Garrigill Village Hall Risk Management Policy
Aims
It is the policy of Garrigill Village Hall Management Committee ("the Committee") to ensure that all of its activities take place in a safe environment and that all visitors and persons using the hall are not exposed to unnecessary hazards. Identifying and managing the possible and probable risks that the Charity may face over time is a key part of effective governance. This policy explains the Charity's underlying approach to risk management and describes the key aspects of the risk management process.
Responsibilities
The Committee has overall responsibility for ensuring that:
• the policy is effective and is regularly reviewed and amended as required;
users of the Hall are made aware of the policy;
• defective equipment is repaired or disposed of safely;
• written records are kept of significant health and safety issues;
• accidents are investigated as appropriate and procedures implemented to prevent recurrences
The Committee will produce a general risk assessment for the village hall which individuals and groups hiring the hall and contractors working in it should read and make their own risk assessment that is specific to the activities they will be undertaking.
Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is essentially a careful examination of what could cause harm to people in providing a systematic methodology for identifying reasonably foreseeable risks associated with legal, moral and financial duties, removing them where possible, or otherwise adopting all the control measures and precautions that are reasonable in the circumstances. It enables the Committee to weigh up whether there are enough precautions (controls) in place, or that more should be done to ensure that no one gets hurt or becomes ill or GVH's reputation is compromised. It should be sufficiently detailed to determine whether adequate control has been achieved.
Hazards
A hazard is anything that can cause harm. Hazards may include:
• Nature of the activity
• Condition of equipment
• Use of electricity
• Condition of fire fighting equipment
• Ease of access to exits
• Behaviour of participants
• Extended use of computer screens
• Noise levels
• Condition and availability of first-aid equipment
Risk
A risk is how likely a hazard will cause harm to visitors, volunteers, staff and contractors. Risks can be reduced, or eliminated, if adequate controls are in place or introduced. In assessing risks, there are 5 steps to be followed:
Step 1: Look for the hazards
Walk around the premises in which your activity will take place and note what could reasonably be expected to cause harm. Ignore trivial hazards and concentrate on significant ones, which could result in serious harm or affect several people.
Step 2: Decide who and what may be harmed and how. Don't list the people in person – just the groups of people who may be affected, e.g., club members, young people, spectators, general public, other volunteers, vulnerable people, etc.
Step 3: Evaluate the risks and decide whether the existing precautions are adequate or whether more should be done.
1. Consider how likely it is that each hazard could cause harm. This will determine whether or not you need to do more to reduce the risk. Even after all the precautions have been taken, some risk usually remains. What you have to decide for each significant hazard is whether the remaining risk is high, medium or low.
2. Check that all legal requirements have been met, e.g., sports equipment or electrical equipment has been checked.
3. Then ask yourself if generally accepted standards of good practice are being followed.
4. Finally, remember to do what is reasonably practicable to keep your activity safe. You might even consider cancelling the activity.
Step 4: Record your findings
If, in your judgement, you consider that there is a significant risk, you must record your concerns. Give one copy to the Health and Safety Executive and keep a copy for yourself. These will help protect you if you were ever to become involved in any action for civil liability.
Step 5: Review your assessment and revise as necessary
It is good practice to review your assessment from time to time to make sure that the precautions are still working effectively. If your activities change or you decide to undertake more responsible activities there may be more likelihood of an accident. You must make sure that you consider the changes and re-assess the risks.
Where a risk is identified a risk assessment should be completed and the following recorded:
the likelihood of the risk occurring on a scale of 1 to 5:
1 = Rare or most unlikely to happen
2 = Unlikely to happen
3 = Possible or might happen
4 = Likely to happen
5 = Certain to happen
the consequence(s) of a risk arising on a scale of 1 to 5:
1 = Insignificant injury
2 = Minor injury
3 = Moderate Injury
4 = Major injury
5 = Death
Once the risk assessment has been undertaken an action plan to address the identified problems must be completed.