The three steps include the following points:

Step 1: Find the hazard

Find the hazards in your workplace

• Talk to your staff to gain workplace safety insights
• Scheduled meetings, such as tool box talks etc
• Working closely with your workers
• Consider long turn injury causing hazards in the workplace
• Research hazards that are found in your industry
• Go through any injury records to locate any reoccurring injuries

Step 2: Assess the risks

• What are the possible outcomes of each hazard?
• Consider frequency and severity
• Worst hazards are to be dealt with first
• Your list should be regularly reviewed and updated.

Step 3: Fix the problems

• Your first aim should be to totally remove the risk.
• If it's not possible, you need to find ways to control it.
• check our publications, alerts and guidance notes for your industry/topic and see if there's a documented solution to the problems
• Get help from associations or groups that are related to your particular industry.
• Talk to other people in your industry to see how they've handled similar problems.

All the above points to the trained OH&S professional may seem simple but quite often the small points are the ones that are missed or forgotten about.
By using a list or a basic checklist, you can quite easily follow an internal audit with ease.

Original article - WorkSafe Victoria.

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