Risk Assessments & Hazards

A hazard in the terms of health and safety is something with the potential to cause harm. There are lots of hazards within the salon environment, for example training electrical wires from equipment; someone could easily trip over the wires.

A risk is when there is a potential of danger, i.e. when you are treating a client you may spill water on the floor if care is not taken.
A hazard is when there is actual danger, i.e. the water is on the floor and people are likely to slip and fall.

Hazard	What is the risk	Details of how the risk can be reduced/eliminated
Water spillage on the floor by the basins.	Client or staff member could slip and hurt themselves.	Mop up the spillage straight away and put a sign there to let everyone know the floor is wet, to remove the risk.
Sharp edge on a workstation.	Client or staff member could catch (and cut) themselves on the edge.	Report to a senior staff member or manager straight away and put a sign there to stop anyone using the work station. This will reduce the risk until it is removed.
Rubbish bin lid broken.	Everyone could be at risk from infection (germs) in food etc is put in this bin.	Report and replace as soon as possible, to remove the risk.

These hazards and risks are recorded in a document called a risk assessment.

You can use a risk assessment to help you keep a simple record of:

who might be harmed and how
what you’re already doing to control the risks
what further action you need to take to control the risks
who needs to carry out the action
when the action is needed by

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It prevents work-related death, injury and ill health.

Follow the link below to identify what health and safety management you would need to follow either as part of or running your own business. There are example risk assessments you can search for and adapt templates to suit your business.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/risk/index.htm