ABSTRACT
These days, risk assessments are an integral part of any organisation’s functioning. They form a core part of a company’s health and safety management system. Some organisations view assessments as a burden that they would prefer to avoid. These organisations are not looking at the whole process from the right perspective. Assessments allow them to identify the potential for harm in their workplace and to take avoidance action before harm occurs. This would seem, logically, to put the business on a more productive footing, whereby it can continue functioning without having to deal with injury, ill health, rehabilitation, inspections, form-filling, recruiting, inducting, training and so on, all of which are part of the domino effect of someone being injured in the workplace. Assessments allow businesses to see where they stand with regard to health and safety and put them in a position where they can develop effective control strategies.
