Safety Qualitative Field Risk Assessment and Perfectionism

The signs of perfectionism during safety qualitative field risk assessment

• There exists no unsafe condition or act in regards to the activity being assessed as having a hazard (this is subjective)
• The risk assessment result is above and beyond industry standard
• The Safety Professional is inexperienced and does not take into account common sense factors to assess
• Obvious lack of knowledge of work activities by risk assessor
• The PPE recommended resulting from the risk assessment does not have an associated risk
• (ex. People linking SAR usage always with confined space)

The results of perfectionism during safety qualitative field risk assessment

• Safety Professional loses all credibility with employer, line manager, and most importantly the employee
• Damage to the companies safety culture;  lose support of field/shop personnel; company’s risk balance damaged
• Actually may increase risk to employees; eg. Too much in controls can increase risk.
• Unnecessary cost to company in man hours and materials to conduct risk mitigation

The Components of a Balanced Qualitative Field Risk Assessment

• The assessment makes common sense
• The assessment makes the employee safer (employee safety is first priority)
• The assessment does not cause additional risk throughout the work process/activity
• The correction of the risk is cost effective
• The employees involved in the work activity/process have coordinated with the assessment professional
• The assessment results meet OSHA 29 CFR 1910 or 1926 (the assessment meets industry standards)