• Question: What kinds of risk assessments do you prepare for throughout your organisation?

    Asked by base449hen on 25 Jan 2022.
    • Photo: Chris Budd

      Chris Budd answered on 25 Jan 2022:

      Everything we do has to both have a full risk assessment and also get ethical approval. Without doing this the work will not get funded/insured.

    • Photo: Danielle Nader

      Danielle Nader answered on 25 Jan 2022:

      Depends on what procedure we are working with in the lab. Let’s say we are using hazardous, flammable, carcinogenic chemicals -we need to fill out a risk assessment that identifies the substance, how much will be used, how will it be disposed of etc. This needs approval by the line manager, laboratory manager, and Health & Safety offices.

      Some experiments are not as dangerous and won’t be classified as such. There is usually a point system that covers the ”severity” or seriousness of the consequence from that action. For example if you are just working with saline solutions, the risk is at level 1. But if you are working with a highly concentrated acid, the risk is higher because you could get injured, so you need more safety measures like safety goggles, lab coats, spill kits, fume hoods.

      You always try to put enough safety measures in place to keep the numbers very low. Sometimes if the risk is very high (above 4), the Health & Safety offices will not let you continue with that experiment unless you can include some protective equipment and other control measures to reduce the risk of injury.

    • Photo: Melanie Krause

      Melanie Krause answered on 25 Jan 2022:

      We have risk assessments for all experiments we do.. even the ones where nothing bad could happen really. We also do safety training for everyone that joins.. specifically for the use of centrifuges or rooms with a higher biosafety level. Then if you work with animals or patient samples in your research this needs to go through risk assessment as well as ethical approval by an independent committee before you start.
      In general national governments have pretty strict rules and Universities, Companies and Research Institutes have pretty strict guidelines we need to follow.
      Whenever we apply for money on a project we need to show that these things are in place otherwise we will not get funding.

    • Photo: Prabs Dehal

      Prabs Dehal answered on 27 Jan 2022:

      Loads and they vary depending on what you need them for.
      In science, you sometimes work with dangerous chemicals or machines. You need to do risk assessments to make sure you understand the dangers of what you are doing to yourself, people around you and the environment and if there is a safer way of doing things. Risk assessments must be done for legal reasons too.
      A risk assessment is something you get used to doing all the time. For example, where is my closest exit, or toilet, or fire extinguisher? Is it safe for me to leave this piece of cable lying across the floor? Should I stand on this wobbly chair to change a light bulb? Is there a safer chemical I could be using for this experiment? Is where my computer placed in front of a window actually bad for my eyes?
      It could seem really obvious to you, but no-one thinks the same way, so risk assessments are a way to let everyone know about risks.

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