What is an risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E) Plan of Action?
A good Plan of Action (PvA) is essential for an effective RI&E. A PvA describes exactly what measures an employer takes to address the risks present. The PvA is a mandatory part of your RI&E. Without an Action Plan, your RI&E is not complete.
In this blog, we would like to explain how to draw up a good Action Plan, what steps to follow and how to prevent common mistakes.
What does an RI&E plan of action include?
With an RI&E, you identify the risks within your company in terms of the health and safety of your employees. The Action Plan is the section that describes what measures the employer must take to control the risks. A few components that should be included in your PvA are:
- What are the risks present?
- What measure (s) should (s) be taken to reduce the risk of this risk?
- What is needed to properly implement the measure?
- Who is responsible for the measure and who will implement it?
- When will the measure be implemented?
- What are the costs if the measure is implemented?
The Dutch Labour Inspectorate will always ask about your Action Plan during an audit. It is therefore important that your Action Plan is always up to date and complete.
How do you start drawing up an action plan for the RI&E?
The basis for the Plan of Action is the notes that result from your RI&E, so you draw up a plan for all the risks present. So you have to think carefully about what exactly needs to be done to reduce or completely eliminate the risk. We'll give you a few examples:
- Your drivers take short breaks more often to prevent fatigue.
- You purchase various tools that make working in a warehouse easier.
When you are going to draw up an Action Plan, it is important to avoid vague formulations or terminology. Examples of formulations that could be sharper: “we aim to lower the temperature in the department” or “a policy is being developed with regard to...”. You want to express your measures and action points clearly and concretely so that there is no room for free interpretation.
Involve employees in drawing up the Action Plan
You can't make a successful Action Plan alone. You want it to live within your organization, so it requires active involvement from your employees, at all levels. By actively involving employees in determining the risks present and developing solutions, you increase the chance of practical but also feasible measures. By drawing up the Plan of Action together, you promote acceptance of the proposed measures and ensure that a culture is created within your organization where people jointly feel responsible for safety and health in the workplace.
Your Action Plan must be and remain a living document. Put your Plan of Action on the agenda regularly to be able to discuss it with those responsible per department. When it lives within the organization, the document will actually contribute to a safer work environment.
Make sure your measures are concrete
To prevent noise within your organization, make sure your measures are clearly and concretely formulated. We recommend that you use the SMARTO method when preparing your measures. What does SMARTO stand for?
- Specifically: who, what, with what, when, where, how and how often?
- Measurable: described result, measurement method and performance indicator.
- Acceptable: meaningful, useful and achievable for the person responsible.
- Realistic: achievable with available resources.
- Time-related: clear end time.
- Output-oriented: the goal is the desired result, no effort or input.
By formulating your SMARTO measures, you make it clear to everyone what needs to be done, by whom and when.
Common mistakes when drawing up an Action Plan
Unfortunately, the same mistakes are often made when drawing up an Action Plan. We are happy to clarify these common mistakes for you so that you can prevent them when preparing your Action Plan:
- Prioritizing is often forgotten: not all risks have the same urgency. So you have to clearly set priorities.
- Responsibilities are often not identified: you have to appoint someone responsible for each measure, this increases the chance that measures will be implemented.
- Progress is not evaluated: by monitoring and evaluating progress, you may be able to make adjustments where necessary.
The Plan of Action is a living document
The Action Plan is not a one-off document. This is a big misconception that is often made. If you look at the Plan of Action in this way, it will be stored after completion without it going to live in your organization.
Make your Action Plan a living document; it will need to be updated continuously to remain effective. Are there changes within your organization? A new way of working, technological innovations, or are there changes in your workforce? This can affect the risks and may involve new risks. That is why you should regularly evaluate your Plan of Action and adapt it to the most current situation within your organization.
By proactively dealing with your Plan of Action, you ensure that your document remains up to date. So evaluate regularly, this can be done quarterly or annually. During the evaluations, you can properly assess the effect of your measures and identify any new risks. An evaluation will also discuss the urgency of each measure. Involve your employees in the evaluations. They can provide valuable insights and you thereby increase support for the safety policy within your organization.
Make sure you have a clear structure for updating your Action Plan. You determine who is responsible for what. This applies to monitoring the changes and documenting the outcome of the evaluations. And who do you make responsible for communication? The results will have to be shared with all relevant employees within your organization. By making your Plan of Action a living document and integrating it into your daily operations, your PvA will become a powerful tool for ensuring a safe and healthy work environment.
RI&E Plan of Action Checklist
By using the checklist below, you can check whether your prepared Plan of Action is not only complete, but whether it will also be effective:
- Is your Action Plan a real working document?
- Is your Action Plan sufficiently based on your RI&E?
- Does your Action Plan correspond to the problems and wishes of the various departments and/or function groups?
- Have you made the plans concrete enough (SMARTO)?
- Is the Action Plan easy to read and recognize for your employees?
- Can the points actually be executed satisfactorily?
- Have agreements been made about the progress report and the implementation of the measures in the Plan of Action?
- Does that system work satisfactorily?
Ensure good follow-up and evaluation
Drawing up an Action Plan is only a first step; actually applying and following the established measures is crucial to achieve improvements. So you have to set clear deadlines. Establishing a person responsible for each measure is also very important, as is monitoring progress in the meantime. You can use a well-organized system for this so that the status of each action is visible.
Schedule regular evaluation moments to assess the effectiveness of the measures and to adjust them if necessary. A structured approach ensures that the Plan of Action remains a living tool and that it really contributes to improving working conditions.
Integrate your Action Plan into a safety management system
Your Action Plan is most powerful when it seamlessly connects and is integrated into your organization's wider safety management system. Your Action Plan should be considered an essential part of the overall policy, so it is not a stand-alone document. The procedures in your PvA are always aimed at ensuring safety and health in your workplace.
So you need to properly coordinate your Plan of Action with your other policy documents and management systems. This includes the quality management system, environmental policy and your working conditions policy. By creating coherence between the systems, a synergy effect can be created and you avoid any conflicts. If you have successfully integrated the PvA into your organization, you will also be able to respond more effectively to external requirements and expectations. This includes current laws and regulations, certification standards and social responsibilities.
Finally, a good integration of your PvA into a wider safety management system promotes a better culture of safety and responsibility within your organization. Safety is something that concerns everyone and that everyone is responsible for. You also stimulate engagement and awareness at all levels within your organization. By making your Plan of Action part of your organization's core processes and values, safety will become an integral part of your corporate identity and strategy.
RI&E Management with ISO2HANDLE
Your life does get a lot easier when your good ones RI&E software used. It helps you to RI&E organizing questions into question domains. You can easily link automated workflows and tasks to questions that need action. You can immediately see which tasks have not yet been completed or completed and automatic notifications help you follow up. You use your RI&E dashboard in combination with your other QHSE/KAM dashboards for a complete overview and optimal control. You can find this functionality and much more in the ISO2HANDLE platform.
Are you interested in taking a closer look at this - for example via a online demo - then take contact with us.
Want to read more about the RI&E in practice? Then take a look at our recent article: RI&E example: How to set up an effective RI&E
