HIRA – The Discovery Process

The Kick off point for this is generally a process we call – Discovery. Here we use various different tools to aid us in discovering all of the Organisations (Activities, Products, Services, Substances, Plant & Equipment) all of which create hazards, risks (which need to be controlled) and opportunities, which need to be leveraged.

In this vlog series, we look at the Discovery Process which is the importance of identifying all activities, products, services and substances in your business so you can identify all the hazards and risks. It is also important to identify the Context of the Organization.

The context of the Organization includes factors such as:

1. Location, geography, weather and topography
2. Activities, products, services, substances, materials, plants and equipment
3. Shift patterns – do employees work long shifts?
4. Social, cultural, political issues
5. Contractors/Suppliers
6. Preexisting conditions
7. Neighbours and the surrounding areas

Outputs include Organograms, site maps, Arial photos, process maps and asset registers.

Tools for Discovery:

1. The Discovery Register

This is the collaborative effort between us and the client to identify all activities/services/products/substances so we can help utilize the information to inform the development of the system:

• Physical locations – maps, orientation, layout and Arial photo
• Shift patterns – working at night increases the possibility of fatigue
• Geographic Areas
• Confirm facilities – are there toilets/canteens
• Declare if not routine processes and activities
• Confirm work environment stresses
• Confirm Plant and equipment (assets)
• List gardening activities
• Occupational Health & Safety
• List substances used
• Previous SHEQ incident trends
• Possible emergencies
• Contractors used
• – Neighbours are an external risk

2. SHEQ Context Document (4, 6 and 9):

SHEQ context document links clause 4 in identifying the context of the organization to (clause 6) assessing risk/opportunities associated with internal/external issues and then draws through to a management plan (clause 9).

Risk Prioritisation Process

This is an additional tool after the discovery register.

The purpose is to go through activities/products/services and substances identified issues and assessment from an integrated perspective (financial/incident/environmental) and get an understanding of the level of controls implemented. From that outcome, we can determine further action required and provide a risk profile to determine a sequence of doing the risk assessment.