Assessing Risk

What is a Risk Assesment

A risk assessment is the process of identifying any hazards during your research and assessing the potential harm that may occur, whilst considering what actions are required to eliminate or reduce the risks identified. Assessment of risk applie to both the particioant in the study and the researcher, as well as the general public/users of the labs. It is a legal requirement that hazards identified and any related control measures are documented and reviewed regularly. Risk assessments are a key part in any robust health and safety management system. This falls under the remit of the Lab Manager, and the University Health and Safety Policy.

However, as risk must be assessed as part of the ethical approval process, some responsibility also lies with the dissertation supervisor as you progress through your dissertation journey

Types of Risk

Typical risks that need to be considered as part of research ethics are:

• Social risks: disclosures that could affect participants standing in the community, in their family, and their job
• Legal risks: activities that could result in the participant, researchers and/or University committing an offence; activities that might lead to a participant disclosing criminal activity to a researcher which would necessitate reporting to enforcement authorities; activities that could result in a civil claim for compensation; risks surrounding protection of data
• Economic harm: financial harm to participant, researcher and/or University through disclosure or other event
• Reputational risk: damage to public perception of University or the University/researchers’ reputation in the eyes of funders, the research community and/or the general public
• Safeguarding risks: Risk to young people, vulnerable adults and/or researcher from improper behaviour, abuse or exploitation. Risk to researcher of being in a comprising situation, in which there might be accusations of improper behaviour
• Health and safety risks: risks of harm to health, physical injury or psychological harm to participants or the researcher

Completing a Risk Assessment

When undertaking research with human participants it is not always possible to eliminate all levels of risk of harm to the participant or researcher. Anyone using a lab must complete a Risk Assessment and the document should remain in the lab that you are using for the duration of your research project

To help you get started there are a number of templates for labs with common risks and hazards already identified. However you may need to add to the risk assessment templete in line with any hazards you identified through the process of ethical approval. It should be noted that access to labs will not be granted if you do not have the adequate risk assessments and ethical approval documents.

The steps to follow are

1. Identify the risks and hazards
2. Determine who might be harmed and in what way
3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions, preventative measures and how you can work to eliminate or minimise risk
4. Use a Risk Assessment form to record your own assessment of possible risk
5. During the study it is good practice to review the risk assessment, especially if an adverse event or a near miss occurs
6. Ensure any adverse events or near misses are reported to the Lab Manager who will report issues using the University Accident Report Form