What is risk assessment?

Risk assessment simply means taking a careful look at all the things in your workplace which could cause people harm and deciding whether there are enough control measures in place to prevent them from being harmed or whether more are required.

There are five simple steps to carrying out a risk assessment:

Step 1 Identify the hazards

Step 2 Decide who might be harmed and how

Step 3 Evaluate the risks and decide on the precautions

Step 4 Record your findings and implement them

Step 5 Review your risk assessment and update it if necessary

Any competent person can carry out a risk assessment but they should be familiar with the workplace and work processes. If you have a small company you may want to carry out the risk assessment yourself. If your company is larger you may decide to appoint a competent employee to do it. It is important that whoever carries out the risk assessment involves other employees who will have useful information about how the work is done that will make the risk assessment more thorough and effective.   The law does not expect you to eliminate every risk in your workplace but it does require you to take all reasonable steps to protect people. Your risk assessment should focus on those things in your workplace that have the potential to cause real harm.

For more information visit the risk assessment page