|
In
step 3, you will:
- Check relevant laws.
- Assess risks to health, environment and safety
- Distinguish 'hazards' and 'impacts'
- Determine significance of risks.
Laws
Laws reflect the main values in our society. You can examine
them to see what are considered the main risks to people and
the environment. You may even be in a good position to comment
on changes for better health and environment law. We have to
find the right balance between legislation and controls that
consider market circumstances.
Throughout
Europe, there are clear laws to control the worst lapses of
safety, for example in relation to guarding and protection.
There are over 200 Directives in the EU relating to numerous
aspects of the environment. However health protection, other
than hygiene, is usually ensured by standards rather than
regulation.
Places
to get further information
All
European Law
EU
Food Law News
EU
Environmental Law
Health and Safety Law - EU & Worldwide
ILO
Conventions
|
Risk Assessment
Risk
Assessments are becoming common for many aspects of work.
Insurers are examining risk all day. Increasingly they are
taking into account health risks and environmental risks.
The costs of asbestos-related diseases are making the insurance
industry a lot more concerned about health and environmental
issues. Asbestos claims are now running at $65 billion and
rising faster each year.
EU
Safety Directives now require health and safety risk assessments
be carried out in all workplaces. The ILO H&S Management
system requires you to identify significant risks, while environmental
management systems require identification of significant environmental
impacts. HESSME looks at these together and considers the
environmental risks to include risks to health of people outside
the company
Safety
risk assessment methods are based on assessing the severity
of a hazard and the likelihood of it posing a risk. This HES
risk assessment should now be extended to include environmental
impacts and other health affects. Consider "environmental
impacts" in place of "hazards".
Risk
= Severity of Hazard/Impact X Likelihood
©World
Health Organisation 2002
Authors: Dr Charlie Clutterbuck & Dr Bogdan Baranski
|
