Location Hazards

The intention of the project is to confirm that you understand the risk assessment process. Risk assessments must be capable of communicating the particulars relating to the problems faced in your workplace.

You could test whether your project achieves this by getting someone who hasn’t been involved in your assessment to read it and confirm to you that their understanding aligns with your intended meaning.

Here’s an example of a location hazard along with some pointers on common mistakes:

Description of the location
The directors desk is situated in front of a south facing window

Most common mistakes
The description needs to be in relation to the hazard. There are many ways that we could describe the director’s desk such as the director has a mahogany executive desk. Irrelevant! Although this may be true unless the colour of the desk causes a problem its inclusion here is not required.

Description of the Hazard
During summer months the director sits in direct sunlight, exposing him to the harmful rays of the sun and to uncomfortably hot conditions.

Most common mistakes
One word answers and lists of consequences are the most common problems here. A hazard cannot be describe in a single word and a consequence is not the same thing as a hazard.

Good luck with your project

IOSH Managing Safely Location Hazards

It's fair to say that under normal circumstances you wouldn't need to differentiate between various hazard types in your risk assessment of your workplace. So why do IOSH insist on asking you to identify hazards that are specific to a location, an equipment, substance or activity? Well the controls for each would be different

Here's a location hazard in a fictitious  administration office. Hazard description - the lighting level in the office space is too low for the completion of paperwork. This is a location hazard because these lights, in this space provide an inadequate level of light for the work carried out in this space.

Here's another location hazard, this time based on a 8 foot by 6 foot storage room, which has no windows or other ventilation - this small, poorly ventilated space is used for the storage of paint products. The trapped vapors in this room can cause harm to the liver and urinary tract. Under normal conditions the vapor would be dissipated. 

It may be the substance that causes the harm in this case but the hazard description makes the point that it is the confined nature of the space that causes the buildup of harmful amounts of vapor.

Good luck with your project