Workplace OHS Hazard Analysis: An Essential Prevention Tool

A workplace Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) hazard analysis by workstation is a fundamental tool for any employer committed to protecting their employees. It involves identifying, assessing and prioritizing occupational risks that workers are exposed to, station by station, in order to implement appropriate prevention measures.

Why Conduct a Workplace OHS Hazard Analysis

A Pillar of Prevention

A workplace OHS hazard analysis enables you to:

Identify all hazards that workers are exposed to in their daily activities
Assess the risk level to prioritize prevention actions
Meet legal requirements for occupational health and safety (Labor Code, ISO 45001 standards)
Reduce workplace accidents and occupational diseases
Demonstrate the company’s commitment to employee safety

The Regulatory Framework

Labor legislation imposes a general safety obligation on every employer towards their workers. Key points:

Who is affected? Any company employing workers
Who conducts it? The employer, with participation from workers and employee representatives
What format? Open format (paper, digital), but it must be documented and accessible
When to update? Regularly and whenever there is a significant change in working conditions

Consequences of Non-Compliance

Failure to conduct a risk analysis exposes the employer to:

Administrative and financial penalties as provided by the Labor Code
Civil liability in case of a workplace accident
Criminal liability in case of endangering the life of others

How to Create Your OHS Hazard Analysis Step by Step

Step 1: Form the Working Group

The hazard analysis should not be conducted by a single person. Involve:

The HSE manager or the designated prevention officer
Managers from each department
Employee representatives
Field operators (those who know the real risks)
The occupational health physician (advisory role)

Step 2: Define the Workstations to Analyze

Break your company down into coherent workstations:

By workstation
By workshop or zone
By activity or trade
By project (for construction site activities)

Example for a food processing plant:

Raw material receiving
Cold storage
Production line 1
Production line 2
Packaging area
Maintenance
Shipping
Administrative offices

Step 3: Identify the Hazards

For each workstation, list all hazards:

Physical hazards: Falls from height, slips and trips, crushing, cuts, burns, noise, vibrations, electrocution

Chemical hazards: Chemical products, dust, fumes, vapors, CMR agents (carcinogens, mutagens, reprotoxic substances)

Biological hazards: Infectious agents, stings, bites, Legionnaires’ disease

Ergonomic hazards: Manual handling, awkward postures, repetitive movements, computer workstation strain

Psychosocial hazards: Stress, work overload, violence, harassment, lone working

Organizational hazards: Night shifts, irregular hours, temporary workers, co-activity

Step 4: Assess the Risks

For each identified hazard, evaluate the risk level. The most common method:

Risk = Severity x Likelihood (x Level of Control)

Severity	Level	Likelihood	Level
Minor (discomfort, inconvenience)	1	Very unlikely	1
Serious (absence < 30 days)	2	Unlikely	2
Severe (absence > 30 days, permanent disability)	3	Likely	3
Very severe (death, permanent disability > 30%)	4	Very likely	4

Criticality matrix:

	S1	S2	S3	S4
L4	4	8	12	16
L3	3	6	9	12
L2	2	4	6	8
L1	1	2	3	4

1-4 (green): Low risk, monitoring
5-8 (yellow): Moderate risk, actions to be planned
9-12 (orange): High risk, priority actions
13-16 (red): Critical risk, immediate actions

Step 5: Define Prevention Actions

For each significant risk, define actions following the general principles of prevention:

Avoid risks
Evaluate risks that cannot be avoided
Combat risks at the source
Adapt work to the individual
Take account of the state of the art
Replace what is dangerous with what is less dangerous or not dangerous
Plan prevention measures
Give priority to collective protective measures over individual protective measures
Provide appropriate instructions to workers

Step 6: Formalize the Document

Your OHS hazard analysis must contain at a minimum:

Company identification and the workstations analyzed
List of hazards identified per workstation
Assessment of each risk (scoring)
Existing prevention measures
Planned prevention actions (responsible person, deadline)
Date of completion and management validation

How to Update Your Hazard Analysis Effectively

Regular updates are often seen as a chore. Here is how to make them efficient:

Organize a Structured Review

Collect the period’s data: Workplace accidents, near misses, occupational diseases, audit results, complaints
Convene the working group: Review the situation by workstation
Identify changes: New equipment, new products, reorganizations, new employees
Reassess risks: Adjust scores based on developments
Update the action plan: Close completed actions, add new ones

Integrate Updates into Your Daily Routine

Rather than doing everything once a year:

Update the analysis after every significant accident or near miss
Integrate risk reviews into your monthly department meetings
Use field-level feedback to continuously feed your risk assessment

Why You Should Digitalize Your OHS Hazard Analysis

Limitations of a Paper or Excel-Based Analysis

Difficulty in collaborative updates
Risk of version loss
No traceability of changes
Complex multi-site consolidation
Limited access for employees

Benefits of a Digital Analysis

Real-time updates by field managers
Complete history of all changes
Automatic generation of the document from the risk database
Dashboards for tracking prevention actions
Easy access for all stakeholders
Automatic multi-site consolidation for corporate groups

Conclusion

A workplace OHS hazard analysis is not a document to produce for compliance purposes and then file away in a drawer. It is a living tool that, when used properly, saves lives and protects your company.

The key to an effective analysis? Involve workers in its creation, update it regularly, and make it a genuine decision-making tool for your prevention actions.

Betterfly enables you to create, maintain, and manage your OHS hazard analysis with a platform dedicated to risk management. Interactive scoring matrix, integrated action plan, automatic document generation: request a demo to simplify your risk assessment.