Hello, I'm not an H&S person so please excuse me asking what is probably an obvious question.   Can an employee insist on seeing a written risk assessment for a task (where this is a big employer)?  If so is this stated somewhere, in case the employer is reluctant to provide it?

I am not sure how employees can comply with the requirements of a risk assessment for a task if its not being shared with them.  Also what can they do if co-employees that they are working with do not comply with the requirements of the risk assessment. 

Many thanks for your patience and in advance for your help.

Maddie

There's no legal entitlement to see the risk assessment document itself, just the relevant findings from it which could for example be in the form of a work instruction, a handbook or indeed a toolbox talk.  These ways of presenting the information may be deemed more "comprehensible and relevant" than the document itself.

Having said this, I would be very suspicious of a company which kept its risk assessments secret from its employees.  This is not normal and suggests they are hiding something.

Based on my experience of HSE inspectors what they expect is some sort of grown up conversation between the employer and their employees (or their representatives). As Kate said it is not necessary for the employee to see the whole detailed assessment which might be very technical on the other hand the employer must provide a justification for the controls etc that they wish the employees to follow. Its not good enough simply to say “my way or the highway” if you want employees to comply with the safe system of work. HSE do expect the employees to have a certain level of understanding.  The classic one being if they see an employees carrying a containers of something is asking the employee:” what would you do if you dropped that bottle?”. They would expect the employee to answer the question quickly and to give an answer which shows they understand the risks involved.  The employee simply saying simply I’d mop it up or go and see the supervisor would not be evidence of sufficient instruction, information or supervision being provided. To do that they would need the information in the risk assessment.  

Agree with Kate

The law does not state any right for the employee to access the risk assessments. Only that the RA process must exist and be recorded in certain situations.  

The RA is a management-led process. Hence, the process is legally required in provision 10 of the Management of HS, correctly cited by A Kurdziel. The process should of course involve the employees exposed to the risks. 

As provision 10 states. It is important to provide safety information that is comprehensible and relevant. RAs are not always this.

A control measure in a specific RA, for example, may state "Specific SOP is written and followed by all employees". As an employee, reading this would provide limited use when controlling a risk. Only that they know there are SOPs to follow. However,  reading the SOPs provides comprehensible and relevant safety information. 

Providing RAs to an employee can be useful. However, providing RAs to employees is arguably not providing comprehensible information. 

Therefore, it is not a law to provide employees with access RAs because it deemed more useful to provide comprehensible and relevant safety information. 

2 questions - 1) why wouldnt you? 2) how can they comply if they dont know whats in it?

we have fairly generic ones as the jobs we carry out on sites are pretty much the same, however sometimes sites insist on certain things that need to be put in, for instance no more than x amount of flammable liquids on site, orange PPE to be worn not yellow, MWEP to be used on solid boards and not the bare floor to help with weight distribution etc.

be open about it, then theres less of a "I wasnt told" reaction if something does happen

Whenever the worker/s are present during my risk assessment process I will get them involved.  A lot of the times they know the job better than I do so it makes sense to get them involved, explaining the work process, the tools being used, equipment required etc. etc. etc.

Once completed and printed out I will sign the risk assessment and get them to sign as well.  They also get a copy.