Health Risk
Assessments
Most New Zealand workplaces have tasks that carry some level of health risk. Those risks can include physical, chemical or biological agents, such as dust, fumes, vapours, noise and moulds. That is why a Health Risk Assessment (HRA) in your workplace is an option well worth exploring.
An HRA provides an overall assessment of how your health risks fit together and how they’re being managed. That bottom-up analysis gives you a good sense of what’s happening on site so you can make informed decisions that support your people and meet your responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Workplace risk assessments
We work with any business where daily operations pose a risk to health. That includes manufacturing and processing sites, engineering workshops, labs, logistics and warehousing, food production, and anywhere that chemicals, dust, noise, or fumes are part of the job.
Some come to us because something has changed on site, maybe staff have raised concerns, or health monitoring has highlighted potential issues. Others use regular HRAs as part of a proactive review cycle. Whichever camp you fall into, an HRA will give you a clearer idea of which controls to focus on and where investment will make the biggest difference.
How a health risk assessment helps
While an occupational hygiene assessment measures levels of exposure on your site, an HRA brings those results together with task observations, SDS information, controls, and the realities of working on-site, to evaluate the level of health risk. They are also best to happen first, allowing you to better prioritise future measurement efforts.
An HRA can help identify what’s urgent, what isn’t, and what needs attention before it escalates. The initial assessment can even be completed by yourself once you
have knowledge on the process.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between an HRA and an occupational hygiene assessment?
An occupational hygiene assessment measures what’s happening on-site. An HRA interprets that information to evaluate how significant the risks are and what action is needed. An HRA can also be completed qualitatively, meaning before any measurements are collected, so as to best focus measurement efforts.
When should we request an HRA?
Some organisations request an HRA because a process or condition has changed on site, or often it’s when monitoring has raised a question about exposure levels. But there are also many organisations that build HRAs into their annual review cycle to stay ahead of any changes in their health risks.
What’s involved in an HRA?
We review monitoring data, observe tasks, evaluate your current controls, and consider how people interact with the work to help us identify the likelihood of exposure and the consequences of identified health hazards.
How does an HRA help with HSWA obligations?
The Health and Safety at Work Act requires you “to eliminate risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable; and if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate risks to health and safety, to minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable.” An HRA first identifies hazards that are a risk to health and safety and provides control
recommendations to eliminate or minimise those risks. It helps provide information on when you are meeting those duties and when more work is needed.
Is an HRA only needed when there’s a problem?
Not at all. Many businesses use HRAs proactively to confirm their controls are appropriate, plan future improvements, or get an independent view of risk before making investment decisions.