A company that builds its Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Matrix (IPER) by copying a generic template off the internet usually ends up with a list of "typical industry risks" that doesn't match what its workers actually do. When an inspection arrives, the matrix doesn't survive the first question: "why doesn't this specific task appear here?"
Article 7 of DS 44 requires the IPER to be the real starting point of the risk management system — not a decorative document. The IRL (art. 15), the RIOHS (art. 56), and the Preventive Work Program (art. 8) are all derived directly from it. If the matrix is built poorly, everything downstream inherits the error.
The most common mistake: matrix by job title, not by task
The fastest way to invalidate an IPER is to build it at the job-title level ("Warehouse operator: fall risk, impact risk") instead of the task level. A warehouse operator performs very different tasks from one another — stacking pallets, operating a forklift, doing inventory at height — and each has its own hazards that a generic job description doesn't capture.
A correctly built matrix breaks each position down into its actual tasks and assesses the risk of each one separately. This multiplies the upfront work, but it's exactly what an inspector will try to cross-check: asking a worker to describe their day and comparing that description against what the matrix says.
The five steps
1. Map the actual list of tasks. Not from a job manual, but by observing or interviewing the people doing the work. This is the step most often skipped, and the one that determines the quality of everything that follows.
2. Identify the hazards for each task. A hazard is the potential source of harm (a slippery surface, an unguarded machine, noise above the allowed limit) — not to be confused with risk, which is the probability and consequence of that hazard materializing.
3. Calculate the risk level. Combine probability and severity using a consistent methodology across the entire matrix. It doesn't matter which method is used (a 5x5 matrix, GTC 45, or another) as long as it's applied the same way to every task — mixing criteria between areas is another frequent cause of rejection.
4. Prioritize and link control measures. Every high or critical risk needs an associated control measure, and that measure is what later feeds the Preventive Work Program. A matrix without control measures is just a diagnosis, not a management tool.
5. Keep a record of who built it and when it was reviewed. The IPER isn't a one-time document. It must be updated when processes change, new tasks are added, or after an accident — and each update needs to be logged with a date and a responsible person.
What an inspector actually checks
Beyond the content itself, what validates an IPER on site is the consistency between three things: what the matrix says, what workers say when asked, and what the inspector actually finds while walking the site. A matrix that looks flawless on paper but doesn't match observed reality carries less weight than a simpler one that's consistent with what's seen.
The last review date also gets checked. A three-year-old IPER with no record of revision, at a company that brought in new machinery during that period, is a direct signal that the system isn't actually being maintained.
From the matrix to the rest of the system
Building the IPER correctly is the most labor-intensive part of a DS 44 system, but it's also the part that should least need to be redone manually afterward. Each worker's IRL should populate automatically from the risks of the tasks they actually perform, the RIOHS should reflect the same identified hazards, and the Preventive Work Program should be generated directly from the pending control measures — not drafted separately as its own exercise.
When that chain exists, updating the matrix once propagates the change to every other instrument automatically. When it doesn't, each instrument lives its own life, and the company ends up maintaining four different versions of the same reality.
Constata builds the IPER Matrix by task and connects it directly to the IRL, the RIOHS, and the Preventive Work Program. See the full breakdown in the system's modules or start with the free diagnostic.
