table with the generic risk and generic controls for that risk. Then a lookup page where I can type the number of the generic hazard. It uses vlookup function to pull the information and voila the generic controls populate the excel risk assessment template. This can then be cut and pasted into word (or you can use mail merge if you know how) and can quickly build a generic risk assessment. 

The caveat? Notice how many times I used the word "generic"? It's OK for quickly putting together a genric risk assessment but then has to be fine tuned to relate to the actual task and scenario. I only use it to "desktop" a task so I have a general idea of what we're looking at before going out and speaking to the people who actually do the job and observing the tasks.

The plus side, it gives me a starting point very quickly and doesn't cost anything like a bespoke solution (like HANDS HQ for example) which does pretty much the same thing.

Hope this helps

R