# Hazard Identification

**Source**: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/managingrisks/hazidentification/
**Parent**: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/

#### Hazard Identification Principles

Identification and recording of hazards is an important step in the risk management process and is a precursor to effective [risk assessment](http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/managingrisks/riskassess/).

A hazard is something with the ‘potential to cause harm’, but not all hazards present a risk to individuals, especially if they are adequately controlled: something can be a hazard whilst at the same time presenting a negligible level of risk.

Without identifying all hazards, and subsequently assessing whether they present a risk or not, individuals with responsibility for the health and safety of others cannot discharge their duty of care easily.

Hazard checklists can be a useful tool for such individuals, which is why the University has developed a hazard identification tool, or Hazard Grid, which allows users to identify the hazards which are present within their own areas.

##### The Hazard Grid (for those working in Science and Medical Faculties)

This hazard identification tool consists of a user-friendly Hazard Grid, containing approximately 40 typical hazards across four different hazard categories (biological, chemical, radiation and lasers, and physical), allowing users to select, at the click of a button, whether they have low, medium or high-level hazards within their workspace. The Hazard Grid can be used as a stand-alone prompt list but is also the basis of the information captured in the Invida Hazards Module.

[Hazard Aide Memoire](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/managingrisks/hazidentification/aide_memoire_for_hazard_identificationv2.0_dec2018.docx) - this document can be useful to identify all hazards related to an activity. You simply then transfer only those that are considered 'significant' hazards onto a full [risk assessment](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/managingrisks/riskassess/) template.

## Quick Links

Invida Hazards Module

[Hazard Grid](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/managingrisks/hazardidentification/hazard_category_grid_master_v6_15_03_2022.pdf)

[Lab and Workshop Noticeboards](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/guidance/labs_workshops_stores/noticeboards/)

[Access to Specified High Hazard Areas](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/guidance/labs_workshops_stores/permissiontoaccessspecifiedhighhazardareas/)