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Stage Four - Risk assessment

IIn a working environment, where there could be danger, the employer has a duty and obligation (under Workplace Health and Safety Directive 89/391/EEC) to evaluate all potential risks to the safety and health of their personnel.

From an electrical safety point of view, all hazards need to be considered when personnel are required to be in proximity of energized electrical equipment, these hazards include electrical shock and arc flash.

Over the years, various systems of carrying the risk assessment have been developed, these typically include:

- Understanding the risk
- Existing tools/control actions to mitigate the risk
- Procedures that enhance safety of personnel within the workplace
- Evaluation of residual risk and further solution/controls

This system has been utilized in different sectors and often referred to as Predict > Prevent > Process > Protect For arc flash assessment, predicting the risk usually involves calculating the prospective arc flash energies on the electrical network, a review of the electrical tasks and evaluating the risk which the personnel could be subjected to.
Once the risks are determined, the next step is to evaluate the existing risk control measures and propose further steps that could mitigate the risks. The solutions could include:

- Not allowing work on energized equipment (avoiding the risk)
- Determining which risks cannot be avoided during work
- Limiting the exposure to the hazard
- Replacing dangerous tools/equipment/actions with non-dangerous
- Creating safer procedures
- Providing training programmes for employees

With all existing and proposed control measures, the residual risk magnitude and severity can then be evaluated. Where residual risk to the worker cannot be completely removed, further solutions should be considered to prevent the injury. Only at this stage, consideration should be given to the specific PPE that should be worn by the personnel carrying out the task.