What does a risk assessment involve?
In general terms, a risk assessment will identify hazards, decide who is at risk of being hurt and how, evaluate risks to staff members and the public and decide on ways to minimise them, record the findings, implement them and then review / update them as necessary.
A risk assessment that deals with protecting people from wintry weather conditions will look at the following:
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What are the hazards: people are potentially at risk from slipping on ice and snow on any public walkways. They could also be at risk of car accidents caused on icy private roads and car parks. A detailed assessment needs to be made of which areas require gritting and possibly snow removal when icy weather strikes.
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Who is at risk and how: staff members and visitors to the business premises are at risk of slipping causing a wide range of injuries including concussion, broken bones, damaged vehicles and even death.
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The only way to protect against slips and trips caused by ice and snow is to apply grit. For this to be effective, grit must be distributed to all affected areas prior to ice forming. This is because grit is only effective in stopping ice formation when it mixes with the surface water, preventing it from freezing. Therefore accurate temperature monitoring must be carried out on a daily basis.
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In addition to the above it may be decided that access to certain areas should be restricted to reduce the amount of gritting required or further improve safety.
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Daily recording of weather monitoring and gritting carried out must be recorded to provide evidence of a company's health and safety activity.
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The winter maintenance programme should be reviewed regularly to ensure it is still effective.
More information on how we carry out a risk assessment
The Ice Watch Operations Manager caries out a risk assessment for every new client, for all sites that they wish to be covered by their contract with Ice Watch.
This involves visiting each site and assessing:
It is vital that a risk assessment be carried out for each new client to ensure that Ice Watch can fully understand the site and its requirements, so that gritting services are conducted safely and effectively.
It is also important to protect the safety of the operatives that will be carrying out the gritting.
How often should it be reviewed?
Our risk assessments are carried out annually to assess whether anything has changed at our client's site(s). Every single client that we take on must have one, regardless of their size or number of employees.
Where is the risk assessment documentation kept?
A copy of each client's risk assessment is kept in a file at our head office in Suffolk. Also, we send through a copy to the client for their records and so that they can implement any recommendations given by our Operations Manager. |
