5 Hazards A Professional Risk Assessment Can Identify

When it comes to workplace safety, you can never be too thorough.

Workers are exposed to a number of workplace hazards on a daily basis. It is the duty of an employer to protect their workers from these hazards.

A workplace risk assessment should take place for the following:

• Prior to launching new processes or programs
• After changing existing processes, but before work within these processes begins
• When changes occur with regard to equipment, machinery, tools, etc.
• When new hazards are observed or introduced, or when new information becomes available regarding the above

While you may feel you are being cautious about workplace hazards, there is always the potential for you to miss something.

Hazards A Professional Risk Assessment Can Find

Bringing a professional in for a workplace risk assessment will allow for hazard identification and risk analysis to be done by someone with a fresh perspective.

Biological Workplace Hazards

Biological hazards are extremely dangerous. They are caused by a variety of factors such as bacteria, viruses, insects, plants, animals and humans, which is why the source can be hard to identify without the help of a professional.

These hazards include mold and fungi, blood and bodily fluid, sewage, harmful plants and other risks that come from the biosphere.

Biohazards are commonly found in laboratories and medical research centers. It’s important to identify these hazards and put together a safety plan to mitigate or eliminate the risks.

Chemical Workplace Hazards

Chemical Hazards cause harm to employees who are often exposed to harmful liquids, solvents or flammable gases.

Exposure to chemical hazards can compromise the health and safety of your employees. In extreme cases, it can cause death.

Without proper hazard identification, workplace chemical hazards can go unnoticed. This is why it is crucial to involve a professional.

Physical Workplace Hazards

When you spend a large amount of time in a place, physical hazards are often overlooked, or underestimated.

Physical hazards are environmental threats such as improper lighting, wet floors, noise pollution, extreme weather conditions and more.

Bringing in a professional to do a risk analysis introduces a fresh set of eyes to your workplace. These eyes are specially trained to spot hazards wherever they may be. This results in more accurate hazard identification for physical workplace hazards.

Psychological Workplace Hazards

Psychological workplace hazards are difficult to identify. These hazards affect an employee’s mental health.

Excessive workload, exploitation and harassment are all forms of psychological workplace hazards.

These hazards can be experienced by anyone within any role of a company. Employees are often afraid to speak out, which is why having a third-party professional come in to evaluate these hazards is beneficial.

Ergonomic Workplace Hazards

Hazards from ergonomic designs could result from poor workstation setup, machinery design and more.

They affect employees whose bodies experience strain due to the nature of their work. This strain is easily disregarded by both the employer and employee because injuries do not happen right away. Ergonomic injuries take time and repeated stress to develop, which makes these hazards easy to overlook.

Ergonomic workplace hazards can present themselves in the form of improperly adjusted workstations or performing manual labour with poor posture.

A professional can help you identify these workplace hazards and provide the best course of action to eliminate the short- and long-term effects of ergonomic workplace hazards.

Advanced Consulting & Training – Workplace Risk Assessments & Evaluations

Workplace risk assessments conducted by a professional can help with hazard identification and risk analysis for the health and safety of your employees.

At Advanced Consulting & Training, our teams analyze and evaluate the types and levels of risk associated with any hazards found. We provide a comprehensive overview of what kinds of hazards pose a threat and how to manage and eliminate them.

We have decades of experience in workplace risk assessments in Ottawa, working with health and safety committees of many sizes and levels of experience. If you’re interested in having a workplace risk assessment done for your workplace, contact Advanced Consulting & Training today.