Most factory risk registers are written once, filed, and never consulted. A HIRA that works is a living document produced by the people who do the work, reviewed on a defined trigger, and connected to an action list with owners and dates. The method below is the version that survives both an internal audit and a buyer's social compliance audit.
Step 1: define the scope by activity, not by area
Assessing "the cutting section" produces vague hazards. Assessing "changing the blade on a straight knife cutting machine" produces specific, controllable ones. Break the site into tasks — routine, non-routine, and emergency — and assess each. Non-routine tasks (maintenance, cleaning, changeover, breakdown recovery) generate a disproportionate share of serious injuries and are the ones most often left out.
Step 2: identify hazards systematically
Use a checklist so the team's imagination is not the limiting factor:
- Mechanical — entanglement, crushing, shearing, cutting, ejection.
- Electrical — shock, arc flash, static discharge.
- Chemical — inhalation, skin contact, ingestion, reaction.
- Physical — noise, vibration, heat stress, lighting, radiation.
- Ergonomic — repetitive motion, manual handling, posture, workstation height.
- Fire and explosion — fuel, ignition, oxygen, dust suspension.
- Psychosocial — excessive hours, harassment, unclear responsibility.
Step 3: score with a matrix that has defined anchors
A five by five matrix is standard. What makes it defensible is written definitions for every level, so two assessors reach similar numbers.
| Severity | Definition |
|---|---|
| 1 Negligible | First aid only, no lost time |
| 2 Minor | Medical treatment, return same shift |
| 3 Moderate | Lost time injury, full recovery expected |
| 4 Major | Permanent impairment or single serious injury |
| 5 Catastrophic | Fatality or multiple serious injuries |
| Likelihood | Definition |
|---|---|
| 1 Rare | Not known to have occurred in the industry |
| 2 Unlikely | Has occurred elsewhere in the industry |
| 3 Possible | Has occurred at this site or a sister site |
| 4 Likely | Occurs several times a year at this site |
| 5 Almost certain | Occurs monthly or more often |
Risk = severity x likelihood. Bands: 1-4 low (monitor), 5-9 medium (control within 90 days), 10-15 high (control within 30 days, interim measures immediately), 16-25 extreme (stop the activity until controlled).
The stop-work band must be real. A matrix with an extreme band that has never once stopped a job is decorative, and auditors notice.
Step 4: apply the hierarchy of controls in order
- Elimination — remove the hazard. Redesign so the task is unnecessary.
- Substitution — replace with something less hazardous. A water-based adhesive instead of solvent-based.
- Engineering — guard, interlock, enclose, ventilate, isolate. Works without depending on behaviour.
- Administrative — procedure, permit, training, signage, rotation. Depends entirely on behaviour, which is why it ranks low.
- PPE — last line, protects one person, fails silently when worn incorrectly.
A control plan consisting mainly of training and PPE is a plan that has not tried. Auditors read the distribution of controls across the hierarchy as a proxy for programme maturity, and they are right to.
Step 5: residual risk and review triggers
Re-score after controls to get residual risk. If residual risk is still medium or above, the control is insufficient and needs escalation, not acceptance. Set review triggers explicitly: any incident or near miss on the task, any change of machine or material, any change of process, and a scheduled annual review as a backstop.
Making it real
The assessment team must include an operator who does the task daily, not only the supervisor and the safety officer. In every HIRA workshop I have run, the operator identifies at least one hazard the technical people had not considered — usually something about what happens when the machine jams.
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