Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure effective Health and Safety risks and Environmental impact identification, assessment, and management, which will ensure effective risk/aspects reduction plans and actions.

Scope

The procedure is applied in all operational, administrative, and extended functions to determine the hazards and their associated risks and aspects and their associated impacts. This includes the hazards/aspects and risks/impacts arising from the activities of contractors, visitors, and from the use of products or services supplied to the company by various service providers.

Definitions

Abnormal condition

Any work performed which is non-routine or can be classified as irregular activities.

Normal Condition

Work that is regularly carried out and is regarded as a Routine job.

Emergency Condition

Is an unexpected or unplanned occurrence or situation demanding immediate action and which could result in loss, damage, or injury.

Auxiliary Equipment

Is all equipment used? It includes all service utilities, tools, vehicles, etc.

Environment

The surroundings in which an organization operates, including air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans, and their interrelation.  Surroundings in this context extend from within an organization to the global system.

Environmental Aspects

An environmental aspect is the element of an organization’s activities, products, or services that can interact with the environment.  A significant environmental aspect is an aspect that has or can have a significant environmental impact.

Environmental Impact

This is any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partly resulting from an organization’s activities, products, or services.

Environmental Incident

This is any situation where the environment was harmed or the potential to harm the environment exists.  (E.g. Spillage / Excessive Air Emission / Incorrect Waste Disposal)

Health (occupational health)

Occupational health is a multifaceted activity concerned with the prevention of ill health in employed populations.

Normal Work

Performing work under ordinary conditions or circumstances.

Occupational Health Risk Assessment

From the EHS integrated risk assessment, the Occupational Health Practitioner will extract the relevant occupational health risks and will develop a medical surveillance program for the site.

Hazard

Hazards are environments, machines, activities, etc which have the potential to cause harm (injuries and illnesses) or environmental impact.

Probability

This is the likelihood for the hazard to occur

Severity

Is the evaluation of the degree of damage caused by the hazard.

Risk

A risk is the combination of the probability and severity of a specified hazardous event occurring

Responsibilities

The EHS Manager has the overall responsibility for the effectiveness of this procedure.

The Department Heads are responsible for the facilitation of the process and for ensuring that this procedure is followed when carrying out risk assessments for all processes in their capabilities

Method

Identification of all Locations, activities, and situations

The EHS Manager determines all the locations/ areas within the company. The Departmental Heads along with the process owners and implementers identify the tasks in each location, which are then broken down into activities, use of the company, equipment, materials, and processes.  The team uses the available documentation below as a reference for compliance

• Procedures
• Legal register
• ISO standard Requirements
• OHSAS requirements

Identification of Hazards and Aspects

Once the tasks have been broken down, the hazards/aspects are identified and given a reference number. A physical inspection of the area is done by the risk assessment team (Department Heads, process owners, and implementers) to discover what processes and methods of work are actually being conducted. Controls established in the area are also identified.

Identification of exposure

The team then identifies the people or media exposed to the hazard/aspect with respect to the kind of people (e.g. operators, drivers, supervisors, pregnant women, children, etc) as well as the number of people exposed, the environment exposed or the damage to the company image.

Analysis of Risk

The risk assessment team identifies potential harm and environmental impact from the hazards/aspects and carries out an analysis on the probability (P), severity (S), and exposure (E) of the identified harm or environmental impact the team then identifies the frequency (F) of the activity carried out and works the overall risk factor based on the formula below.

P x S x E x F = Overall Risk Factor

All risks/aspects are documented on the Risk Assessment Report form, Form HS 01.  Depending on the overall risk/aspect factor, the risk/aspects rating is then determined and actions taken. Significant risks/aspects require additional control measures to eliminate or reduce the risk/aspects to a level that is comparable to an accepted business risk/aspect or tolerable risk/aspect.

Management and Controls of identified risks/significant aspect

The team identifies and evaluates the effectiveness of the existing controls in place to manage the risk/significant aspect, a brief description of the controls including training, information, physical controls, PPE etc is included in the ‘Job EHS Analysis’ Risk Assessment Report form. 

The risk assessment team then documents all action plans on the Job EHS analysis and Risk Assessment Report form indicating the responsible person and the due date for taking the action.  The Action plans for the identified risks/aspects categories are captured and closed out as per the Corrective Action Request procedure.

While considering action plans, the team should evaluate the possibility of eliminating the hazard/aspect as per the following hierarchy

1. Elimination: Can the hazard/impact be eliminated?
2. Substitution; Is there a safer alternative?
3. Reduction: Can the hazard/impact be reduced at Source?
4. Enclosure: Can the Hazard/impact be contained?
5. Remove Person: Can the person be kept away from the hazard?
6. Reduce Contact/Exposure: Can the hazard be diluted, or time of contact or quantity be reduced
7. Personal/Environmental Protection: Can something be provided to the person/environment to reduce the effect of the accident/loss or try to create awareness of the hazard?

Note: All significant risks identified are communicated to all relevant employees by the Department Heads.  Appropriate training is provided for all employees exposed to the hazard. 

Progress against the action plan is monitored by the EHS Officer. The Management team reviews the action plans and ensures that the risks are managed according to the new controls that have been implemented. 

The risk Assessment is reviewed annually, however, if there is a reason to suspect that the assessment is no longer valid or there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates, a review of the risk assessment will be done by the respective team. Some triggers for review are:

1. A change in the nature of the activities, processes \ services.
2. Developments in appreciation of the relevant hazards/aspects and risks e.g. new guidance or legislation.
3. Where safety inspections or audits reveal near misses or defects.
4. An accident, ill health, or high potential incident associated with the activity.
5. When a new product has been introduced.
6. Expansion, contraction, and Restructuring
7. The magnitude of  the Risk/impact
8. Changes in regulations or requirements
9. Changes in the equipment

NB:     A risk assessment is carried out before the start of a new project in the Company to assess the impact of the project on the safety and Health of personnel on site, the safety of Company assets, and on the environment.

EHS Records  

1. Job EHS analysis and Risk assessments                        

 

References

1. Legal Register
2. ISO 14001:2004 Standard
3. BS OHSAS 18001: 2007 Standard
4. Risk Assessment Register
5. Aspect Impact Register