Risk Assessments
What is Risk Assessment?
The full UCC Risk Assessment procedure can be located at the following section in the Safety Statement: Safety Statement Volume 3a. The following information provides a short overview on risk assessments.
Safety is the judgement of the acceptability of Risk. The acceptability of risk varies significantly between that in the EU and other developed world economies to that in the emerging economies and under developed countries. EU social legislation legislates for employers to provide satisfactory conditions of employment and to pro-actively minimise the possibility of incurring work related illness or injury.
Risk assessment is the determination of level or magnitude of risk having regard to:
- the frequency/chance of any given hazard manifesting itself
- the time of exposure to the hazard (as a % of the 24 day or a year)
- the consequence of exposure to the hazard e.g severity of loss/injury/ illness
See the accompanying risk nomogram download and consequence table in the sections below.
Also see worked RA examples in Appendix II at: Appendices Model (S)
Risk Calculator Nomogram
Risk Calculator(Dr. Hanni Raafat Aston University)
Note: See also Risk array table in use by OCLA for enterprise Risk Management
Analysis of Consequences from Risk Types
Type 1. Economic (Damage to Plant/Works):
| Category I | Category II | Category III | Category IV | Category V | Category VI |
| Minor < €1000 |
Appreciable < €10,000 |
Substantial |
Major Loss < €1m |
Severe Loss < € 10 m |
Total Loss |
Risk Type 2. Effects on Personnel * (See notes below)
| Category 1 | Category II | Category III | Category IV | Category V | Category VI |
| Insignificant | Minor | Major | Severe | Fatality | Multiple Fatalities |
Risk Type 3(a). Effects on People:
| Category I | Category II | Category III | Category IV | Category V | Category VI |
| Nuisance | Complaints | Clinical Advice | Required Hospital Treatment | Potential Serious Injury | Fatality |
Risk Type 3(b) Public Reaction:
| Category I | Category II | Category III | Category IV | Category V | Category VI |
| None/Mild | Minor Local Outcry | Considerable Local & National Media Reaction | Severe Local & Substantial Media Reaction | Severe National Media Reaction | Severe National Media Pressure to Stop Business |
Risk Type 4. Effects on the environment
| Category I | Category II | Category III | Category IV | Category V | Category VI |
| Insignificant | Temporary short-term Damage | Major Pollution | Severe Pollution | Widespread Damage | Catastrophic Damage |
* Human Consequences from Effects on Personnel. (Risk Type 2.)
Category I-Insigificant: An Injury/illness requiring less than 3 days loss of work with total recovery or no human injury is expected.
Category II-Minor: An injury/illness requiring 3-56 days loss of work with total recovery.
Category III-Major: An injury/illness requiring 2 months loss of work with total recovery or an injury where a permanent slight incapacity may result.
Category IV Severe: Permanent incapacitating injury/illness
Category V & Category VI: Self explanatory
Footnote: See also OCLA Risk management risk array table in use for enterprise risk management
Dept RA Reconciliation/ Estimator tool (New for 2017)
RA reconciliation/Estimator tool for UCC users:
The Excel Work book tool provided above will assist the management of UCC Schools and Depts. to:
Comprehensively evaluate the work activities H&S risks under their control and
Determine the extent of Risk Assessments that they should have in place or need to put in place to meet risk management and operational management obligations under SHWW Law and UCC safety Policy.
The workbook should be read in conjunction with the PDF guide attached. Guide to FA & Dept RA reconciliation 2016and2016 FA ASR - Mgt of H&S for managers (guide)
This new tool allows for activities and risks to be filtered for relevance across humanities/ low risk departments and across variable risk departments (applied scientific, medicine, dentistry, SEFS, service depts.). There are 5 main risk tabs to consider: Physical; Ergonomic and Human Factors; Fire and Flammable; Hazardous Substances; Biological Risks.
Heads of School/Dept., as the controlling minds per Regulation 80 of the SHWW Act, have a legal duty to ensure that work activities are risk assessed in advance and that adequate risk controls are applied to eliminate or minimise the risks (24/7).
Health and Safety Office January 2017
Footnote. This estimator tool whilst comprehensive is not an exhaustive listing of all possible risks that need to be considered