Risk Assessment | Plant and Chemical Hazards

Risk Assessment

Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Identification of Plant and Chemical Hazards 3
Highest-Risk Plant Hazards 4
Assessment of High-Risk Hazards 6
Reassessment of Risk 10
Recommendations 11
Brief Plant-Purchasing Policy 12
Conclusion 13

Introduction
The term Occupational safety and Health hazard is concerned with the safety and welfare
of the employees at work. According to Hopkin, it is the responsibility of every organization to
protect its workers, customers, employers and other people who might be affected by the
workplace environment1. According to the case scenario, Streakers, the hair and beauty salon
was sold to a new owner. The owner intends to make Streakers a safe place to work and shall
undertake a risk assessment. This report shall identify and assess plant and chemical hazards.
Further, after assessment of the risk rating, control measures to reduce hazard risk are stated. The
risks shall then be reassessed to check if Streakers can be considered a safe place to work. The
risk identification and assessment is done as per the standards of Australian, UK, Europe and
Singapore jurisdictions.
Identification of Plant and Chemical Hazards
According to the laws and codes of workplace safety at Singapore, Workplace Safety and
Health (WSH) includes legal requirements, certification and registration, monitoring and
surveillance, accident reporting and work injury compensation.
In the hairdressing and beauty industry, there are multiple plant and chemical hazards that
can be identified which may cause harm to the people working there or customers visiting the
salon. Plant hazard may be defined as the hazard caused due to physical reasons such as absence
of floor mats, leaving floors slippery due to clipped hair, or spills of hot wax. It may also be
caused by hair dressing equipments such as scissors, curling irons, hair dryers and others.
According to Gatica-Ortega et al., if the equipments used in the plant are damaged or old, it may
1 Hopkin, Paul, “Fundamentals of risk management”, 15

lead to a workplace hazard2. Further, if the electrical appliances are used too close to water or
equipments may be used in a manner they should not be, it may lead to a plant hazard. Apart
from the above hazards, there are hazards related to physical load and ergonomics that can cause
physical restraint among workers. The policies of Worksafe Victoria states that the working
postures for the hairdressers in the salon for prolonged period can increase static load on their
neck and shoulder causing fatigue3.
A hairdressing and beauty salon specializes in using multiple styling products such as
hair dyes, beauty sprays, hair smoothing lotions, shampoos and multiple other products. These
solutions might contain chemicals that cause adverse impact on the employees4. There have been
incidents being reported by The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration about hair
smoothing solutions containing high levels of methylene glycol and formaldehyde. These
chemicals might lead to eye irritation, nose irritation, blindness and even difficulty in breathing.
Moreover, long-term effects of chemicals may cause headaches, dermatitis and other skin related
problems among the workers5.
Highest-Risk Plant Hazards
High risk hazards can be defined as unsafe practices or conditions that may result in
injury or illness. From the list of above identified plant and chemical hazards, the following three
are considered carrying the highest risk.
S.No. Types of Hazard Justification
2 Gatica et al., “Allergic contact dermatitis”,365
3 Worksafe Victoria, “Management of Hazardous Substances”
4 Hubbard, Douglas, “The failure of risk management”
5 Osha.gov, “Hazard Communication Standard”