Risk assessment refers to the process of calculating the probability of harm involved in an activity. Risk assessment allows any party executing an activity to ensure its success and minimize loss. Since companies often require employees to operate tools and machinery that can be dangerous, risk assessment at work is the foundation of making any workplace safe.
What Is Risk Assessment?
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, or CCOHS, defines risk assessment at work as the identification of objects, situations, or processes in a workplace that may cause harm to employees, customers, or visitors. Analysis of the identified factors evaluates the risk and determines the measures that can effectively eliminate or control the risk. The CCOHS legally binds the workplace to implement those measures.
Measures for reducing the risk of harm at the workplace include several essential training for employees, such as OFA, first aid level 3, fall arrest training, fall protection training, etc.
Why Is Risk Assessment Necessary?
Risk assessment is a legal requirement in Canada, meaning that it is essential for businesses to be able to operate. But besides ensuring smooth operations and minimizing the risk of lawsuits, risk assessment brings multiple benefits to a workplace as well as its employees.
The benefits of risk assessment at work include:
1. Improved Employee Health and Productivity
Risk assessment aims to eliminate any potential danger to employees’ health and safety from the workplace. Through risk assessment at work and implementing the required measures, businesses ensure better health and well-being of their employees, allowing candidates to trust and join them.
Every individual works to earn money so they can enjoy a good life. So work that can prove dangerous to one’s health doesn’t attract many candidates. Without a risk assessment, companies may even be unable to hire employees.
Moreover, healthy employees are always more productive than unhealthy employees as their good physical, and mental health enables them to brainstorm, learn, adapt, and improve. Employee productivity also increases when employees perform their duties confidently, assured by safety measures.
2. Better Working Environment
Risk assessment at work allows employers to create improved plans for the workspaces. This includes stronger architectural designs, more efficient layouts, advanced equipment, etc. Combined, these and other similar factors provide a better working environment for employees.
A comfortable and efficient working environment helps employees feel more productive and motivated. When employees are provided with the best and safest equipment, they work with greater enthusiasm and efficiency. The improved input from the employees contributes to the faster growth of the organization. The improved plans for every aspect of the workplace also benefit the business by maximizing its capacity and efficiency.
3. Enhanced Safety
The safety of employees directly translates to the safety of the business. A workplace that implements safety measures for its workers also enjoys greater protection of its data, equipment, and other assets. Not to mention, equipment failure doesn’t just harm the employee using it; it also results in the work being halted.
While the company can replace the equipment, the skills and knowledge lost with employees’ absence due to workplace injury can negatively impact the long run. As replacing skilled employees costs even higher, the business suffers many losses, making risk assessment at work even more important. In short, implementing the measures needed to reduce the risk of harm to employees ensures the business’s consistent growth.
4. Lowered Financial Risks
Risk assessment and implementing the measures necessary to reduce the risk of harm to employees at the workplace also lower financial risks for the company. In fact, the financial risks are lowered parallel to the risks of harm to employees.
This happens because employees’ health and well-being are the responsibility of the business, for whatever duration employees spend at the workplace or any time spent using work equipment. Employees can sue the company for not providing adequate safety gear or implementing necessary safety measures.
Thus, any mishap or accident that harms employees’ health at the workplace is an expense for the business. Moreover, accidents can cause greater financial loss than investing in safety equipment to ensure employee safety, meaning that risk assessment allows businesses to save twice the money.
5. Improved Control Measures
Regular risk assessment at work allows companies to improve their security measures before an accident or incident occurs. Besides improving security control measures, risk assessment and implementing the practices required to reduce the risk of harm at work enables employers to reinstate their control and standard company procedures for employees to follow.
6. Constant Growth and Development
An accident at the workplace resulting in the injury of employees isn’t a one-day event. It takes up considerable time and resources, impacting the business negatively. On the other hand, when companies are not spending their valuable resources replying to legal notices or aren’t unable to use them, they continue to grow and expand with the contribution of their healthy, motivated, and productive employees.
7. Responsible Employees
Several measures required to reduce the risk of employee injury include educating and training the employees. The company provides the means of safety to employees while ensuring safety always becomes the employees’ responsibility. These practices make employees more cautious about security measures and more responsible at work by allowing them to take ownership of their contribution to workplace safety.
Furthermore, understanding the risks allow employees to become more knowledgeable. Their skills in operating the machinery or dealing with confidential data and systems improve, resulting in increased efficiency in their work. Employees also learn to care for each other, with courses like OFA level 1 Vancouver and fall arrest training BC, enhancing their communication. The improved skills, greater responsibility, and increased efficiency and teamwork of employees significantly benefit the business by streamlining its operations.
Ensure Greater Safety with Employees Training in Emergency Care
Training employees to ensure their safety and the safety of those around them is essential. However, health emergencies can happen at the workplace without involving work and work equipment. For example, employees can suffer a heart attack at work. Hence, every business needs to ensure all its employees are trained to ensure their safety and help their colleagues, customers, and visitors when needed.
If you are looking to enroll your employees in emergency care training, contact Metro Safety. At Metro Safety, we offer OFA level 1 Vancouver, OFA level 3 BC, fall arrest training BC, and many other courses that will make your office safer. Click here or call 604-521-4227 today.
