A risk assessment is a daily-specific examination of the hazards and potential hazards that could cause harm to those in or around the work area. Based on this, the precautions which will prevent an undesirable situation from taking place are then identified and through mitigating actions are controlled.
Hazards may be related to the equipment you’re using (falling tools and equipment, rope stretch, equipment failure) the nature of the task (unusual loads), location (sharp edges), the weather, and of course there’s always the danger of an at-height fall to be protected against. Emergency evacuation and rescue provisions for stranded/injured rope techs are also part of a job’s risk assessment.
This document may be put together by a Rope Access Project Manager, Foreman, supervising L3 tech, or anyone that has been deemed competent to assess risk by the IRATA member company. The risk assessment is expected to be revised as needed during the work assignment. All members of the rope team should have easy access to the risk assessment, and if changes are made should be debriefed on those changes immediately.
The risk assessment is used in conjunction with the Safety Method Statement.
During your IRATA Assessment, all levels will be asked to demonstrate awareness of the risk assessment within the process for planning and managing rope access activities.
L3 certifying techs will be asked to demonstrate competence with the risk assessment process and should be capable of identifying hazards (see above) that may affect rope access activities. These may be identified when completing IRATA form 061 job planning or a similar form.
As your TMC (training member company) it is our responsibility to ensure that you’re competent to fulfill the responsibilities of your certification. Risk assessment is a big responsibility. If you have any questions during your training week, please do not hesitate to ask.
This portion of the assessment may be practical or desk-based. We’ll make sure you’re ready for both.
Additional resources to check out:
TACS 6.2.3 for the source material for this blog.
ICOP Part 2, 2.2.4 for more information on risk assessments and hazard identification.
ICOP Part 3, Annex A for a very detailed look at how to put a risk assessment together, and how to evaluate risk and decide on precautions.
To access the IRATA Study Guides, click below:
