How to Carry Out a Risk Assessment

It is compulsory for all businesses to carry out a risk assessment on their premises to ensure that their premises, and the activities they carry out on those premises, are safe.


What is a Risk Assessment?

A risk assessment considers what might cause harm and assesses how to protect both customers and employees from the identified risk occurring. Our guide looks at how to carry out a risk assessment, when you should do it, and why.

Different industries are required to provide more in depth risk asssessments depending on the nature of their business. But in general a risk assessment will expect you to:

  1. Look for common workplace accident hazards – things that might cause slips, trips and falls, working at height, exposure to hazardous substances, fire, explosion, enclosed spaces, high noise levels and moving vehicles. These are just a few examples.
  2. Determine who might get harmed and in what way. For example: chef burned by oven.
  3. Consider the risks and decide if adequate provisions are in place to prevent accidents occurring, or whether additional precautions need to be put in place.
  4. Record your findings.
  5. Review your risk assessment policy from time to time (best practise is at least annually) and update it if necessary, especially if new hazards are introduced to the workplace.

When to Carry Out a Risk Assessment?

If you have 5 or more people working at your premises you must put your risk assessment in writing.

However, even if you have fewer than 5 people working in your premises, all businesses are still required by law to carry out and maintain regular risk assessments. If you have fewer than 5 employees, you are not required by law to write down your risk assessment, but this is still best practice so that you can evidence your assessment in future should you need to do so.

Risk Assessment Template

For a simple way to record your risk assessment, follow the template below:

AreaHazard/RiskPerson at RiskRisk LevelPrecautions in PlaceComments
Kitchen OvenRisk of burns
ChefMedium
  1. Oven gloves provided
  2. First aid kit by sink
  3. All chefs given full training on oven use
Precautions adequate
Kitchen entranceStep up to kitchen
Risk of trips or falls
All staffHighNoneImmediate required actions:
  1. Sign on door/wall
  2. Reflective strip on step edge
  3. Consider if small ramp appropriate

Conducting regular risk assessments may cost more in the short-term, as you spend money to improve conditions, but you will protect yourself from the risk of fines or being sued by an employee or member of the public who might be injured on your premises.

If your business has relatively few risks, you can carry out the assessment yourself but if you have more complicated requirements (such as working with hazardous chemicals), you may want to seek help from a safety specialist or environmental consultant.


Why Carry Out A Risk Assessment?

There are several laws which give you a duty of care to ensure that your premises are safe. This applies both in respect of keeping your employees and customers safe.

If a customer, visitor or even trespasser injures themselves on your premises, they can claim for their injury under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 or 1984. Personal injury claims can cost your business thousands of pounds. Particularly if you do not have Professional Indemnity Insurance. It is therefore extremely important that you regularly inspect your premises to ensure that they are safe.

For example: Repair a cracked or uneven flagstone in your beer garden to prevent tripping accidents.

DID YOU KNOW? To settle a claim for a fractured wrist caused by a trip or fall on average costs approximately £37,000 (not including your own solicitor’s costs).

Of course we hope that by carrying out risk assessments you will not receive any claims against you. If you do, it is extremely important that you notify your insurers as soon as possible, as the claim must be acknowledged within 21 days. If you do receive a claim, send the following documents to your insurer or solicitor as soon as possible:

  • Photographs of the problem area.
  • Inspection records.
  • Maintenance records.
  • Accident Book records.

Health & Safety Training for Managers
  • For managers and supervisors.
  • Covers relevant regulations & legislation.
  • How to conduct risk assessments.
  • Workplace accident reduction strategies.
  • Course content can be played as audio.

£49+ VAT

Bulk discounts available for multiple team members.


Common Hazards in the Workplace

Different working environments can pose different hazards but some of the most common ones include a trailing cable, worn carpet, exposed wiring, i.e. things that can be easily spotted. It can be something more general like poor lighting or something specific to your business such as hazardous substances you might use. Other hazards are not so identifiable but must be dealt with just the same, e.g. a slippery surface.

