Department of Chemical and Polymer Engineering - Risk Assessment

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND POLYMER ENGINEERING – RISK ASSESSMENT
Cooling tower
Separation process Lab. Chemical Engineering Building
Preliminary notes
● Risk assessment must be conducted by Academic supervisor/Principal Investigator/Manager.
● Other team members and/or people involved or affected by the activities must be consulted in the construction of the risk assessment.
● Academic supervisor/PIs/Managers and other team members must ensure that the control arrangements and safe systems of work are followed.
● Academic supervisor/PIs/Managers must review this risk assessment at least annually, or in the event of incident, accident or changes to
operating/maintenance procedures/personnel.
● Review of risk assessment must be conducted by the Academic supervisor/PI/Manager and initialled and dated in the space provided.
Reference information
● Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 (Hazardous Substance Rules, 2003)
● Health and safety provisions under the Factories Act, 1934
Copies
● Original signed risk assessment must be retained by the Academic supervisor/PI/Manager in their office.
● A copy (and any appendices or cross-referenced documents) must be retained in the health and safety file in the workplace.
● The Academic Supervisor/PI/Manager must send a copy by email to the Faculty Safety Team/Head of Dept. before work begins.
Academic supervisor/PI/Manager’s approval

ACADEMIC SUP/PI/MANAGER PRINT NAME SIGNATURE EMAIL/TELEPHONE DATE
Countersignatures (other members of risk assessment team) [Only if applicable – see Faculty RA Procedures]
ROLE PRINT NAME SIGNATURE EMAIL/TELEPHONE DATE
 The aim of this risk assessment is to provide information on the types of risks and hazards that employees, students and others may be exposed to, arising from the activities described. 
IDENTIFICATION OF RISKS,CONTROLS & ACTIONS
Consequence/Severity of Harm (C) x Likelihood of harm being realised (L) = Risk Rating [see table following]
RISK RATING FINAL RISK

NEW RISK
WHO MAY BE WIITHOUT CURRENT CONTROL MEASURES (IF RATING ACTION BY
HAZARD TYPE RATING ADDITIONAL CONTROL MEASURES IDENTIFIED
HARMED? CONTROLS ANY) CxL = (& DEADLINE)
C x L = E,H,M,L,T
C x L = E,H,M,L,T E,H,M,L,T
Feed must be entered with
Injury to Hands while
Operators L utmost care gloves must be T Seeing damage T
entering Feed
worn.
Injury from Electrical
Shock when Pump is Operators L Sudden leakages L Pipe bursting T
being run
Everyone
Hearing damage T Water treatment L Fire safety T
present
Leakage due to high
Cooling tower M Over Feeding must be avoided. L Low temperature is set T
pressure
Clothes may get Cuts Operators T Damage of tubes L Scaling and fouling in tubes H
Consequence/Severity Likelihood of harm being realised (L)

of Harm (C) Remote
Possible Likely Highly probable
Virtual
Possibility Certainty
Minor injury or illness Trivial Trivial Low Low Low
Injury/illness requiring medical attention Trivial Low Medium Medium High
Injury/illness involving more than 3 days off work Low Medium Medium High High
Major injury or long term illness Low Medium High Extreme Extreme
Fatal injury/illness Low High High Extreme Extreme
RISK RATING = (C x L/S) ACTION & TIMESCALES
Work must not be started or continued until the risk level has been reduced. While the control measures
Extreme E should be cost-effective, the legal duty to reduce the risk is absolute. This means that if it is not possible to
reduce the risk, even with unlimited resources, then the work must not be started or must remain prohibited.
Work must not be started until the risk has been reduced. Considerable resources may have to be allocated
High H to reduce the risk. Where the risk involves work in progress, the problem should be remedied as quickly as
possible. (Action within 1 Week)
Efforts should be made to reduce the risk, but the costs of prevention should be carefully measured and
Medium M limited. Depending on the number of people exposed to the hazard risk reduction measures should normally
be implemented (Action within 1 Month)
Consideration should be given to cost-effective solutions, or improvements that impose minimal operating
Low L standards which will maintain Low level of risk. Monitoring is required to ensure that the controls are
maintained. (Review Assessment Annually)
No action is required to deal with trivial risks, and no documentary records need be kept (insignificant risk)
Trivial T (Review Assessment Annually)
Overall Proposed safety assessment:
 Electrical equipment and power supply should be isolated and tagged prior to entry into a cooling tower’s confined space. Every electrical
supply to which portable equipment or tools could be connected, or which supplies power to such through flexible cords, should incorporate
residual current devices (RCDs) to protect against electric shock.
 The cartage of containers of chemicals and equipment to the cooling tower system (which may include scaling ladders or flights of stairs) may
constitute a potential manual handling hazard which may require risk reduction.
 It should be noted that it is illegal to dispose of containers with residues of biocides or other hazardous substances into the general waste
stream.
 Where access to a sewerage system is available, all cooling tower systems must be registered with the relevant sewage authority and
permission sought to discharge to sewer before commissioning.

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DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND POLYMER ENGINEERING – RISK ASSESSMENT

● Health and safety provisions under the Factories Act, 1934

Academic supervisor/PI/Manager’s approval

RISK RATING FINAL RISK

Consequence/Severity Likelihood of harm being realised (L)

Minor injury or illness Trivial Trivial Low Low Low

Injury/illness requiring medical attention Trivial Low Medium Medium High

Fatal injury/illness Low High High Extreme Extreme

RISK RATING = (C x L/S) ACTION & TIMESCALES

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