It’s great news for the construction industry in Ireland, where the number of work-related deaths has decreased significantly in recent years. In 2024, there were five work-related deaths in the construction industry, where there had been 11 in 2023 (Source: NISO). This is a great improvement, and we believe it can be attributed to increased awareness around health and safety in the workplace as well as improved technology and systems in the construction industry.
Risk assessments are an important component in maintaining site safety standards at work in Ireland, and HSE policy requires risk assessments to be reviewed annually or more frequently if required. A risk assessment specifically targets hazard prevention in your workplace, identifying the activities carried out during the course of your work and identifying the risks that could arise. The main purpose of the risk assessment is to set out the control measures that can be put in place to minimise these risks and promote safer working conditions.
Why Do I Need Construction Risk Assessments?
Risk assessments are written evaluations that form a key part of your health and safety protocol, and going through the process of creating these allows you to identify and mitigate hazards and ensure a safer workplace. They are essential for all businesses, and particularly important in the construction industry, which inevitably involves increased risk in the workplace. A construction risk assessment is required for each task or process that is carried out routinely, as well as for additional tasks that are not part of your daily business activities but are carried out on occasion.
Risk assessments identify risks that could affect employees, clients and members of the public, covering the workplace and all work-related activities that are carried out on or off site. Steven Dwyer, General Consultancy Manager at ASM, explains that, “Risk assessments are a vital way to protect your team and others, improving the safety of your workplace and taking responsibility for the way your business practices. They are a great opportunity to look at the way you work and make necessary changes to keep your team safer.”
The inherent risks in the construction industry include many areas in which specific training must be given to all employees involved. This includes working at height, working in confined spaces, working with machinery, lifting heavy loads and working with hazardous materials. Risk assessments are required by law and the HSA sets out the importance of these and offers guidance on writing them here. (Source: HSA)
How to Create a Risk Assessment
There are several elements to creating a risk assessment and following our simple guide will ensure that your hazard prevention processes are straightforward and watertight. We recommend the following:
- Identify all of the factual details, including the business name, the location and the names of those involved in the work or task. If this is a specific risk assessment for a one-off or irregular activity, you should record the exact date and time it will take place, but if it is a more general ongoing activity, this will not be necessary.
- You should identify all the tasks that will be performed at this location or during this activity, and list these separately.
- Working with each task separately, determine the potential hazards that each might involve. For instance, if a task involves working at height or with heavy machinery, these can be identified individually.
- Assess the ways in which each risk can be mitigated, laying out the procedures that will help to prevent accidents or injury, including the use of PPE, the safety protocols that should be followed and the importance of keeping all equipment up to date.
- Assign a level of risk to each hazard, rating each as low, medium or high. This will be determined by the likelihood of each hazard occurring, and the potential severity if it did.
- Describe each potential hazard and strategy clearly, attaching information or photographs to illustrate the hazard and ensure it is easily understood.
- Ensure all personnel have read and understood the risk assessment, and obtain signatures from all involved.
All risk assessments should be updated on an annual basis, or sooner if any circumstances change. If a new situation or task arises, it will be important to carry out a new risk assessment and ensure that all employees who may be involved are fully briefed to maintain site safety.
Construction Risk Assessments Protect Your Organisation
It is not just the health and safety of your employees and members of the public that is protected by your risk assessments and other safety protocols, it is also the reputation of your organisation. Any incident or accident in the workplace can be potentially damaging to a business, and the risk of damage to your reputation is much greater if you do not have watertight policies and protocols to follow. For instance, in the event of an injury, you will need to carry out an incident investigation and if you can demonstrate that you could not have prevented the injury, for instance by showing that all attempts were made to mitigate the risk, you will not be viewed as negligent.
Safety training is the most important way to equip your staff and management to deal with the health and safety requirements of your workplace, and we can take care of this for you. Whether you need first aid training, specific risk training or training in safety instruction for management, you will find a variety of training options, including in-house training with one of our Safety Consultants, to suit your workplace and the nature of your industry.
Construction Safety Compliance in Ireland
At ASM Group, our experienced team of health and safety experts can help you to improve health and safety standards in your organisation and we can tailor our services to your unique needs. We are professional Health and Safety Consultants in Ireland and we will prioritise legal compliance and carry out your audits, gap analyses and risk assessments, as well as helping you to source the training you and your employees need.
We have several qualified Safety Officers who are available on a full or part time basis to offer advice and training or to serve as a Safety Officer in your organisation as a long or short term role. We are committed to driving up standards of health and safety provision in Ireland and you can contact us online or call on 01 234 3724 to find out more about working with us.