In the UK, it is becoming standard practice for a venue to ask event vendors to provide risk assessments along with their Business Liability Insurance documentation prior to working in a venue. Without either of these, some will not permit you to work!
What is an On-the-Job Risk Assessment?
A risk assessment is simply a thorough examination of factors in your work that could potentially cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control measures.
In today's world of stricter health and safety laws, there are often requirements for us as event decorators to produce these documents. Preparing a Risk Assessment can sound daunting, especially if this is something that you have never done before, but once you have prepared one you will find subsequent risk assessments much easier.
Accidents will sometimes happen, but by being aware of the obvious dangers and acting to reduce risks, you are creating a safer working environment for yourself and everyone around you.
Clients and insurance companies like to know you are creating as safe an environment as possible for everyone involved.
The Risk Assessment
A risk assessment highlights:
- Potential hazards - who might be harmed and how
- Risk controls that are in place
- Risk rating - low, moderate, high, or extreme
- Actions – what further actions can be taken to control the risk further
Generally, the Balloon and Party Industry is a low to medium risk industry. However, we do handle gas cylinders under pressure, and therefore we need to ensure that we follow the correct procedures.
For those who work with special effects, these offer different and potentially greater liabilities, so ensure that your insurance policy covers everything that you offer.
Here is an example of a Risk Assessment that I completed for a balloon installation some years ago. You would need to complete all the details such as your company name, the name of the event, the date and the location.
There are many potential risks on any balloon job; here are a few more that you may want to think about and include in your risk assessment if they apply to you. When preparing a risk assessment, think about all the decor, and props that you are installing and all the different processes and equipment that you will be using.Another item that could be listed under falls would be ladders if you are using them.
These would be listed as the potential hazard, then you would specify who is potentially at risk. A risk control might be the type of ladders. Further action would be to ensure that the ladders are: - Set up correctly
- Checked before and after a job
- Used with care and common sense
Something that you may not consider being a risk is balloon shining products! The potential hazards are: Slippery floors which can cause potential falls leading to strains and broken bones. Those at risk are event staff and the public when used in public spaces.
Further action to control risks are:
- Ensure that when balloon shining solutions are used that all surfaces are protected and covered.
- Restrict access to areas during spraying process
- Should floors or surfaces become slippery, floors should be cleaned immediately with a soapy solution and allowed to dry before anyone can walk on them.
Also be aware that balloon shining products can damage soft furnishings and wall finishes, should you damage either of these when working on a job you could be liable for cleaning or replacing!
Not only should we identify all the risks that could occur on a job, we should also make sure that any staff working with you should be aware of the risks, and how to prevent them from happening.
Methods Statement
This works in conjunction with the Risk Assessment and it is a document that details the work that is to be carried out :
- A brief description of work to be undertaken
- Your company details, logo, name, and address, etc
- Start Date & Completion date, if applicable
- Site address
- Site contact number
- A summary of the main potential hazards and the control measures that must be implemented.
- A list of electrical equipment, gases, and regulators you will be using. If using helium, you can state that helium is an inert gas!
The information for this can be extracted from your risk assessment document. You can also detail any Environmental or Quality procedures that must be taken during the task.
Environmental: you can state what materials you are using and if they are biodegradable or non-biodegradable. You can state that balloons should not be released into the environment and how they should be disposed of after an event.
Quality: this defines very simply what tasks you are required to perform to complete the job. This could include how materials and equipment will arrive at the venue, and where the construction will take place.
There are a number of free Risk Assessment templates available on the internet, you can use one of these or use one as a sample to help you create your own. The example above was created using CANVA. Once you have made your own template, keep it safe and amend it each time you require it for a job.
As I said at the beginning of this post, if you have never had to provide a risk assessment before it can feel like a daunting task, but to be honest it is extremely logical and it really does help you to think through everything before you start a site-base job!
Happy Ballooning!
Sue
