| By :
Louise G
Copyright (c) 2010 Ianson Internet Marketing No one can eliminate every possible risk to humans and that includes businesses, But if you have more than five people working for you, the law in most countries, both abroad and in the United States, requires that you make a risk assessment and have it written out where employees and visitors to your company can read it if they choose. You are only required by law to make a risk assessment and to try to alert your workers to those risks and to protect them as much as you possibly can. Once your workers have been informed of the risks in their workplace, you have met the requirements of the law Of course, in protecting your workers, you must also provide them with protective devices in line with the risk and insist that they make use of those protective devices. To make a risk assessment, someone in your company should make an evaluation of the following: Document hazards on the job that might lead a person to fall or slide and thus hurt themselves. Working with dangerous substances is a risk, inform your workers of those risks and take measures to exposed those risks. Hazards of working on scaffolding, on ladders, or anywhere where the worker is high off the ground should be written out and safety measures implemented. Traffic hazards should be considered and means to protect your workers while exposed to traffic. Dangers from explosives or fire code violations like smoking near explosive materials should be recorded. Noise levels that might cause hearing loss and means to protect your employees should be a part of your risk assessment. Once your risk assessor has made his findings, you will need to consider the risk as applied to the worker who will be facing that risk and how he might be hurt by his actions or by the nature of the work task itself. Make a list of preventative measures that are already in place and consider implementing additional preventative measures if those already in place are considered inadequate due to previous experience. Part of your risk assessment should be a thorough examination of your equipment to protect your workers while working in situations that you have determined to be risky. A detailed report of that equipment and when it was examined should also be a part of your risk assessment. There are several companies that specialise in this important factor. They can all be found on the internet.
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