Risk-Led Safety: Evidence-Driven Management, Second Edition

165 Pages·2019·9.31 MB·\165

by  Duncan Spencer (Author), Chris Jerman (Author)

Risk-Led Safety

Risk-Led Safety:
Evidence-Driven
Management, Second
Edition
Authored by
Duncan Spencer and Chris Jerman
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Names: Spencer, Duncan (Safety engineer), author. | Jerman, Chris, author.
Title: Risk-led safety : evidence-driven management / by Duncan Spencer,
Chris Jerman.
Description: Second edition. | Boca Raton : CRC Press/Taylor & Francis
Group, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019031436 (print) | LCCN 2019031437 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367422660 (paperback ; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780367823429 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Industrial safety. | Risk management. | Hazard mitigation.
Classification: LCC T55 .S66 2020 (print) | LCC T55 (ebook) | DDC
658.4/08--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019031436
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019031437
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at
http://www.crcpress.com
Duncan Spencer
“To my wife Nicki and children Chris and Sophie, a simple thank you
for being there. And to my friend Chris, whose constant challenge to
rethink things drives my understanding forward to new heights.”
Chris Jerman
“Thanks to my wife Claire for believing in me and patiently listening to
my rants, to Jim Brough for being both the most inspirational manager and
strongest leader I ever met and to Doctor John Herbert for providing me
with the best direction in those early years at the EEF. Lastly to Duncan
and the Human Applications crew for being on the same wavelength.”

Contents
Foreword .................................................................................................................xi
Preface ...................................................................................................................xiii
Authors ...................................................................................................................xv
Introduction ........................................................................................................xvii
1 It’s easy to be misled – lessons from the United Kingdom and
Europe ...............................................................................................................1
How did we get to where we are? .................................................................2
The Robens Committee talked sense ............................................................2
Europe gets in on the act ................................................................................4
Bolstering confidence, certification and external recognition ...................5
Who has responsibility? Where do occupational health & safety
practitioners sit in all this? ..............................................................................6
A culture of risk aversion? ..............................................................................7
Compliance-driven versus risk-led approaches ........................................10
Future challenges ...........................................................................................11
Summary .........................................................................................................12
References .......................................................................................................12
2 A toolbox of principles ................................................................................13
What do we mean by compliant? ................................................................14
Let’s be reasonable .........................................................................................15
Being competent supports reasonable judgement ....................................16
Reasonableness is also about local context ................................................17
Using reasonable foreseeability is more accurate than a crystal ball ....18
The guiding light of significance .................................................................20
The pursuit of zero harm ..............................................................................21
Reasonable practicability; knowing when to stop ....................................22
References .......................................................................................................24
3 Plan to finish ..................................................................................................25
Before setting out on the journey ................................................................26
Don’t reach for the blank risk assessment forms just yet .........................26
Risk assessment versus assessment of risk ................................................27
Making a start ................................................................................................28
Why focus on tasks – what’s wrong with hazards? ..................................28
Being truly systematic ...................................................................................30
Describing tasks .............................................................................................32
Reducing the size of the list .........................................................................33
More on significance .....................................................................................34
vii
viii Contents
Ordering the list .............................................................................................36
Maintenance and future proofing ...............................................................37
References .......................................................................................................39
4 Risk assessment friend or foe ....................................................................41
Pitfall 1: Is the language right? .....................................................................42
Pitfall 2: Who is the risk assessment for? ...................................................42
Pitfall 3: Is the context clear? ........................................................................43
Pitfall 4: Generic versus locally specific risk assessment .........................44
Pitfall 5: Suitable, sufficient and adequate .................................................45
Pitfall 6: Predicting injury and rating hazard ...........................................45
Pitfall 7: Lost time confusion in hazard prediction ..................................46
Pitfall 8: Misunderstanding likelihood ......................................................46
Pitfall 9: Whenever we review a risk assessment, we must add
more controls ..................................................................................................47
Summary .........................................................................................................48
5 Risk assessment tricks and techniques ....................................................49
First set the context ........................................................................................50
Why is a risk assessment needed at all? .....................................................52
Hazard analysis .............................................................................................52
Identifying likelihood factors ......................................................................54
Determining the likelihood rating ..............................................................56
Assessing the level of risk.............................................................................57
Refining the view on risk conclusions ........................................................58
Making recommendations ...........................................................................59
Other considerations for the document layout ..........................................59
Final notes .......................................................................................................61
Summary .........................................................................................................61
6 Prioritisation provides freedom and clarity ...........................................63
Creating a risk register ..................................................................................65
So now you have a risk register, how do you use it? ................................67
7 Finding solutions ..........................................................................................71
Basic control questions ..................................................................................72
Risk reduction ................................................................................................72
Elimination .....................................................................................................74
General points about reduction ...................................................................74
Reduction: engineering controls ..................................................................75
Reduction: safe systems of work ..................................................................76
Reduction: signs and alarms ........................................................................79
Reduction: competency .................................................................................80
Reduction: personal protective equipment ...............................................81
Reasonable practicability .............................................................................82
C ontents ix
When is safe enough – safe enough? ..........................................................84
More is not always better ..............................................................................85
Summary ........................................................................................................86
8 Culture, involvement, behaviour and values ..........................................89
Culture .............................................................................................................90
Why do people do what they do? ................................................................92
Psychology 101 ...............................................................................................93
Nudge theory ..................................................................................................94
A vacuum is easily filled ...............................................................................94
How to manage when you aren’t there ......................................................96
Values ...............................................................................................................96
Nothing we do is worth being harmed for ...........................................98
Unsafe behaviour will be challenged and not rewarded ....................98
Everyone has the right to make a challenge and expect a response .......99
Building a perfect world .............................................................................100
References .....................................................................................................102
9 Reactive safety .............................................................................................103
Incident reporting ........................................................................................104
Linking incidents with assessments .........................................................105
Setting boundaries .......................................................................................107
Reviewing risk assessments post incident ...............................................108
Reason’s Swiss Cheese: model or theorem? .............................................109
The problem of under-reporting ...............................................................111
Accident triangles: fact or fiction, help or hindrance? ............................113
Using incident information in board reports ..........................................113
Summary .......................................................................................................114
References .....................................................................................................115
10 The view from the top ...............................................................................117
Effective communication between management levels is crucial ........118
Reporting using risk registers ...................................................................121
Accountability, responsibility and responsiveness .................................122
Predictive indicators ....................................................................................123
Integration with wider risk management ................................................126
Seeking external validation ........................................................................128
11 Creating desire and managing change ..................................................131
Communication is key ................................................................................132
Seven steps ....................................................................................................134
Step 1: research, credibility and stakeholder recognition .................134
Step 2: identifying obstacles and planning .........................................136
Step 3: creating desire and managing expectations ...........................137
Step 4: educate .........................................................................................138