The Process of Risk Assessment

Workplace Risk Assessments

Workplace risk assessments must be carefully crafted in order to include any employee groupings. Inmates and patients, for example, require risk assessments that are adjusted and tailored to their specific circumstances. The risk management method seeks to anticipate potential dangers or disasters that may occur in a specific workplace and establish the various actions to be taken in such circumstances. Depending on the activities that employees engage in, different workplaces pose varying hazards to them. Various types of interviews are appropriate for various risk assessment instances (Douglas, Ogloff & Hart, 2003). In the cases of inmates, for instance, group interview is reliable as it makes the interview feel safe and not exploited. In cases of patients, they need a substantial face to face interview that enables the researcher to determine if the interview is comfortable and at ease or not due to the sensitive position of patients.

Risks Faced by Inmates and Patients

Inmate’s examination may be characterized by hostility, rude remarks or even physical assault from some of the unstable inmates. The examiner can react by having prison guards around for protection or having the examination behind glass walls for both their protection. In cases of patients, the examiner can risk contraction of contagious diseases, and the best reaction from such incidences is the use of protecting clothing such as gloves (Heilbrun, 2009). In other cases, the intensity of the illness of patients may bring up emotional issues to the examiner, such as dealing with dying patients. In such cases, the examiner will need counseling from time to time.

Precautions and Measures

Also, in the cases of examining inmates, the examiner can also use precautions such as using inmates who have records of good behavior and therefore pose the least risk to the risk assessment examiner.

References

Douglas, K. S., Ogloff, J. R., & Hart, S. D. (2003). Evaluation of a model of violence risk

assessment among forensic psychiatric patients. Psychiatric Services, 54(10), 1372-1379.

Heilbrun, K. (2009). Evaluation for risk of violence in adults. OUP USA.