IOSH Managing Safely Practical Assessment
The IOSH Managing Safely course has two parts to its assessment. A multiple-choice exam to prove your knowledge post-training and a risk assessment, also known as the practical assessment. This blog will talk you through the practical assessment so you feel confident when undertaking the risk assessment element of the course.
IOSH Risk Assessment Overview
This part of the IOSH Managing Safely course is created to give you a chance to demonstrate the knowledge you have developed in the course and apply it to your workplace. This task is a ‘take-home task’, meaning that you do not complete it under exam conditions, and you have 14 days to complete it after the final day of your IOSH Managing Safely training course.
The task is to identify four hazards from different categories you will have learnt about during the course.
These categories are:
- Biological
- Chemical
- Environmental
- Mechanical
- Organisational
- Physical
You will need to find examples of hazards from at least four of these categories and figure out how likely the event could occur, who it will affect, what you currently do to lower this risk, and what you are going to do to minimise this risk.
Where should I carry out my IOSH Risk Assessment
Your risk assessment should be carried out at your workplace. You can therefore, use a risk assessment form that your company uses, as long as it follows the same format at the IOSH one.
This is because if your form misses key elements of what is needed in the mark scheme, you will not be able to achieve any marks for them. What is important is that your risk assessment shows a logical flow from the start to the end, showing a complete picture of the work area you are assessing, the hazards, risks and the control measures put in place.
Take the IOSH Risk Assessment One Step at a Time
If you are not used to completing risk assessments, then looking at the form and making decisions around it can be a daunting task!
Complete the form in little steps. You might want to complete one full row at a time, i.e. what the hazard is, who will be harmed, control measures etc or complete one column at a time i.e. identify all your hazards (4 are required in order to gain the maximum number of marks) then identify who will be harmed with each hazard etc.
1. Getting starting on your risk assessment
You will be pleased to know that you will get one mark for simply completing the top of your risk assessment:
- Your name
- Date & time you are completing the risk assessment
- The work area you are assessing
- What task is being assessed
One mark down and another possible 37 to collect!
2. Identifying The Hazards
You need to make sure that you are actually selecting hazards for this part of the risk assessment. i.e. something that has the potential to cause harm. If you don’t select a hazard then you will loose the marks for the whole column, so it is important that you use your notes from the IOSH Managing Safely course to make sure you correctly select hazards.
Some examples of common hazards in the workplace include:
- Working at height
- Display screen equipment
- Machinery
- Noise
Make sure you are specific with the hazard. For example if you identify a noise hazard, where is the notice coming from? Another example are slip and trip hazards (one of the most common workplace injuries) be specific with what is causing this hazard e.g. trailing wires.
You will get 1 mark for each hazard you identify, up to a total 4 marks for this section.
3. Identifying who could be harmed
In this section you need to identify the full range of people who might be harmed – remember that there are other people as well as employees that might be at risk from a hazard, like visitors for example.
If you can, quantify how many people are at risk e.g. 2 cleaners or 20 employees.
Think carefully about who might come into contact with the hazard. Don’t just copy and paste the same list for all hazards. Visitors to an organisation are not going to come into contact with the same hazards as employees working with machinery.
4. How will people be harmed?
Be specific in this section of the risk assessment.
Avoid putting only the consequences – explain what exactly would be causing the harm.
For example, the biggest hazard associated with overloaded sockets is overheating and catching fire, causing burns and the inhalation of smoke. Alternatively, they could give someone an electric shock due to the insulation around the wires becoming damaged by the heat. An electric shock can cause heart attacks and death.
5. The existing control measures
There will most likely be control measures already in place for the hazard that you identify, so don’t write ‘None’ in this box!
Noise might be controlled by warning and mandatory PPE signage for example.
It is useful here to think about ‘soft’ controls, which include safety systems of work, training, supervision arrangements, equipment inspections etc.
One of the columns later in the risk assessment is additional control measures – so it is a good idea to think at this point how else you could control the risk.
6. Calculating the risk rating
As you would have practised on your IOSH Managing Safely course, a risk rating is calculated by multiplying the likelihood by the consequence.
Likelihood has a rating of 1-5, and consequence also has a rating of 1-5 (therefore the risk rating is out of a total of 5×5 = 25).
Risk ratings can be subjective, and this is accounted for when your risk assessment is marked. However, you will be expected to be within a small threshold of their judgement.
If you are dealing with hazards such as electricity or working at height (the leading cause of fatalities at work in the UK), then you are justified in calculating a consequence rating of 5 (catastrophic, meaning death).
You will achieve another 4 marks – one for each correctly calculated risk rating for this section.
7. Additional controls and residual risk rating
As mentioned before, the ‘soft’ controls are often a good way to further reduce the likelihood of a hazard causing harm: training, supervision, safe systems of work inspections etc.
This is in addition to adding the often more obvious ‘hard’ controls like guards on machines, barriers around work areas, extractor fans etc.
Again, the more specific you are with the extra controls you identify, the more likely you are to achieve the points! For example if you find that PPE could be used, then identify exactly what PPE would be beneficial and for whom.
You will then need to reassess your risk ratings
The harm that can occur (consequence) will always be the same if that activity has to continue, therefore what you are trying to reduce with your additional controls is the likelihood.
For example, the possible consequence of getting trapped in machinery is likely to be severe, the consequence will still be the same no matter what controls you put in place. The idea is to reduce the likelihood of that happening as much as possible, reducing the overall risk rating so it stays in the green area of the risk matrix.
8. Actions needed and monitoring
Each additional control you add needs someone responsible for seeing that the control is carried through and monitored.
Assign a job role to each control, and when the control will be checked it is in place. Make the dates specific and be realistic, for example if you write ‘within one week’ and you are trying to implement training for 100 employees, that is not a realistic goal.
You need to use the ‘Action Level Table’ given during your course to check your residual risk ratings. As if your risk rating is 15-16 immediate action is needed and if it is 20-25 you need to stop the activity immediately and take action.
9. Risk assessment review date
The final mark available is for the review date. There is no legal time frame for when risk assessments should be reviewed. It is recommended that they are reviewed at least once a year, however, work tasks that are being monitored or are of a higher risk may be reviewed by companies more regularly.
You will receive 1 mark for a sensible review date.
Remember that risk assessments should be reviewed when there have been changes implemented to the task, for example, new equipment. In addition, if there is an accident or near miss reported, it is also recommended that a new risk assessment is carried out to try to prevent any further accidents or near misses from occurring from the same issue.
You will also need to put a signature (typed name is acceptable) and the name of your training provider on the risk assessment in the boxes provided. Unfortunately, you will not receive any marks for this, but it completes the risk assessment.
10. Risk Assessment Complete!
Now all you need to do is submit your risk assessment to your training provider.
It is always a good idea to leave your work for a couple of days and come back to review it. You will usually spot mistakes or perhaps have a different view of a risk rating on a second look.
What is the pass mark for the IOSH Managing Safely Risk Assessment?
You will need to achieve 23 marks out of a possible 38 to pass the risk assessment task.
Interested in the IOSH Managing Safely course?
Read more about the IOSH Managing Safely course using the link below.
IOSH Courses are aimed at all industries and will equip you with practical skills that you can apply to your workplace.