To assist a new customer, one of my first recommendations is to conduct a Baseline Risk Assessment. There are three reasons for that.
- It gives the customer my appraisal of the effectiveness of their current Health and Safety Program.
- It provides a basis for assessing the effectiveness of the services provided by me.
- It gives them a ranking of the risks that they face as an organization.
This allows the customer to assign priorities for the assignment of resources for each risk.
Components of a Baseline Risk Assessment
My risk assessments typically have five components. These components are:
1. Accident and Incident Metrics
In this component, I will study the OSHA 300 and First Aid Logs of the company over the last five years. I will make an analysis of the injuries by type, cause, and body part. The cause analysis is the most important, as I am trying to determine the primary reasons employees are getting injured. Along with this, I will assess the severity of the accidents.
Next, I will calculate the Total Incidence Rate (TIR) and the Days Away, Restricted, and Transfer (DART Rates). Using the customer’s North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), I will compare the company’s DART and TIR to other companies in their industry. If the customers’ rates are significantly higher than these ratios in their industry, they are more at risk for an OSHA visit.
If a major goal of the customer is to reduce their Workers Compensation premiums, I will ask the customer’s Experience Modification Rate (MOD Rate). I will also look at their individual accident reports to assess their thoroughness in determining root cause and the value of their remediation.
2. OSHA Citation History
I will go to the OSHA.gov website and under “Establishment Search” find the OSHA Citation History for the customer. I am most interested in looking at the company’s record over the last five years.
Repeated citation violations may result in the customer being subject to higher fines. My next step is to investigate how the customer responded, answered, and mitigated these citations to OSHA. These items are important for me to take note of while I am in the plant and influence risk calculation.
3. Desk Audit
I will investigate the policies and procedures the company already has in place. I will determine if they are adequate and reflect the actual practice in the plant.
It is still surprising to me how often company policies are often more than adequate to meet the requirements of OSHA standards, yet actual practice is substantially inadequate to meet those standards!
I will ask for any Personal Protective Equipment Analysis (PPE) or Job Assessments the company has conducted. Finally, I will evaluate if the company has performed a safety training assessment for their employees, and the effectiveness of their health and safety training.
4. Hazard Assessment Audit
I will spend several hours in the customer’s plant identifying unsafe conditions, hazards, and behaviors. The length of this audit will depend on the customer’s size and their business.
I will take pictures to use as examples. I often include customer representatives in the audit to provide a teaching and learning opportunity for them.
5. Interview Employees, Leaders, Supervisors, and Managers
I love doing this part. I try to get a “feel” for the people in the business. I want to determine how the Health and Safety Program is perceived by all the employees.
I also want to determine if everyone understands the goals and objectives with regard to the Health and Safety Program. This component is often underestimated in importance!
Risk Assessment Reports
When I complete all the above, I will compile and analyze all the information I have found into two types of reports. First, for every item I discover that the customer is at risk of having an injury and/or OSHA citation, I will enter the item on my Risk Assessment Spreadsheet. This spreadsheet will include an item description, an explanation of potential hazards, relevant OSHA standards if not met, and recommendations for addressing the identified issues. Also, on each item, I will enter what I call a “Risk Rating.” This Risk Rating is the product of two factors. The factors are on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being very slight and 5 being certain or death. The two factors are:
- The severity of the most likely injury.
- The likelihood of an injury occurring.
Example of Risk Rating in a Baseline Risk Assessment
As an example, I see an unguarded pinch point on a machine. I will assess the severity as an amputation of a finger; this corresponds to level 4 on the scale (where level 5 represents death). Amputations are severe injuries as they are the permanent loss of a body part and may trigger an OSHA inspection. I assess the likelihood of the injury to be a 4. An unguarded machine is highly likely to cause injury. The product of the two factors is 16. Any Risk Rating of 10 or more equals a high degree of risk and warrants a high degree of priority for the customer.
Experience and Risk Factor Analysis
There is a degree of subjectivity to the ranking of the factors, but that is determined by the experience of the person performing the assessment. In my case, I have been doing these assessments for over 35 years in several industries. The customer may continue to use this spreadsheet as they find more items to add.
Report and Presentation Options
Second, I give the customer a choice between a narrative report or a PowerPoint presentation. Most customers prefer the latter. I will make the presentation and will present it to the customer, often to the Management Staff, and sometimes to the Safety Team.
Conclusion
All customers have found the Baseline Safety Assessment to be a beneficial and useful too.