Managing risks

The first step in the risk management process is to identify all reasonably foreseeable biological hazards arising from the work carried out by your business or undertaking.  

Identifying the potential sources of biological hazards and how an exposure may occur will help you identify risks and determine the control measures you will need to put in place to manage those risks.  

It is important to remember most biological hazards are invisible to the eye, and some actively replicate and adapt. You may need to seek expert advice to assist you to identify all the potential sources of biological hazards in your workplace and how people may be exposed to them.  

There may be circumstances where the risk of exposure to a biological hazard in your workplace is not reasonably foreseeable (e.g. a new and highly contagious virus is introduced to the workplace from the community). While you may not be able to predict the nature and timing of some biological hazards entering the workplace, you should be prepared to respond swiftly and effectively when unforeseen hazards arise. This includes having baseline control measures in place (e.g. routine cleaning of the workplace) and policies and procedures that should be followed if an unforeseen biological hazard arises. 

How to identify hazards 

To help you identify the potential sources of biological hazards and how an exposure may occur you should:

• Consider and observe the work activities: Does the nature of work activities create a risk of exposure to biological hazards?  
• Consider and observe the work environment: Does work occur in a location which creates a risk of exposure to biological hazards?  
• Consider the industry: What are the common sources of biological hazards in your industry, and how are people are exposed to them?  
• Review internal records and data: Do internal records and other sources of data indicate exposures or potential exposures to biological hazards at work?  

Once you have identified all reasonably foreseeable hazards arising from the work carried out by your business or undertaking, the next step is to assess the risks they create.  

Assessing risks will help you to:

• identify which workers are at risk of exposure to biological hazards
• determine what is causing that risk and when this might occur  
• identify if, and what kind of, control measures should be implemented, and
• check the effectiveness of existing control measures. 

How to assess the risks

When undertaking the risk assessment you should consider:

• the likelihood of people being exposed to biological hazards at work
• the possible consequences of people being exposed to biological hazards at work, and
• the effectiveness of existing control measures in eliminating or minimising the risks of each biological hazard.

The level of risk will increase as the likelihood and/or consequences of an exposure increase. The more severe the risks are, the more you will need to do to manage the risks. 

As part of assessing the risks you will have considered the effectiveness of existing control measures. The next step is to determine what further action is required to control any remaining risks.  

You must always aim to eliminate the risks at work. Given the nature of biological hazards, elimination may not be possible for many workplaces. Where elimination is not reasonably practicable, you must minimise the risks as much as is reasonably practicable using control measures.  

In most cases you will need to use a combination of control measures to effectively manage the risks of biological hazards in your workplace.

When you are selecting the most appropriate combination of controls to manage risks of biological hazards, consider:  

• what will be most effective and reliable and offer the highest level of protection (i.e. controls located towards the top of the hierarchy of controls, such as substitution, isolation and engineering controls)
• what control measures are most suitable for your workplace and your workers
• what is reasonably practicable to implement in the circumstances, and
• if these controls give rise to additional hazards.

For more information, see the Control measures page. 

Maintain and review control measures 

Control measures need regular monitoring and maintenance to ensure they remain effective.  This includes ensuring they remain fit for purpose, suitable for the nature and duration of the work, and are set up and used correctly. This step links back to the start of the risk management process and allows for continuous improvement. 

The control measures you put in place should also be reviewed regularly to make sure they work as planned and are not creating any new risks to health or safety. The control measures should be reviewed:  

• when the control measure does not control the risk so far as is reasonably practicable  
• before a change at the workplace which is likely to give rise to a new or different risk arising from a biological hazard, that the current control measures may not effectively control
• if a new relevant risk or hazard is identified
• if the results of consultation indicate a review is necessary, or  
• if a Health and Safety Representative (HSR) requests a review because they reasonably believe one of the above may affect the health and safety of workers. 

You must immediately notify your WHS regulator of serious incidents related to work. These ‘notifiable incidents’ capture situations involving deaths, serious injuries and illnesses and dangerous incidents.

There may be circumstances where a biological hazard exposure in your workplace meets the definition of a notifiable incident. This includes certain injuries, illnesses, infections and zoonotic diseases. Contact your WHS regulator for advice on what is notifiable and how to make a notification.  

Further information on notifiable incidents can be found in the Notifiable Incidents, Extended Absences and Suicides Handbook.