In any workplace, public space or event, the assessment of risk is essential for insurance purposes and more importantly to ensure the safety of anyone involved. This also needs to be done prior to engaging in an outdoor recreational activity. There are several steps to assessing risk. These are:
Step 1: Identify the hazards– This can be done by visiting the area prior to engaging in the activity, examining potential hazards. An example of this could be a group of bushwalkers having to cross a creek or even walk near a busy road.
Step 2: Decide who might be harmed and how– Once you have identified the hazards you need to understand who might be harmed and how. For example, a poor swimmer may be at risk of crossing the creek if water levels rise.
Step 3: Evaluate the risks and decide on control measures– After ‘identifying the hazards’ and ‘deciding who might be harmed and how’ you are then required to protect the people from harm. This may involve removing the hazard, changing the activity to avoid the hazard or potentially upskilling the participants to ensure they are trained for the activity. In the case of crossing the creek, control measures may involve providing flotation devices, working on improving swim skills prior to undertaking the activity or changing the route to find an alternative track.
Step 4: Record your findings– This process needs to be recorded. This can form a legal document in case of an accident or misadventure occurs. The DET provides a proforma for any excursion or activity students are engaged in to ensure safety. As part of this, the matrix below provides a guide for measuring how risky an activity can be and asks organisers to measure the perceived risk.
| Risk Assessment Matrix | |||||
| How serious could the injury be? | How likely is it to be that serious | ||||
| Very Likely | Likely | Unlikely | Very Unlikely | ||
| Death or permanent injury | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Long term illness or injury | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Medical attention & several days off | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| First aid needed | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| Severity – is how seriously a person could be harmed | Likelihood – is an estimate of how probable it is for the hazard to cause harm. | ||||
| Legend 1 and 2 Extreme risk; deal with the hazard immediately 3 and 4 Moderate risk; deal with the hazard as soon possible 5 and 6 Low risk; deal with the hazard when able. | |||||