Everything About Risk Assessments: Compiled

As industry needs for safety change and develop, our team at Clarion Safety Systems is here to provide news and learning resources. This month, of special interest for both our U.S-based manufacturers and workplace safety professionals, we’ve released several resources that detail the ins and outs of risk assessments. These come in the form of two resource articles, a downloadable information sheet that covers the U.S. machinery standards, and an interactive spreadsheet tool to help you take first steps to conduct your own machine risk assessment.

The Growing Need for Risk Management
Identifying and addressing safety issues in your workplace and on the products you manufacture might seem overwhelming. But, it’s imperative for safety. According to OSHA, a “root cause” of workplace injuries, illnesses, and incidents is failing to identify or recognize hazards that are present, or that could have been anticipated. A critical element of an effective safety and health program – and of product safety – is a proactive, ongoing process to identify and assess such hazards.

While risk assessment processes vary, the typical process is:

• Identify hazards
• Assess risk
• Reduce risk
• Document results
• Reassess the risk

Visit our safety resource article for an example of this process, as well as a risk assessment scoring matrix chart.

Risk Assessment Resources: Compiled
To make it easy, we’ve broken up all of our risk assessment tools, resources, and services below, divided by need:

For Manufacturers:

1. Research

• The Risk Assessment Process for Manufacturers
• How to Apply the Hierarchy of Controls
• Video: Close the Gap on Acceptable Risk

2. Download

• Risk Assessment Template Spreadsheet
• Product/Machine Risk Assessment Infosheet

3. Safety Service

• Product Risk Assessments
• Product Safety Consulting

For EH&S Professionals:

1. Research

• The Value of Risk Management and Risk Assessments
• How to Calculate ROI for Safety
• How to Identify, Assess, and Manage Risk

2. Download

• Risk Assessment Template Spreadsheet
• Why Perform a Risk Assessment Infosheet

3.  Safety Service

• Machine Safeguarding
• Machine Safety Audits
• Risk Assessment Training Course

Pioneers in Risk Assessment
Since 1997, members of the Clarion Safety and our Machine Safety Specialists team have kept current with or been involved with the U.S. machine safety standards – OSHA, ANSI, NFPA, and ISO/EN standards, including ISO 13849-1. For workplaces, we’ve perfected a process of working together:

• 1.Answer your machine guarding questions and train your team on the latest codes and standards.
• 2.Train your team to conduct risk assessments and help where needed with your most critical machines and processes.
• 3.Recommend solutions and help you work with local vendors to develop safeguarding solutions for your machines.

All of our industrial machine risk assessment professionals are either TÜV Certified Functional Safety Engineers or T ÜV Certified Machine Safety Engineers.

Comprehensive Machinery Services
Along with these new educational resources, an additional service offered by our team of experts is our comprehensive machinery and equipment risk assessments. These assessments are intended for manufacturers in all stages of product design and development, including the initial stages of the design cycle, the final development of the product, and after placement on the market. If you have any questions about related ANSI or ISO labeling standards, reach out to our team today!

Usually recommended after risk assessments or at any stage of a product’s lifecycle are our free label review services which include evaluating a current or future products’ labeling system and providing recommendations on consolidation opportunities as well as how to harmonize the ANSI and ISO standards for the application at hand.

Enjoy our safety resources – and know that we’re here to help at any time!