HAZARD IDENTIFICATION & RISK ASSESSMENT

(HIRA)
MANUAL
SCO- 110-111, (4th Floor)
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Email: info@northstar-ehs.com
Website: www.northstar-ehs.com
 NORTHSTAR SAFETY SYSTEMZ PVT. LTD.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. HIRA COMPLIANCE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Purpose
1.3 Scope
1.4 Definitions
1.5 Policies & Programs
1.6 Responsibilities

2. RISK ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE

2.1 Identify Hazards

2.2 Assess Risks
2.3 Controlling Risks
2.4 Implement Additional Risk Controls
2.5 Monitor & Review

3. RISK EQUATION

3.1 Frequency
3.2 Consequence
3.3 Changing Risks
3.3.1 Change in Frequency
3.3.2 Change in Vulnerability

4. CONCLUSION
1. HIRA COMPLIANCE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1.1Introduction

The most important legal duty imposed on employers by the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993
and incorporated Regulations is the one requiring of employers to conduct Risk Assessments (HIRA –
Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment). Based on the outcome of the Risk Assessments decisions
should be taken as to preventative measures to be implemented as to ensure a safe workplace is provided
to employees, contractors and visitors to the workplace.

1.2Purpose

The Provincial Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) document is intended to provide
guidance on how to conduct a HIRA. Hazard identification and risk assessment is an ongoing, ever
evolving process. The purpose of a HIRA is to anticipate future emergency situations and to identify which
hazards should be considered a priority at a point in time for emergency management programs. It must
be remembered that new hazards may emerge or evolve over time and that emergency management tools
and processes may alter the hazards’ priority in subsequent revisions.

1.3Scope

The goal of this document is to identify the hazards that have occurred or have the potential to impact the
Province of Ontario. It is intended to provide a step by step guide to planning and developing a HIRA
using the Provincial HIRA methodology.

1.4Definitions

Hazard: Anything (e.g. condition, situation, practice, behavior) that has the potential to cause harm,
including injury, disease, death, environmental, property and equipment damage. A hazard can be a thing
or a situation.
Hazard Identification: This is the process of examining each work area and work task for identifying all
the hazards which are “inherent in the job”. Work areas include but are not limited to machine workshops,
laboratories, office areas, agricultural and horticultural environments, stores and transport, maintenance
and grounds, reprographics, and lecture theatres and teaching spaces. Tasks can include (but may not be
limited to) using screen based equipment, audio and visual equipment, industrial equipment, hazardous
substances and/or teaching/dealing with people, driving a vehicle, dealing with emergency situations,
construction. This process is about finding what could cause harm in work task or area.

Risk: The likelihood, or possibility, that harm (injury, illness, death, damage etc) may occur from
exposure to a hazard.

Risk Assessment: Is defined as the process of assessing the risks associated with each of the hazards
identified so the nature of the risk can be understood. This includes the nature of the harm that may result
from the hazard, the severity of that harm and the likelihood of this occurring.

Risk Control: Taking actions to eliminate health and safety risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
Where risks cannot be eliminated, then implementation of control measures is required, to minimize risks
so far as is reasonably practicable. A hierarchy of controls has been developed and is described below to
assist in selection of the most appropriate risk control measure/s.

Monitoring and Review: This involves ongoing monitoring of the hazards identified, risks assessed and
risk control processes and reviewing them to make sure they are working effectively.

1.5Policies & Programs

The adoption of a risk management approach in the Emergency Management Act shifts the focus to the
causes of risk rather than the emergencies that may result from risk. This allows resources to be allocated
effectively to prevent or minimize losses.

