4. Find your biggest risks

Before you start carrying out risk assessments, it is wise to do an initial “screening” – an overview of which chemicals and activities are associated with the greatest risk. That helps you focus your energy in the right place and avoid starting from the wrong end.

Some questions to keep in mind: do we have any major risks in the working environment? Which chemicals or processes require immediate attention? Where in the organization are the highest risks found?

The three paths complement each other. You can use one, two, or all three – but we recommend starting with priority values and then cross-checking against the other two.

The fastest way to get an initial overview. Each product automatically receives a priority value from 1 (highest priority) to 5 (lowest priority), based mainly on the hazard statements from section 2 of the safety data sheet.

Navigate to Tools > Risk assessment. There you will see all inventoried products in the selected department, together with their priority value:

• Not started – products for which you have not started a risk assessment.
• In progress – risk assessments that you have started but not completed.
• Signed – risk assessments that you have marked complete and signed.
• Archived – risk assessments you have chosen to archive, for example if the activity is no longer carried out in your organization.

Some chemicals require extra attention due to legal requirements – authorization obligations, substitution work, or special restrictions. On the Overview page you will find the Restriction and prohibition lists section.

Important lists to check

Products on these lists should be given extra priority in your risk assessment work and in substitution plans.

You know your organization best, and some risks do not show up in a safety data sheet. Local knowledge of how chemicals are actually used is often just as important as the hazard assessments.

Start by listing activities and processes you already know carry a high risk:

• The most common activities involving chemical products
• Processes involving highly hazardous chemicals or large quantities
• Processes with additional sources of risk (dust, heat generation, ventilation requirements)
• Processes where accidents or near-misses have occurred in the past

These are often activities the system cannot flag for you, because the risk lies in how the product is used – not in the product alone.

The three paths give you different perspectives: priority values tell you something about the product itself, restriction lists tell you something about the legal requirements, and your own processes tell you something about how the product is used.

If you already have a prioritized list and know which products you want to risk assess – jump straight to article 5. If your organization has changed since last time (new products, processes, or legal requirements), it may be worth redoing the screening briefly before you continue.