What's the cost of a risk assessment?

The mention of a risk assessment can make some project managers groan but it shouldn't be that way. If done properly, a risk assessment preserves health and safety and is not a bureaucratic burden. At Lynx Networks we follow the HSE's "Five Steps to Risk Assessment".

1. Identify the hazards

2. Decide who might be harmed and how.

3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.

4. Record our findings and implement them.

5. Review the risk assessment and update if necessary.

To make it easier to manage our health and safety we have determined safe systems of working for each of the data cabling tasks that our installers carry out. We train our workforce and adopt the safe practices across the range of installations we carry out.

Of course, the answer to the question, "What's the cost of a risk assessment", is that it could cost you a much more, in accidents and damages, not to do it properly. If you want more information, please contact me.

"Five Steps to Risk Assessment" and example risk assessments can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/risk. For the HSE's Myth of the Month go to www.hse.gov.uk/myth.

Alan Bullen

Lynx Networks