Risk Assessing for Hazardous Environments and Personal Safety

As an employer you are responsible for the health, safety and welfare of all your staff, employees and all personnel on your site or location. As an employee or contractor you are responsible for your own health, safety and welfare and also those around you.

There are various ways of assessing risk; not only do you need to be able to carry out a pre-planned and deliberate risk assessment, but you need to be able to carry out dynamic risk assessment and on the spot assessment to identify what is the intent of the threat and once the intent has been identified, whether there is capability of carrying out the intent.

The threat will normally come from People, Objects, Places or all three.

Once the threat has been identified how vulnerable are you to the threat? ie how predictable are you, and what security or safety measures do you have to reduce or negate the threat? This is a requirement not only in reducing and eliminating hazards in the work place, but a necessity when working in hostile environments (eg confined spaces and lone workers).

Threat Assessment
Concerns consideration of the probability of attack on a target, whether a person, place or event, and the possible methods liable for use. It is produced by the responsible authority and involves assessment of the adversary's intentions and capabilities. Threats come from terrorists, criminals and protesters.

Vulnerability
The vulnerability of a target concerns its susceptibility to various methods of attack and in broad terms is assessed by considering predictability of time and place by the adversary and security measures existent or imposed which are designed to defeat them.

Risk
Risk arises from being in danger of death, injury or damage, by being present or in close proximity to a vulnerable target which has been assessed as threatened and will vary according to the provision of protective measures. An assessment of risk follows on from consideration of the threat and vulnerability.

Asset Protection
In considering protective security there are no hard and fast rules from which 'black and white' decisions can easily be made. You are dealing here with assessments and judgements albeit learned and educated ones. However there will always be an element of risk management involved in a defensive activity being employed to counter an adversary where he has the initiative. Your goal is risk reduction by the imposition of preventive measures. You can never achieve zero risk but this should not dissuade you from the attempt to whilst imposing a prudent balance between effective risk reduction and the efficient use of resources.

Planning
Boats, yachts and installations, light aircraft, buildings and events, each of these situation requiring particular planning considerations having been identified as a high risk area. If either you personally or your company/organisation are in this position then specialist security countermeasure expertise is required. This can be supplied either by attending one of our courses or by using one of our personal service teams.

For more information, course dates and costs please contact us