You should try and compartmentalise each hazard and put each one into groups which will enable you to identify most hazards that are prevalent in the workplace. They should be grouped by workplace hazards such as:

  • a workshop’s layout – such as uneven floor or steps.
  • activity hazards – such as using a milling machine in your workshop .
  • environmental hazards – such as dust and fumes that are given off when using certain items of industrial machinery, which could cause Breathing Problems.

How to Spot Hazard Risks During Your Assessment

Walk around your business premises and see if you can spot any Potential Hazards. You should also talk to your staff who may be aware of any further potential hazards. It is important that “near misses”, for example trips which do not cause injury, are reported to you to prevent a similar but more serious accident happening in the future.

You can also look at safety data sheets and manufacturers’ instructions to identify potential problem areas, and examine health records and the accident book to identify existing problem areas which need remedying.

Some of the most common hazards are:

  1. Slips, trips and falls – falls on uneven, wet or slippy surfaces. These types of injuries are estimated to cost UK employers over £300 million per year, and can often be easily prevented by using clear signage such as wet floor signs.
  2. Working at height – e.g. falls from ladders. There are estimated to be over 4000 of these type of accidents a year, which can be easily prevented by using locking ladders, ensuring employees have proper training, and providing simple protective equipment such as a hard hat.
  3. Contact with asbestos – causing mesothelioma (a type of respiratory cancer). Whilst most buildings no longer contain asbestos, if you are working with this hazardous substance, it is important that you take extra care and follow industry protocols.
  4. Strains and sprains – often caused by lifting heavy objects. These types of injuries are easily prevented by using lifting equipment, or by instigating procedures such as lifting heavy items using several employees.
  5. Fires in the workplace – these can break out as a result of unncecessary heat sources, unsafe storage of flammable materials, or electrical risks. Staff or members of the public can suffer injury from smoke or flames.

Evaluating Workplace Risks

Once you’ve identified risks posed by potential hazards, you must determine the likelihood of each specific hazard causing harm.

You’ll need to prioritise each hazard and decide whether the risk of each is low, medium or high. If you decide the risk of a specific hazard causing harm is low, then your existing precautions are probably adequate. If you decide it is medium or high, you should consider taking immediate steps to reduce the risks.

TIP: An instant way to reduce any risk is to communicate the problem – put a sign next to risk to warn people. For example: Careful – uneven floor.


Controlling Workplace Risks

Ideally, you should be looking to eliminate all risks you have discovered whilst carrying out the assessment.

This might include replacing old cabling, substituting hazardous substances for less harmful ones, instigating pollution controls, changing lighting or changing the layout of the workplace. However, it is understandable that not all risks can be completely eradicated. The law states that you should have taken all reasonable measures to eliminate or reduce the risks.

These are just some of the practical steps you might wish to consider, although there are many more. Other ways to reduce risks are:

  • Improving communication in the workplace.
  • Placing clear health & safety signs in areas where risk is present to warn employees.
  • Encourage more discussion between employees and their managers about potential risks.
  • Develop better training procedures.

For more details on how to carry out a full risk assessment of your workplace, visit the Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) website.

Carrying out a risk assessment may seem time-consuming and reducing risks costly. However this will keep your workers and customers safe and ensure you comply with the law, reducing the risk of having to pay to settle personal injury claims.

