The Importance Of Pre-Activity Risk Management Reviews

Pre-activity risk reviews are a critical part of difficult, complex, or hazardous activities. They are performed by the supervisory team in the activity planning stages and their intent is to identify activity-related issues that could occur before, during, or after the work. There is tremendous value in this, particularly if the activity is one that where new equipment, personnel, or locations are involved. Note that pre-activity risk reviews are not the same as field level safety reviews undertaken by workers before they start a task. The pre-activity risk review is easily done and typically takes slightly more than an hour (time requirements vary with activity complexity). The risks are evaluated in terms of likelihood and consequence, with consequence being assessed from four different perspectives: Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE), Cost, Quality, and Corporate.

The analysis is performed for each of the three activity phases involved – before, during, and after. For the before phase, the activity set-up is analyzed to identify any needed personnel, equipment, training, layout, materials, permits, approvals, and other elements that must be in place and ready prior to starting. Starting the activity when any of these items are missing puts the activity in jeopardy and significantly increases the risk of Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE), Cost, Quality, and/or Corporate issues associated with the activity. For the execution phase, the same approach is taken but the focus is on the activity itself and the issues that can arise while the work is underway. The after-phase analysis looks at how the activity is followed-up and considers new signage, procedures, safety barriers/protocols, and other factors that may be needed to ensure the activity results do not cause issues in ongoing operations.