Mitigating Risks Through Hazards
We will take you through the importance of linking hazards with your event or venue and how you can keep your team informed.
Prior to your event you would’ve completed a risk assessment form for your event and will have created a risk register - from here you can simply upload this as a document in the info section of Blerter from which anyone can view. Within this register, there will be some hazards that you need to highlight to your crew, which is where you can add them as a separate item to the hazard section.
It’s up to you what way you decide to record your hazards, but how you record them remains the same. This can either be adding a completely new hazard or alternatively it can be linked to an existing hazard. Both options are explained below. But first let's establish the difference between an Incident and a Hazard
Blerter Tip! Hazards can be added well ahead of the event, in-fact it's one of first features you can add after creating the event! Start uploading your risk register and highlighted Hazards in the planning stages so that your well prepared on the day.
New Hazard
This could be a new hazard that has been found, managed or needs to be managed. Remember a hazard is something that could cause harm or has caused harm and an incident is something that has happened or occurred.
To create a new hazard, go to Event Hazards and select 'Add' in top right-hand corner
The event will automatically select the event that you’re working in.
Give the hazard a title e.g. "large pot hole in the way of venue entrance" and select what level of significance it has - Low, Medium or High. Your team will see this with visual cues in Grey, Orange or Red respectively.
What harm could this hazard cause - i.e. participant could trip over the pot hole as they came into the venue and injure themselves.
Category - this is for your reporting purposes, select the most relevant option to the hazard you are reporting.
Controls - what are you going to do to reduce the risk of the hazard, can it be eliminated or can you do something to minimise the harm. For the example above you might have some quick-set concrete onsite so the hole can be fixed, or maybe you just have some cones and barriers that you can place around the hole to reduce the chance of someone falling in it.
Add in the location by free-typing or using the maps.
The next question is related to when your crew check-in when they arrive onsite. You can opt for your crew to see the hazard when they check-in. It will come up on the check-in screen so they will need to acknowledge that they have read it. If it is a major hazard you might want to make them do this every time they check in so they don’t forget. Alternatively, you can select for them to see it only once or when it has been updated or not at all.
Finally, select who has reported the hazard. It might be yourself or maybe someone from your team who was unable to complete the form at the time.
When you have saved the basic information you can then add more details if required, such as comments, tasks for your crew to complete or attachments, e.g. images. You can also assess the risk, as per your risk matrix, by sliding the buttons along to the appropriate level. Notes can be added here as well to understand how it was assessed.
Linking
Once you have hazards in Blerter, you can then link Blerts or Incidents to those hazards.
You can link a Blert or an incident by selecting the link option when you are at the incident or by actioning the Blert and linking to an existing Hazard. Alternatively, you can also create a new Hazard,, which would follow the process shown above.
Read more about Acknowledging and Converting Blerts
Blerter Playground Task
Now it's your turn. Create a new hazard which relates to the incident that you created yesterday. Make sure you select an option that will show up on the check-in page so you can see the full functionality.
Go into the incident you created yesterday and link it to your newly created hazard.
Now view it on your mobile. Check out of the event first so you have an understanding when you check back in. Once you have checked in again, find the hazard and do a risk assessment of the hazard from your mobile by editing the risk. When you look at your computer, refresh it and you will see that this has been updated in real-time.