Purpose
To lay down procedure for Hazards Identification and Risk Assessment of the operations carried out for Occupational Health &
Safety impacts associated with its activities, products & processes.
Procedure
The concerned Department Head initiates the process of
identifying hazards related to all operation in their department. The process
includes soliciting inputs from all personnel of the concerned section, as
appropriate.
Consider the process flow of each such operation &
divide it into different activities, so that each activity can be considered
separately for identifying the hazard
While dividing operations into activities, consider
following points:
ACTIVITIES (e.g. handling of
hazardous materials, storage, Processing, etc.).
SERVICES (e.g. Transportation, Maintenance,
washing, conditioning, etc.).
PRODUCTS (e.g. raw materials, in process
materials, packing materials, finished products, Bye-products, etc.).
Classify activities into
‘Direct’ and ‘Indirect’:
DIRECT(D): Those which are under the
direct control of the organization.
INDIRECT(I): Those which are not under the
organization’s direct control, but over which it can be expected have an
influence (e.g. the activities performed by the contractors, sub-contractors,
suppliers or neighbors).
Hazard: Hazard defines as a “source or situation with a
potential to cause injury and ill health”. Hazard identification should
consider the following types of hazards in the workplace -
Physical Hazards: Electricity, Noise and vibration, Heat &
cold, Dust & fibers, Radiation, exposed moving machinery parts,
Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS).
Chemical Hazards: Liquids (e.g.
office supplies, cleaning products, paints, acids), Vapors and fumes (e.g.
welding fumes, toluene), Gases (e.g. oxygen, acetylene, propane, carbon
monoxide), Flammable (e.g. Alcohol, PA), combustible, and explosive materials (e.g.
LPG).
Biological Hazards: Unclean rest
rooms, improperly stored medical waste, Mould, fungus, and mildew, Bacteria
& viruses, Plants (e.g. poison ivy), Insect stings, Animal bites.
Ergonomic Hazards: Lighting,
Workstation layout, Video Display Terminals (VDTs), Work surfaces, Chairs,
Color, Lifting, Repetitive movements, Posture, Shift work.
Psychological hazard: any hazard that affects the mental well-being
or mental health of the worker by overwhelming individual coping mechanisms and
impacting the worker’s ability to work in a healthy and safe manner.
Human behavior & other factors: Human behavior and
safety, Perception of risk and human error, Organizational control and human
reliability, Principles of communication (verbal and non-verbal communication),
Interpersonal skills, Health and safety culture, Change and change management,
Stress and stress management, Mental Capabilities and Limits, working hours,
Labeling, Controls should operate as expected, Process design.
Identify Hazards under all the following conditions for
each activity:
Routine (R)- Regular activities
comes in this condition (e.g. leak test, machine operation)
Non routine (NR) conditions –
Non- regular activities which to be perform in some cases (e.g. breakdown
activities, etc.).
Emergency (E) conditions- All the emergency situation comes in this
condition (e.g. possibility of fire hazard, leakage of hazardous gas, fall from
height etc.).
The determinations of significant occupational health
& safety hazard are based on the best judgment of the professionals
involved in the process, with advice of EHS Department and other expert of the
matter.
Risk is the combination of the probability or frequency
of occurrence of a defined hazards or opportunity and the magnitude of the
consequences of the occurrence. Hazards identification & Risk assessment is
a term used to describe the overall process or method where you:
Identify hazards and risk factors that have the
potential to cause harm (hazard identification).
Analyze and evaluate the risk associated with that
hazard (risk analysis, and risk evaluation).
Determine appropriate ways to eliminate the hazard, or
control the risk when the hazard cannot be eliminated (risk control).
All identified Health & Safety Hazards related to
company’s products, activities & services shall be assigned a Risk Rating
for each of the factors like, Occurrence Probability & Severity.
The total Risk Rating of a Hazard shall be calculated
as follows:
Total Risk Rating(TRR):
OP x S
 |
| hazard identification and risk assessment |
On the basis of TRR following Matrix is prepared-
 |
| hazard identification and risk assessment Matrix |
Risk based Control Plan- Following are the control
plan as per risk category-
All Hazards having Total Risk Rating equal to or more
than ‘9’ & covered under legislation shall be considered UNACCEPTABLE
Hazard. All emergency Hazards shall be taken care of through On-Site Emergency
Plan.
Acceptable risk: is defined as
“risk that has been reduced to a level that can be tolerated by the
organization having regard to its legal commitments.
Unacceptable risk: is defined as
“risk that has been exceed to a level that cannot be tolerated by the
organization. Emergency hazards and legal requirement automatically comes into
unacceptable risk.
Risk Controls: Identified risk
is controlled by following methods-
Hazard elimination: Avoiding risks and
adapting work to workers, (integrating health safety and ergonomics when
planning new workplaces, and creating physical separation of traffic between
pedestrians and vehicles).
Substitution: Replacing the
dangerous with the less or non - dangerous (replacing
solvent-based paint with water-based paint).
Engineering controls: Implementing collective
protective measures (isolation, machine guarding, ventilation, noise reduction,
etc.)
Administrative controls: Giving appropriate
instructions to workers (lock-out processes, induction, forklift driving
licenses, etc.)
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):
Providing PPE and instructions for PPE use /maintenance (safety shoes, safety
glasses, hearing protection, chemical and liquid
resistant gloves, electrical protection gloves, etc.)
HIRA will be reviewed on the yearly basis or change of
procedure, material and introduction of new activity by concerned department
and submit to EHS department.
