Risk assessments sounds big and scary, so people avoid doing them. But they’re not. We all assess risk in everything we do. Shall I walk across the railway line in front of that fast moving train? No, it’s too big a risk. I might get flattened.

A Risk Assessment is just common sense, written down.

If you have employees, if you are organising an event, you must have written risk assessments for where people are and what they are doing. It’s easy. It just requires a bit of thought.

Here’s how:

First, two bits of jargon

Hazard: A hazard is something that is dangerous. For example, electricity.

Risk: Is the chance of something dangerous actually happening. I have a hazard in my office (mains electric) but the risk of someone being zapped is remote because I don’t have live wires trailing about the place.

Obviously the bigger the hazard the less of a risk you want to take with it.

For example. You are running a nestbox building workshop for 12 yr olds. You provide them with hammers. There is a good chance (risk) one of them will bash their thumb. They will say “Ouch,” and learn not to do it again (The hazard was pretty small).  You would probably reckon this was acceptable.
At the same workshop they are trying a bit of stone carving, which they are also hitting with hammers. Bits of stone are flying everywhere. There is a good chance (risk) one of them will get a chunk of stone in the eye (a nasty hazard). A lot more serious than a bashed thumb. This would not be acceptable and you would provide them with safety glasses.

Six steps to risk assessment

Step 1: Look for the hazards

Step 2: Decide who might be harmed and how

Step 3: Evaluate the risk and decide whether existing precautions are enough or whether you should do more

Step 4: Write down your findings.

Step 5. Do what you say you are going to do.

Step 6: Review your assessment and revise it if necessary.

Don’t make your risk assessment over complicated. A risk assessment is a working document. If it is too long people won’t read it. If something is a really, really remote risk, leave it out. Just draw people’s attention to the important issues.

Step 1
Looking for hazards

If you are doing the assessment, walk around your workplace or where you are having your gig and look at what could reasonably be expected to cause harm. Ignore the trivial and concentrate on significant hazards which could result in serious harm or affect several people.  Ask your employees or people who know the site what they think. They may have noticed things which are not immediately obvious.

Step 2
Decide who might be harmed

Trained employees may not be at risk but are you inviting members of the public in, who don’t understand the dangers of a bit of machinery, for example? Remember if you are dealing with children you need to take more care of them than of adults.

Step 3
Evaluate the risk and decide if existing precautions are adequate or if you need to do more.

Consider how likely it is that each hazard could cause harm. Then decide whether you need to do more to reduce the risk. There will always be some risk even after precautions have been taken . You must decide if the remaining risk is High, Medium or Low. If the risk remains high you should be asking yourself, “should I be doing this at all?”
 
Draw up an action list: Ask yourself
a) can I get rid of the hazard altogether?
b) if not, how can I control the risks so that harm is unlikely?

Take the children bashing the stone as an example. The risk of a lump of stone in the eye was High. By providing safety glasses we have reduced the risk to Low.

Step 4
Write down your findings.

This is Cover your Back territory. If there is an accident, you want to be able to prove you took reasonable precautions. “I did take care, honest Guv,” doesn’t cut much ice. A written risk assessment is your insurance policy. Below is an example of how a risk assessment might look. You can print off a blank version of this form to help you do this, or of course design your own.
Make sure you tell people what is in your risk assessment. You might give the whole document to supervisors, for example. With children you would need to talk them through it. “Don’t go out onto the road” for example.

Step 5
Do what you say you are going to do.

It may seem obvious but if you have identified that the deep pond needs a fence round it before the toddlers’ party, make sure you get the fence done!

Step 6
Review your risk assessment.

Things change. Risk assessments need changing as well. If it rains, surfaces may become slippery, for example. BT may dig a large trench by the entrance. A risk assessment is a working document, so add to it if you need to.