Risk Assessment for Newly Installed Equipment

Today's post focuses on a practical tool applicable to any manufacturing plant, warehouse complex, or even an office: risk assessment for newly installed or purchased equipment.

In this context, we are referring to equipment that is not overly complex or bulky, such as a new metalworking machine, a freight lift, an electric hoist, a drill, etc.

To determine whether the equipment is safe and if the installation conditions are met, I suggest using an equipment assessment checklist (form attached).

A brief overview of the assessment process for newly installed equipment is provided below:

1. Before purchasing new equipment, the responsible employee notifies the HSE department, which conducts a preliminary assessment based on the requested equipment operating manual.
2. Once the purchase is approved by the HSE department, an assessment is conducted using the attached form during installation or before use.
3. The assessment is conducted by a committee consisting of:

• HSE department representative;
• A responsible person from the technical department;
• Equipment supervisor (the person who purchased it)

4. Based on the assessment results, an action plan is developed and recorded in the assessment sheet. Committee members sign the document, and the HSE representative tracks the implementation of the planned measures. This assessment is attached to the commissioning certificate.
5. If an HSE officer identifies high risks to employee life or health, the commissioning certificate is not signed until the non-conformities are resolved.

Since this checklist is universal and it is naturally difficult to account for the nuances of every type of equipment, we reserve the right to include measures in the action plan for risks that are not explicitly covered by the questions but require attention.

The document can be customized to suit your needs, which we do periodically; several versions have already been released based on our experience filling it out for various types of equipment.