The system is implementing comprehensive emergency management programs (based on the five main
components of prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery) through a progressive
comprehensive program standard. This is a significant shift for, given that the Emergency Plans Act spoke
only to plans (preparedness) and response. The new Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act
laid the foundation for a coordinated mitigation strategy.
 1.6Responsibilities

Effective risk management requires the commitment to WHS from managers and Officer as well as the
input and involvement of workers. It is the responsibility of all managers and supervisors to ensure that
this policy is fully implemented in their area(s) of control and to consult with workers as part of
undertaking the hazard identification, risk assessment and control process. It is the responsibility of
workers to cooperate and comply with this policy. This includes providing effective and constructive
information and feedback to aid the risk management process. Officers have a responsibility to ensure that
the areas under their control are complying with legislative requirements. This includes the Officer
understanding the hazards and risks associated with their operations and ensuring that appropriate
resources and processes are in place to eliminate or minimize these risks.

2. RISK ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE

The risk assessment procedure can best be illustrated in the following way

2.1Identify Hazards

WHS legislation in New South Wales requires that PCBUs, in consultation with workers identify all
potentially hazardous things or situations that may cause harm. In general, hazards are likely to be found
in the following;
 - Physical work environment,

- Equipment, materials or substances used,

- Work tasks and how they are performed,

- Work design and management

To identify hazards the following are recommended:

(i) Past incidents/accidents are examined to see what happened and whether the incident/accident
could occur again.
(ii) Employees be consulted to find out what they consider are safety issues, I.e. ask workers about
hazards near misses they have encountered as part of their work. Sometimes a survey or
questionnaire can assist workers to provide information about workplace hazards.
(iii)Work areas or work sites be inspected or examined to find out what is happening now.
Identified hazards should be documented to allow further action. The work environment, tool
and equipment as well as tasks and procedures should be examined for risks to WHS.
(iv) Information about equipment (e.g. plant, operating instructions) and Material Safety Data
Sheets be reviewed to determine relevant safety precautions.
(v) Welcome creative thinking about what could go wrong takes place, i.e. what hazardous event
could take place here?

2.2Assess risks

Risk assessment involves considering the possible results of someone being exposed to a hazard and the
likelihood of this occurring. A risk assessment assists in determining:

- How severe a risk is

- Whether existing control measures are effective

- What action should be taken to control a risk

- How urgently action needs to be taken.

A risk assessment should include:

(i) Identify factors that may be contributing to the risk,

(ii) Review health and safety information that is reasonably available from an authoritative source
and is relevant to the hazard,
 (iii)Evaluation of how severe the harm could be. This includes looking at the types of
injuries/illnesses/harm/damage that can result from the hazard, the number of people exposed,
possible chain effects from exposure to this hazard.
(iv) Evaluation of how a hazard may cause harm. This includes examining how work is
completed, whether existing control measures are in place and whether they control the harm,
looking at infrequent/abnormal situations as well as standard operating situations. A chain of
events related to a risk may need to be considered.
(v) Determining the likelihood of harm occurring. The level of risk will increase as the
likelihood of harm and its severity increases. The likelihood of harm occurring may be affected
by how often the task is completed, in what conditions, how many people are exposed to the
hazard and for what duration.
(vi) Identify the actions necessary to eliminate or control the risk; and
(vii) Identify records that it is necessary to keep ensuring that the risks are eliminated or
controlled. Other risk factors should also be identified as they may contribute to the risk:
including

2.3Controlling Risks

Once a risk rating is determined, each hazard must have its existing risk control measures evaluated using
the Evaluation of Control Effectiveness. This allows for determination of any additional requirement
necessary.

2.4Implement Additional Risk Controls

Having identified the hazards in your workplace, assessed their risks and reviewed the existing controls,
all hazards must be managed before people are hurt, become ill or there is damage to plant, property or
the environment.

The management of risks in the workplace requires eliminating risks so far as reasonably practicable in
the first instance. Where elimination is not possible, then risks should be minimized, so far as reasonably
practicable.