Further Reading

13 thoughts on “How to Carry Out a Risk Assessment

  1. Vikster says:

    I recently as a health and safety Representative condemned 14 year old plastic chairs as a visitor to our Care home sat on one and it broke hitting his head my employer has checked them and put them all Back in service is this right

  2. Bigkaty says:

    Im a 24hr live in carer working for a care company. I have negligence questions regarding duty of care to employee by company affecting care of vulnerable adult in V.Adults own home. I reported feeling ill to line manager. The company could not relieve me of my duties to rest and get medical assment. Due to unavailabity of staff. I therefore documented this in care users notes and immediately contacted care users family. To report that i was ill and couldnt be replaced.Also that the care user would not receive the standard of care I wished. I said I would do my best. 3 days later I went home after hand over to next carer. 24hrs later I was admitted to hospital with a large Pneumonia, potentially life threatening. where I am still having treatment as an inpatient after 5 days. Who do I take this to. Negligence by care company of carer/myself procurring standard of care and safety being jeapardised in relation to care for a vulnerable adult.

  3. JJ says:

    My workspace has been moved from a nice quiet, airy office to a smal cramped desk with heavy footfall from 2 doors and lots of noise coming and going. My computer is barely at arm’s length and I am In direct line of an air conditioner which I specifically ask not to be near. Can I ask for an assessment as I an sure I an to close to my computer screen and as I have to answer the telephone the noise level is unacceptable. 3 people are crammed into a very small area.

  4. Tato says:

    I worked for a large company and went into hospital to have life saving treatment, this meant 3 weeks in hospital and 10 weeks at home to recover, I was repeatedly badgered by the company to come back to work. I worked as an electrical engineer, when I thought I was ready I went back to work in customer’s houses, I went back out into the field with no risk assessment from the company whatsoever, they never sent an assessment engineer out with me to check to see if I was able to still work safely after such a long time off and having had the trauma of being so close to death. It turned out that at a particular job I put myself and the customer at risk by leaving an appliance I was working on electrically unsafe, this was discovered by another engineer, who reported this to his manager. I questioned why I was not re-assessed when I returned to work and they gave no definitive answer so I went to the HSE for advice and they asked the company to investigate themselves, which they did and they gave themselves the all clear…I know that sounds ridiculous but that is exactly what happened ….despite being given all the details possible including names, addresses, job numbers etc the HSE were not interested. The HSE were aware of the the fact that the company had claimed the lives of at least two engineers on separate occasions through electrocution yet still allowed them to conceal a serious health and safety breach. When they kill again the HSE have my emails on file to show I did what I could to prevent it, but this is no consolation to the families concerned.

  5. Di says:

    My husband works as a FLT driver. Due to staff shortages, he is being asked to work alone in the warehouse. He has a radio but is worried that if he had an accident, if a stack fell on him, or he was taken ill, he would have no way of alerting anyone. He has decided to refuse to work if asked to do so alone. he has asked his supervisor to carry out a risk assessment. Is he within his rights to refuse to work alone if this is not done?

  6. l says:

    When I’m off work im find. Soon as i go back to work for a couple of day i start getting sick. What should i do i’m tried of getting sick every time i go to work

  7. Dazza2802 says:

    If we are working in a shop inside a shopping centre on a kitchen duct clean with 2 staff members, I understand we don’t need a risk assessment written down, however, we will be walking in the common area of the shopping centre and up an internal stairwell to the secure roof to clean the fan. Would we have to do a risk assessment for that part, or would the shopping centre have to have that assessment in place. Thanks

  8. Sprout says:

    Full risk assessments are carried out yearly within my work environment, including a clinic reception area. However, the shutters which are opened and closed at night were not included, as I did not consider these as being a hazard when making the original risk assessment forms. A client has since suffered an injury by walking into one of the shutters as it was coming down. Do I just do a new clause for the existing risk assessment to cover this risk, or do I need to prepare a new risk assessment for this area? Thank you.

  9. Mrs H says:

    I have a Health and Safety question please. We have a small team who work with tooling equipment which has to be PAT tested, but because we only have 4 on site sometimes one of the workers is left alone to do the PAT testing, is this a Health and Safety risk, should they always have someone else present on site when this is being carried out. Please advise as it isn’t practice to have two people as there aren’t that many of us. Please advise. Many Thanks Human Resources

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