Personal Risk Assessment and Observation

Most unsafe acts in the workplace are carried out unconsciously. These "habits" have been learned and unconsciously perceived as the "right thing to do". The next stage of the perceptive change process is to attempt to change these habits.

Personal risk assessment

However, in order to change a habit, one must firstly recognize that it exists in the first place. This is where personal risk assessment comes in. Personal risk assessment, which should be carried out by all employees, regardless of their status within the organisation, includes the following:

• Identification of hazards that exist in the workplace
• Identification of personal practices in relation to those hazards
• Recognition of bad habits in relation to those hazards
• Recognition of how the individual perceives the risk from those hazards
• Identification of behaviour modification that might install a new, safer habit
  

Personal risk assessments do not necessarily have to be shared with anyone - they are personal to each individual. They do not even have to be written down, although some people find that writing something helps them to identify their own particular habits.

In addition to the awareness session that each person receives as part of the perceptive change process, each person is given coaching in the concept of personal risk assessment and habit formation. This ensures that "personal" control measures can be created for each individual.

Observation

As well as training individuals to carry out their own personal risk assessments, each person is made aware of the benefits of observation and feedback from those observations. Observing what others are doing at work and positively feeding back information to them is one of the most beneficial ways of preventing accidents. However, the key to observing is to do it positively, which also means adopting a positive feedback style.

Personal risk assessment and observation at work are important aspects of the perceptive change process. Both of these can be summarized as follows:

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