DUE 1012 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

CHAPTER 6: HAZARD IDENTIFICATION, RISK ASSESSMENT AND RISK

CONTROL (HIRARC)
DR. SEGAR RAJAMANICKAM
 INTRODUCTION
• HIRARC is a method to enable in an organizations to manage the
inherent hazards of their workplace more effectively.
• Also it is one of the responsibilities of law enshrined in occupational
safety and health act 1994.
• The main purpose HIRARC done to ensure that there are adequate
controls in place or not.
• With HIRARC we can identify all the factors that could cause harm
to employees and other persons (hazard) and considering
opportunities for the occurrence of an event in a particular situation
and the impact of the consequences (risk).
• Thus enabling employers to design, introduce and help the preventive
measures to ensure that the risks can be controlled at all times
In OSHA, there are three clear distinctions terms which is Hazard,
Risk and Danger
hazard

DORMANT

HAZARD

ARMED ACTIVE
DORMANT ACTIVE
• the situation is currently • a harmful incident
affected. For instance , a involving the hazard has
hillside maybe unstable , actually occurred.
with the potential for a ARMED • Identifying a hazard is the
landside but there is - people property or presence of stored energy
nothing below the hillside that when released can
environment are in cause damage.
potential harm • Stored energy can occur in
many forms such as
chemical, mechanical or
radioactive energy.
.

RISK

• Risk is the potential of gaining or losing

something of value.
• Risk can also be defined as the intentional
interaction with uncertainty.
• Risk is high when the damage is also high
when exposed at a very short duration.
• Risk management is important in
HIRARC, which identifying a hazard,
assessing the risk, putting control
measures in place and reviewing
outcomes.
 DANGER

• Danger is a workplace hazard that

puts the workers at risk of physical
injuries or even death.
• Danger, in other hand can be health
hazard, such as toxic substances
which can reduce physical
capabilities or mental performance
 TYPES OF HAZARD
PHYSICAL CHEMICAL
TYPES OF HAZARD
•Unguarded machines •Paints ,acids and solvents
•ladders/scaffolds •Vapour & fumes
•Constant loud noise •Flammable materials

BIOLOGICAL ERGONOMIC
•Blood and body fluids •Poor lighting
•Insect bites •Contstant lifting
•Bird and animal •Poor workstations and
dropping. chair
6.3 : JOB HAZARD ANALYSIS
JHA identifies every procedure or step and the
hazard related to each step of the task .

Defined as listing a job or task into specific step ,

analyzing each step for specific hazard, creating
safe work procedures into safety and health training
and programmers
Job hazard analysis
 • Job task with the most accident, injuries,or hazardous zones should be
STEP 1 prioritized.
Select job task from • This step is applied when a new task or procedure of new processes is
develop , as each task creates its own unique hazard which needs
inventory. different treatment or procedures follow

• Once job task has been identified, the task must be broken down into
logical steps.
STEP 2 • The number of steps should be limited to a manageable number of
JOB STEP steps to ensure workers are able to follow the procedures properly.
/TASK • If the steps are too long-winded, most workers will be demotivated to
follow them and a mistake might happen

• Once the steps have been chosen,the potential hazard for each step will
be identified.
STEP 3 • There may only be-one question for each step or at times there may be
IDENTIFY HAZARD large number of question for each step.
• Especially when dealing with hazardous or biological hazardous
material
 STEP 4 • .
Determine preventive • It is very important to determine the preventive measures to control or
measure to protect eliminate the identified hazard
againts hazard. • There may only be one question for each step or at times there may be a
large number of question for each step especially when dealing with
hazardous or biological hazardous material

STEP 5 • Reformat the job hazard analysis into a training

Develop a worker- programme to help employees eliminate or reduce
training
programme. hazard.

STEP 6
Re-evaluation
• Re-evaluate the job descriptions and modify
the job hazard analysis accordingly.
 Risk assessment
• Used to help determined the workers risk level of exposure to
danger.
• It is an investigation conducted on the use of a hazardous substance,
equipment or operation at the workplace to understand the position
of the the risk and minimize the risks towards the workers health and
safety while carrying out tasks related to the substance or equipment
or operation .
• This evaluation consists of qualitative assessment or semiquantitative
assessment.
• The supervisors and worker self evaluate the risks of tasks conducted
and develop the likelihood and severity of the hazard , rather than
them being developed by someone who does not understand the
situation or the real hazard
 Qualitative assessment
• Uses a quantitative analysis to develop the scale from
minor to major levels of likelihood and severity.
• Uses words to describe the magnitude or level of the
potential severity of a task and likelihood of the severity
that could occur.
• Keywords used for the assessment are ‘low risk;
‘extremely high risk ; ‘not likely’ and ‘most likely’.
• These scales can be adapted or adjusted to suit the
circumstances and different descriptions based on the
risks and hazards for different tasks.
• This method uses expert knowledge and experienced
workers to determine likelihood and severity
 • Severity is determined by modelling the
outcomes of an event or set of events, of
SEVERITY by referring to experimental studies or past
data and incident happenings.

