However, this should not be understood to mean that risk assessments are no longer required for any other work activity. The WHS Regulations were drafted on the basis that risk assessment forms a part of the general duty to manage risks. In many cases, hazards and the associated risks are well known and there are well-established and accepted risk control measures.
In situations such as this, there is no need to make a written risk assessment. However, the Model Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks states that a risk assessment should be done when there is uncertainty about how a hazard may result in injury or illness. More formal risk assessments are appropriate if there are changes at the workplace that could impact the effectiveness of existing risk control measures.
Again, the more formal documented risk assessments should be kept until they are clearly no longer going to be needed for any reason, for example, if the changes to the work processes have been successfully implemented and stabilised, and there have been no problems relating to WHS.
Under Clause 12 of the Regulation, an employer must review a risk assessment, including any measures adopted to control the risk, whenever:. Manage your employees with ease using our free Online HR Tool for up to five employees. Assign contracts and policies from an extensive library of legal documents, add performance KPIs and more.
How long health and safety records should be kept? Five years is a good rule thumb for most health and safety records. Some records relating to health or environmental risks must be kept for longer periods. Keeping health records Health records are not medically confidential documents.
This is particularly relevant for: Infectious agents that have the potential to cause persistent or latent infections, or which may have serious long-term consequences i. Hazard Group 3 biological agents BBVs with potential for causing sub-clinical, chronic infections regarded as Category 1 Carcinogens , such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
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These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. To demonstrate compliance with legal duties and to show effective health and safety management procedures are in place.
Health and Safety Executive HSE inspectors and union health and safety representatives have a legal right to inspect health and safety records.
HSE inspectors can ask to see the health surveillance records made under the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations Inspectors appointed under the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order can ask to see fire risk assessments, fire safety arrangements, fire drill and other relevant records.
To use as part of a defence against prosecutions or claims for compensation. Under the Woolf Reforms of civil procedure the defendant can be asked for disclosure of relevant records. For an injury this includes the following documents:.
The defendant can ask for other relevant documents when other Regulations are likely to be at issue, eg in cases where the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations COSHH are relevant, there are 16 documents listed including the risk assessment, records of the maintenance of personal protective equipment and the examination of local exhaust ventilation.
To provide data to monitor health and safety performance statistics and to show trends or problems in health and safety procedures. Working time information ; under the Working Time Regulations Apart from statutory requirements the decision on how long to keep records is difficult.
An employee who wants to claim compensation for an injury at work from his employer must generally bring a claim within three years of the accident or injury, limiting the time records relating to the incident must be kept. However, work-related medical conditions may take years before they become apparent.
Here the claim must be made within three years from the time the employee became aware of the condition. Consequently, where employees are exposed to substances that can cause diseases with long latency periods, eg asbestos-related diseases, records including health, training, air monitoring, and supervision may be required decades later. However, proceedings in respect of an indictable offence to be heard at the Crown Court may be brought years after the alleged offence was committed.
Employers may keep records in any format, provided they are kept readily accessible and retrievable at any reasonable time for examination. There should be appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security necessary to maintain ongoing confidentiality. Particular concerns exist about the ability to access and read electronic records over time, since the rapid pace of change in technology can make the software used to create the records obsolete, leaving the records unreadable.
Regular audits of the data should both demonstrate, and provide assurance of, its compliance with good practice standards such as ISO , the international standard on records management.
Employers must justify the retention of confidential information. It must be necessary for health and safety reasons or to satisfy other legal obligations and the employee must have freely given explicit consent. The processing of personal data must comply with principles designed to ensure that it must only used in a way that is fair, lawful and proportionate and accurate. These requirements apply to health and health surveillance records, exposure records and fit notes.
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