Task Risk Analysis (TRA)

Task Risk Analysis (TRA) is a very detailed analysis of the task you have to perform. It involves analyzing the entire process, the entire task to be performed, and considering whether any element of this process carries a risk. We perform such an analysis “dry” before we start the task. We break down the entire process into individual elements and consider each of these elements separately.

Example 1. The activity of driving nails into a board. We consider what dangers may occur in this process and we see:

• we can hit our finger with a hammer if we hold the nail with our fingers,
• we can cut the inside of the hand if the hammer handle is not smooth,
• we can find other dangers if we try to drive a nail with a tool that is not designed for this purpose.

Example 2. Grinding a pipe with an angle grinder. The angle grinder has a very high rotational speed and the torque of this device is high. We look at this process with our imagination and see that:

• if we hold the grinder in only one hand – we may not have enough strength to hold it, it will slip off the material and we may injure ourselves,
• we may injure ourselves if we grind sitting or squatting, because we will not be able to jump away from the tool if it slips off the material,
• we may injure ourselves if the disc is not protected by an appropriate guard,
• we may cause a fire if sparks fall on flammable material…

There are also cases when this analytical method will be performed automatically in our head.

Example 3. Putting your hand into a hot blast furnace. Before we do this, our brain will automatically perform a Task Risk Analysis and immediately decide not to put your hand into the blast furnace. It will look something like this:
“In a blast furnace, the flame color is white, which means that the temperature there is extremely high. If I put my hand in there, I may not be able to take it out completely, it may burn, or I may get a 3rd or 2nd degree burn. It will be associated with great pain. Clothing may also be burned, charred, and may melt with our body. Conclusion: I am not putting my hand in a blast furnace.”

And it was done automatically in our head because the risk is known and obvious at first glance. What about risks that are not obvious at first glance? (e.g. air composition, content of toxic, explosive, corrosive substances, long-term exposure to hazardous substances, harmful dust). You may also have to deal with such risks in the workplace, but they are not clear and obvious at first glance. Remember:

Task Risk Analysis (TRA) will be done automatically in our head, ONLY when the risk is known and obvious at first glance. ALWAYS perform a Task Risk Analysis before starting work, even if everything seems safe at first glance.