October 11, 2022
If you are familiar with OSHA compliance, you may know that you need to complete a Facility Risk Assessment, otherwise known as a Workplace Hazard Assessment. Tomato, toe-mat-oh, right? Despite the differing names, it’s important to know that this assessment helps your organization to identify, minimize and eliminate hazards in the workplace with the goal of providing a safe and healthful work environment for all employees.
Think of your Facility Risk Assessment (FRA) as the meat and potatoes of your entire OSHA compliance program. This is a baseline survey of all the hazards in your workplace. Without properly identifying, and more importantly, documenting all hazards within your organization, you cannot move forward with the rest of your OSHA compliance program and cannot show that there is a culture of compliance within your organization. Additionally, in the case of an investigation, the FRA is going to be the first thing the government asks for, so that is why it is so important it is completed first.
What kind of questions does your FRA need to include? Just as there is not a single recipe for a savory steak and potato meal, there is no single checklist to follow when it comes to completing a Risk Assessment for your organization. However, OSHA does recommend incorporating 7 core elements as part of your Facility Risk Assessment:
- Worker Participation
- Education & Training
- Program Evaluation and Improvement
- Hazard Identification & Assessment
- Hazard Prevention & Control
- Management Leadership
Once you have completed your Facility Risk Assessment, you should not tuck it into a folder and forget about it. Your FRA must be reviewed periodically to ensure that it is up to date and accurately reflects all processes and controls within your organization. It’s also important to keep in mind that all employees should be involved in the process of mitigating hazards identified from your FRA.
What’s the best way to tackle a Facility Risk Assessment? If your organization has not completed an FRA before or if you have but not sure if it was thorough, using an outside organization will help to ensure all areas of the FRA are fully completed and documented accordingly. A third party can also help add new areas and questions into the FRA that reflect changing regulations. Are you looking for help kickstarting your OSHA compliance program? Reach out to Abyde today for a customized, easy to complete FRA that is tailored to you and your organization.
