Training package on workplace risk assessment and management for small and medium-sized enterprises

This training package on risk assessment and management at the workplace seeks primarily to empower owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take action themselves to improve safety and health conditions in their workplaces.

Instructional material | 07 June 2013
Risk assessment is a key tool in managing occupational safety and health at an enterprise and gives employers and businesses a means to be proactive, to identify hazards and take action to remedy problems before they cause an accident or ill health. As this training package demonstrates, the solutions are not so difficult to develop as they are based on the owner’s and workers’ intimate knowledge of their own workplace. The aim is to help employers and workers find cost-effective, practical solutions to control risks in their workplaces to the benefit of workers and owners alike.

The training package consists of three modules. The main module is a self-help tool which covers the five steps of carrying out a risk assessment. It will instill confidence and empower owners and workers of SMEs to carry out their own risk assessments. A second module outlines a trainers’ toolkit, developed to support risk assessment training courses and to help trainers plan risk assessment programmes. It includes activity sheets to guide participants through the risk assessment process. Finally, a third module gives examples of risk assessments for selected occupational sectors where SMEs are prevalent.

This training package was produced under the project “Linking safety and health at work to sustainable economic development: From theory and platitudes to conviction and action” (2009–2012), funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).