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A risk assessment is a legal requirement and
is a way of assessing your working environment to see if there are
any potential hazards which might cause harm to people, whether
enough precautions have been taken in a situation or whether more
should be done to enhance safety.
Ill health and accidents can dramatically affect
lives and businesses and this in turn can have cost implications
to you through an inability to complete a project, loss of a cast
member or through damage to machinery or equipment. If you are not
careful, insurance costs can increase or you may even end up in
court if you are deemed liable for an accident that takes place
through your negligence.
The two most important decisions you have to
make when making a risk assessment are whether a risk is seen as
highly significant and whether you have taken sufficient precautions
to ensure that this risk becomes minimal.
The HSE have produced a leaflet which gives five
steps to completing a risk assessment. The five steps in brief
are:
- Look for the hazards
A hazard is anything which could cause harm such as a slippery
floor, poor wiring, inadequate lighting, excess noise, vehicles
in a public area, chemicals, fumes, fire risks, trailing leads
and so on.
- Decide who might be harmed and how
It is not necessary to list individual names, but think
about groups of people such as camera operators, office staff,
trainees, expectant mothers, members of the public and so on,
but ensure that any visitors to the site, new staff, those with
a disability or people working alone are particularly identified.
- Evaluate the risks and decide whether the existing precautions
are adequate or whether more should be done
Decide how each hazard you have identified could cause harm
to somebody and whether it is low, medium or high risk. The
law states that you must do what is reasonably practicable to
keep your workplace safe, so ensure that risks are reduced or
eliminated by implementing precautions. If a hazard cannot be
eliminated altogether, assess how you can control the risk so
that harm is unlikely to be caused. Ensure that you provide
information and advice for those working in the area as well
as any necessary training. If you are sure that you have implemented
adequate precautions to reduce or control potential risks then
the you are in compliance with the regulations. If a risk isn't
sufficiently controlled, write on the risk assessment form what
needs to be done and ensure this action is carried out.
- Record your findings
It is not necessary to write anything down if your company
has less than five employees, but it is advisable to keep a
written account of what has been done. Risk
assessment templates are available to download from the
HSE, but many organisations have their own risk assessment forms.
Once a risk assessment is complete, employees must be informed
about your findings.
- Review your assessment and revise it if necessary
As your working environment changes, so will the potential hazards.
If you move to a new location to film, move to new premises, or
invest in new equipment the risks will change. It is therefore
necessary to review your assessment on a regular basis and record
your findings. On a shoot a satisfactory risk assessment may have
been carried out, but if a director decides to change his or her
mind about a particular scene and this means set changes, a risk
assessment review must be completed before shooting may proceed
to ensure that hazards are eliminated or reduced.
Finding the hazards in any working situation can be based on common
sense and in most cases where the company is fairly small, a risk
assessment can be carried out by a designated person rather than
a health and safety officer, but ensure that the assessment is comprehensive
and adequately completed.
Previously agreed arrangements should always be in place in case
of emergencies in the workplace and any special conditions and requirements
that are required by crew or cast should be noted at the outset
and relevant parties informed.
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