The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require every employer to make a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of the risks to health and safety of his employees and others. The key is the phrase “suitable and sufficient”. The detail of the risk assessment should be proportional to the risk with reasonable steps taken being taken to identify the risks. In addition, the assessment should be appropriate to the nature of the work. In deciding which preventive measures to take, the principles of prevention should be followed. In order of priority these are:

• Avoidance - avoid the risks altogether;
• Prevention - combat the risks at source;
• Reduction - implement risk prevention measures.

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER98) deal with the safety of work equipment. This includes considering its initial integrity, the place of where it will be used and the purpose for which it will be used.

These two basic Regulations form the cornerstone for workplace safety, which used in conjunction with other relevant Regulations lead to meeting the Employer's duties. One approach to meeting the requirements is to reduce risks to a level “as low as reasonably practicable” (ALARP). ALARP is a pragmatic view based on case law. The Court of Appeal held that “in every case, it is risk that has to be weighed against the measures necessary to eliminate the risk”. Thus a computation must be made in which the quantum of risk is weighed against the sacrifice involved in the measures necessary for averting the risk in terms of money, time and trouble. The objective is to remove any gross disproportion between them. ALARP is reached when the efforts in terms of resources required provide a risk reduction measure that is grossly disproportionate to the resultant benefits.

There is no single correct way of reaching an ideal solution. Judgement is needed for each individual situation using the best assessment available. It is necessary to understand the conclusions of that assessment, to take the necessary actions, to document it for future record and to review it in order to ensure that the assessment is always valid by actively re-assessing from time to time or whenever any changes occur in the operation, personnel or environment.

Pro Laser has many years of expertise in making assessments and helping clients come to reasonable conclusions based on up to date and widely accepted best practices.