Process Risk Assessment

Research personnel must perform a process risk assessment for all processes that utilize hazardous materials. The assessment is utilized to determine the level of risk associated with a specific process. The assessment evaluates the hazards associated with each task and corresponding safety controls to assist in determining whether or not the risk is acceptable. The process risk assessment can be utilized as a standard operating procedure.

The risk assessment compares the severity of the hazard to the likelihood an incident could occur. This comparison identifies the level of risk associated with the process. The evaluation is performed using the following risk assessment matrix.

Severity	Likelihood
Severity	Unlikely (1)	Possible (2)	Likely (3)
Low (1)	1	2	3
Medium (2)	2	4	6
High (3)	3	6	9

Severity levels are defined as:

Level	Impact to Physical Being
(1) Low	No injury, injury or ill-health requiring first aid treatment only - includes minor cuts and brises, irritation, ill-health with temporary discomfort.
(2) Medium	Injury requiring medical treatment or ill-health leading to disability, includes lacerations, burns, sprains, minor fractures, dermatitis, deafness, work-related upper limb disorders.
(3) High	Fatal, serious injury or life-threatening, occupational disease, includes amputations, major fractures, multiple injuries, occupational cancer, acute and fatal diseases.

Likelihood levels are defined as:

Level	Event Frequency
(1) Unlikely	Not likely to occur. The event has no occurred in the PI's lab or similar lab setup. The event has not been documented in literature or safety bulletins.
(2) Possible	Possible or known to occur. The event has occurred in the PI's lab or similar lab setup. The event has been documented in literature or safety bulletins.
(3) Likely	Common or repeating occurrence. The event has occurred repetitively in the PI's lab or similar lab setup. The event has been documented in literature or safety bulletins.

Risk Level and Acceptability Criteria:

Risk Score	Risk Level	Acceptability of Risk	Recommended Actions
<3	Low Risk	Acceptable	No additional risk control measures required. Continue to monitor to ensure the risk does not escalate to a higher level.
3-4	Medium Risk	Moderately Acceptable	Acceptable to carry out the work activity; however, tasks need to be reviewed to bring risk level to as low as reasonably achievable. Control measures must be implemented to reduce the risk. Supervisory oversight is required.
>4	High Risk	Not Acceptable	Experiment cannot be performed until the risk level is reduced to the medium risk level. Control measures must be implemented to reduce the risk. Control measures must focus on elimination, substitution and engineering controls. Personal protective equipment cannot be the sole risk control strategy. Immediate management intervention is required to ensure the risk is reduced to at least medium level prior to initiating the experiment.

Research personnel must complete the Process Risk Assessment form using the above matrix to determine the initial risk level. Medium and high risk levels must be re-evaluated to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. The form must be approved by the PI or Supervisor of the laboratory and sent to the EHRS for final approval. The experiment cannot be initiated until final approval is provided. The assessment must be upload to BioRAFT using the Document’s tab on the PIs profile page.

In addition, EHRS created Chemical Safety Summaries (CSS) for over 250 chemicals used at the university. The summary provides the following information on the specific chemicals.

Chemical Name
Hazard Rating
Hazards
Label Requirements
Permissible Exposure Limits
Personal protection equipment required.
Precautionary Statements

Research personnel should utilize the summaries to complete the required process risk assessment for every process in the laboratory.

Please contact EHRS if you have any questions.

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