Hazard Management

This element of the Health and Safety Management System looks into managing hazards in your work space.

Primary Room Hazard Assessment

Every laboratory/research space is required to complete a space hazard assessment. This is done by completing a hazard identification for the room (example: compressed gasses, chemicals, physical hazards, etc). Preliminary hazard assessments are done using the laboratory registration option on Research Ethics & Management Online (REMO). The EHS tab, will allow you to create lab signs, amend signs, update lab registration, review lab audits conducted by Environment, Health, and Safety, and register equipment.

Personal Protective Equipment Checklist

Once the laboratory preliminary hazard assessment is complete and the laboratory is registered. Download this Personal Protective Equipment Checklist (PPE Checklist) and identify the PPE required to work in the space, this must be based on the room hazards.

The checklist provides a section for PPE exemptions. This can be utilizes to note any areas or PPE items exempted due to working constraints that will have to be justified by a detailed hazard assessment for that specific activity.

Note: The PPE Checklist must be signed by all laboratory users. You should also mention any specific exemptions or requirements on this.

Hazard Assessments

A Hazard Assessments must be completed before any work activity is started. There are 5 key points to consider; the task your are working on, the hazards associated to that task, the per-control risk ratings, controls to mitigate risks involved with the task or activity, and finally the post control control risk ranking (lowered). The risk rankings are based on likeliness and consequences (L x C).

The university offers an online tool to assist students, staff, and faculty in creating hazard assessment. The application is called Hazard Assessment Web Application (HAW App), a very basic example of the output is shown below.

Contact the Faculty Safety Advisor for access and training for HAW App.

Safe Work Procedure-Standard Operating Procedure

This will help guide the users on how to perform tasks or how to operate a piece of equipment safely. SOPs/SWPs should be present for all equipment and tasks being carried out in a laboratory. Best practice would be to have the SOP/SWP available close to the work bench or equipment for reference.

Reference the documents and use the safe work procedure template to develop safe practices for the work you have planned.

Start with the task that you consider to be the most hazardous, and work your way through to the low risk tasks.

Field Level Risk Assessment

The Field Level Risk Assessment (FLRA) is conducted prior to commencing work i.e. before setting up equipment in preparation for an experiment, or before starting the experiment. FLRA should be conducted by all lab members involved in the experiment or task. Suitable control measures and safeguards should be put in place to address any hazards found during the risk assessment, before commencing any work.

FLRA ensures that all hazards involved in any task are addressed that may not have been addressed in a Safe Work Procedure/Standard Operating Procedure or a general hazard assessment. Template for FLRA is provided in the documents sidebar.