All hazards that have been assessed should be dealt with in order of priority. The most effective control
option/s should be selected to eliminate or minimize risks. The Hierarchy of Controls (see diagram below)
ranks control options from highest level of protection and reliability to lowest. This should be used to
determine the most effective control/s.
 Hierarchy of Controls

2.5Monitor & Review

Hazard identification, risk assessment and control is an on-going process. Therefore, regularly review the
effectiveness of your hazard assessment and control measures at least every 3 years. Make sure that you
undertake a hazard and risk assessment when there is a change to the workplace including when work
systems, tools, machinery or equipment change. Provide additional supervision when new employees with
reduced skill levels or knowledge are introduced to the workplace. The effectiveness of control measures
can be checked through regular reviews as well as consultation with workers.

Maintaining records of the risk management process assists when undertaking subsequent reviews or risk
assessments as it demonstrates decision making processes and informs how controls were intended to be
implemented.
3. RISK EQUATION
At the core of all risk assessments is the equation Risk = Frequency * Consequence. The suggested
methodology in this document incorporated a third variable. This third variable, Changing Risk introduces
projected changes in frequency and vulnerability into the equation. The resulting equation for the Ontario
Provincial HIRA is:

Risk = Frequency*Consequence*Changing Risk

3.1Frequency

Frequency should be calculated whenever possible based on existing data from official and/or scientific
sources. It should be remembered that some hazards do not have a long historical record and that their
frequencies can be estimated based on the best sources available. Ideally, the frequency would be
calculated based on the number of times that the event has occurred, rather than in years, however the
differing lengths of the historical records in Ontario did not make this possible.

3.2Consequence

To produce a HIRA that is a true depiction of the actual level of risk faced by a certain area, care must be
taken to assure that the frequency and consequence of each hazard are well understood and are
representative of possible occurrences of each hazard.
The consequence is determined by examining past events at which the hazard occurred at a level that met
the criteria. The table below displays the different consequence sub variables. The total consequence value
can be obtained by adding the values obtained from each of the sub variables. (Note: The social impacts
sub variable was further divided into the fatality rate, injury rate and evacuation rate. Since human impacts
are often the most ‘jarring’ result of an emergency and have an unquantifiable impact on the community,
social impact was intentionally weighted higher than the other sub variables.)

3.3Changing Risk

Hazards and their risks do not remain static over time. The frequency and consequence of future events
can be affected by things like prevention and mitigation practices and climate change. While it is difficult
to predict what policy and technological changes lie ahead, there is a substantial amount of scientific
information on the possible impacts of future trends on the different hazards. The inclusion of this variable
also leaves open the possibility of including other agents of change (e.g. new technology) in future
revisions. Only scientific information on future changes to frequency and consequence from reliable
sources was used. Since the information that provides a basis for this variable was based on scientific
assessments of future trends and was not based on trends or impacts that have already been observed, the
variable has a maximum value of four, rather than six like consequence and frequency since uncertainly
still exists in most scientific projections and there could be a significant variation in the amount of time
before actual trends are observed.

Changing Risk = Change in Frequency + Change in Vulnerability

3.3.1Change in Frequency

1. Is the number of reported non-emergency occurrences of the hazard increasing?

2. Is human activity (e.g. population expansion, altering of drainage flow patterns) likely to lead to
more interaction with the hazard or an increase in frequency?
3. Is there an environmental reason (e.g. climate change) why the frequency of this hazard may
increase?
4. Are human factors such as business, financial, international practices more likely to increase the
risk?

3.3.2Change in Vulnerability

1. Is a large percentage of the population vulnerable to this hazard or is the number of people
vulnerable (see vulnerable groups) to this hazard increasing?
2. Does critical infrastructure reliance or our ‘just-on-time’ delivery system (e.g. stores not keeping
a supply of food and relying on frequent shipments for restocking) make the population more
vulnerable?
3. Are response agencies not aware of, practiced and prepared to response to this hazard?
4. Are no prevention/mitigation measures currently in use for this hazard?
4. CONCLUSION

Hazard identification and risk assessment documents are an important factor in enhancing the focus of
emergency management programs. An emergency management program can use a HIRA to assist in
determining prevention, preparedness, and mitigation, response and recovery activities based on risk.
After the hazards which are identified as being priorities are addressed, a revision of the HIRA will be
done since hazards and their risks may change significantly over time.