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Malcolm Bland

Managing Director at Timely Intervention

Dynamic Risk Assessment (RDS)

A serious workplace injury or death changes lives forever, the human loss and suffering are immeasurable. Whatever the nature of an accident the business impact can be extremely damaging. Accidents can negatively impact employee morale and cause reputational damage.  Financial losses may result from delay, equipment damage or legal penalties.

Dynamic Risk Assessment (DRA) forms a crucial part of an effective risk assessment. DRA is a continuous process of identifying and assessing risk, taking action to reduce or eliminate that risk and then apply suitable monitoring so that that the risk continues to be assessed as the situation changes (risk audits).

Five steps to implementing Dynamic Risk Assessment

  1. Publish information about the nature of the risk or hazard and the counter measures to be deployed to safeguard against an incident
  2. Identify potential risks and hazards by conducting risk assessments in advance of any incidents occurring and schedule regular audits and adjust to   changing circumstances
  3. Immediately report DRA incidents and escalate to the appropriate expert authority
  4. Take remedial action and monitor the results
  5. Target training to promote a culture based on the use of safe working practices
The strength of a risk management system is the management of risk using planned risk assessments and scheduled auditing of the risk to identify any changes that may have occurred that impact the control measures being used to manage the risk. Dynamic risk assessment significantly enhances a safety system because, in addition to managing known risks, the system provides the ability to manage and control unforeseen threats as they emerge.

Six practical tips

  1. Whenever possible identify potential risks and hazards by conducting risk assessments in advance on any incidents occurring
  2. Publish information about the nature of the risk or hazard, the countermeasures to be deployed to safeguard against an incident
  3. Publish policy and safe working procedures that explain how to protect against risks or hazards and prevent incidents
  4. Recognise that not all risks or hazards are predictable and implement a dynamic risk assessment system or process
  5. Train employees so that they are competent and confident when carrying out tasks
  6. Provide a means of reporting and tracking DRA incidents so that the appropriate resources and expertise are applied in a timely intervention

Tempus is a holistic safety management system (SMS) that pays equal attention to preventative measures (hazard database and manager checklists), the management of emerging incidents (incident management), the controlling of known hazards (risk management) and dealing with corrective actions (case management). Tempus records DRA incidents saving on paperwork, capturing the details in the risk register and instigating standard risk management measures to prevent reoccurrence. By using Tempus Safety Management, you can support your managers and their team members to ensure that when a task is carried out in your workplace, every precaution has been taken to reduce the likelihood of there being an incident.

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