• Likelihood is defined as how possible

an incident could happen. The determinant
LIKELIHOOD of the level usually refers to past
experience and past incidents reported
based on worker experience, analysis or
measurement
 Semi- quantitative assessment

• Uses semi-quantitative analysis to quantify

the quality assessment into number of scale.
• The purpose of developing semi-quantitative
assessment is to produce a more expanded
ranking scale that is feasible in number with
qualitative explanation.
• It is found to be easier to be understood
rather than usually achieved in qualitative
analysis or quantitative analysis.
 IMPLEMENTATION OF RISK
ASSESSMENT
Risk assessment can be presented in a variety of ways to show
the results of analysis in order to make a decision on risk control.
For risk analysis that uses likelihood and severity in qualitative
method, presenting the results in a risk matrix is a very effective
way of communicating the distribution of the risk in a
workplace. Risk can be calculated using the following formula.

L X S = RELATIVE RISK
WHERE L=LIKELIHOOD
S=SEVERITY
RISK ASSESSMENT
MATRIX
 RISK CONTROL
• Risk control ensures elimination, substitution or
minimization through job hazard analysis and risk
assessment.
• Hazard does not risk the workers which work with
equipment the scheduled.
• Hazards should control the source of the problem is
created.
• Main priority is to eliminate the hazard if possible.
• This effective risk control is known as hierarchy of control
 SELECTING A SUITABLE
RISK CONTROL
• Evaluating and selecting short and long term controls.
• Implementing short term measures to protect workers
until permanent controls can be put in place.
• Implementing long term controls when reasonably
practicable
TRANSFER OF HAZARD
SOURCE
Transfer of hazards and
hazard controls are
usually placed:
•At the source (Where the PATH
hazard “comes from”)
•Along the path (Where the
hazard “travels”)
WORKER
•At the worker
 HIERARCHY OF
CONTROL
• HIERARCHY is control step-by-step evaluation of
each control for the risk assessed.
• It encourages eliminating hazards and risks of
incidents as a priority.
 HIERARCHY OF CONTROL

ELIMINATION SUBSTITUTION

The process of removing

the hazard from the
workplace. It is the most • The process of changing
effective way to control a a current process ,
risk because the hazard is substance or material into
no longer present. It is the
a less hazardous.
preferred way to control a
hazard and should be used
whenever possible
 HIERARCHY OF CONTROL

ISOLATION ENGINEER CONTROLS

• The process of confining

the hazards in small area • Automation: Dangerous process
and minimizing the can be automated or mechanized.
exposure of hazards • Barriers: A hazard can be blocked
before it reaches workers.
towards the workers.
• Absorption: Baffles can block or
absorb noise. Lockout systems
can isolate energy sources during
repair and maintenance.
•Involves planning to minimize
hazardous exposure towards
workers and visitors.
•Example of administrative
controls include:
•Safe work procedures/policy:
Workers can be required to us
standardized safety practices.

•.
• Dilution: Some hazards can
be diluted or dissipated.
• Scheduling maintenance: High exposure operations conducted
at times when fewer workers are present.
• Supervision and training: Initial training on safe work
procedures and refresher training should be offered.
• Job rotations: Reduces the time that workers are exposed to a
hazard.
• Housekeeping, repair and maintenance programmes: Includes
cleaning, waste disposal and spill cleanup.
• Hygiene: Hygienic practices can reduce the risk of toxic
materials being absorbed by workers or carried home to their
families.
• This is hazard protection
equipment that will protect the
user against health and safety
risks at work and reduce
hazardous exposure, such as
contact with chemicals,
mechanical or radiological.
HIRARC FLOWCHART
 Hirarc planning and implementation

Step 1 : classification of work activities

The initial step is to determine the task and procedure of implementing the
task.

Step 2 : Job analysis with consultation

Representatives from both workers and employer meet to analyse the job.

Step 3 : job hazard analysis (JHA)

JHA is conducted by the same group of consultants based on the SOP listed.
Each step of the SOP will be scrutinized and evaluated using JHA.
 Step 4 : Risk assessment
Risk assessment is conducted based on the based on the severity and
likelihood of the hazard identified in JHA

Step 5 : Risk control

Risk control includes the step taken to lower the risk of hazards by
referring to the hierarchy of control.

Step 6 : implementation
The suggested risk control will be implemented and the outcome recorded.
The risk control will be reviewed after a certain period.
Example of
HIRARC form
 CONCLUSION
• In order to reduce the hazard or most critical rate,
employer should show commitment towards safety and
health rules in workplace.
• Hierarchy control were use to minimize and control most
critical hazard that exist in workplace.
• To ensure safety culture can be implemented in an
organization.
• Management and workers have to take part in safety and
health program and give full cooperation when comes to
safety and health issues.
 SUMMARY

• Hazard Identification, physical, chemical and

biological…etc
• Risk Assessment, preliminary/detailed hazard analysis.
• Risk Control, hazard prevention, safety management
concern.