Threat & Risk Assessment in Birmingham

Part of our security services is to carry out a threat & risk assessment to assess vulnerabilities; anticipate security breaches; and advise our clients on the best security plan to put in place to secure their business premises. The risk assessment also helps our clients stay compliant and keep their employees & customers safe by reducing the chances of an accident occurring in their workplace.

The risk assessment starts with a preliminary checklist guideline to facilitate the initial steps in the process of Health & Safety Risk Assessment. Each premises is divided into work areas and separate work activities and for each activity the assessor should assess whether a Health & Safety Risk Assessment is required. Activities with trivial hazards should be ignored.

Each site has different requirements. Even similar sites can have different risks and requirements - the reason we don't use ready templates and forms: Our risk assessment is more based on specific work activities and areas risk assessment - rather than off-the shelf templates.

When carrying a workplace Risk Assessment , we follow five steps:

• 1. Identify the various hazards associated with activities (Negligible hazards, hazards with marginal effect, critical hazards, and catastrophic hazards) and anything that might cause harm. A hazard can be physical, such as slips and trips; or mental, such as working for long hours; or chemical, such as asbestos; or biological, such as infectious diseases.
• 2. Identify the number of people affected by certain activities, their tasks and how. This includes employees, customers,visitors and other people on the site. All work routines must be reviewed in various situations and locations. Young workers , disabled employees and care giving or pregnant women should be given more priority.
• 3. Determine and evaluate each risk level and status by calculating the likelihood and severity of a hazard.
• 4. Suggest control measures for each activity and then recalculate again the likelihood and severity of hazards based on given control measures. The new risk level and status should be lower after suggested control measures are in place. The goal of a risk assessment team is to reduce risk to acceptable or at least tolerable level. Any risk measured as very high must be stopped immediately. We also consider the risk appetite our clients are comfortable with as achieving a zero residual risk is usually achieved at at a higher cost than suffering the loss or damage.
• 5. Once significant hazards are identified, those who are involved in related activities need to be given the necessary actions they should take. Hazards, risks, safety points and and controls must be communicated to those who are involved. Recorded findings should be referred to and re-read from time to time - not hidden away in a cupboard only to show a business is compliant with Health & Safety regulations.

The format and recordings of the assessment should be easily read and up-to the point. It shouldn't be overcomplicated and should be illustrated where necessary.

A Risk Assessment is working document and should be kept under review to ensure that control measures are still in effect and effective. Risks that may affect construction, industrial and logistics sites, the available methods of mitigation and risk appetite ( amount of risk that a business is prepared to accept) can change rapidly : any new working practices, equipment or machinery must be taken into account when reviewing an assessment. In the event of new events or duties, The Risk Assessment Report should be reviewed more than once within one year.