Are your Risk Assessments good enough to avoid legal action?

What is a Risk Assessment?

A risk assessment is a process in which highlights all the hazards associated with the work that is going to be carried out. This includes who will be harmed and how, and the likelihood of this occurring. Control measures are introduced in order to reduce or minimise the risk, therefore reducing the likelihood.

They are a legal requirement under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and if produced and used well, protect your business and your workforce.

Are your Risk Assessments good enough?

Risk assessments are needed to eliminate or reduce workplace hazards in order to keep employees safe at work.

Sometimes, those compiling the assessment use a generic template that, when compared with the on-site conditions, cannot be followed. In some cases, this might put workers at greater risk.

Other times, there are lists of control measures too long, which makes the original task impossible to perform.

The reason for these common faults is often a fear of “getting it wrong” or mistaking quantity for quality.

What makes a good Risk Assessment?

A good risk assessment involves taking time when planning an activity, allowing the assessor to consider each step of the task, the potentially dangerous elements to it, and taking steps to eliminate, avoid or reduce those dangers.

Whether something is a high, medium or low risk, is a way to convey to those involved in the task how severe the outcomes are in relation to the likelihood of them occurring. Something to remember is that it will always be a subjective opinion and not an objective fact.

Some people fear that they may miss something, and that if that thing were to occur, they could be open to prosecution, so they don’t write one at all. Without a suitable and sufficient risk assessment the likelihood of an accident occurring increases. In the event that something does go wrong, failing to complete a risk assessment will only add to the likelihood of prosecution.

Whatever task you have to perform, it is vital to carry out a risk assessment, ensuring that it is fit for purpose and can be followed by your employees.

What you can do:

A Risk Assessment Builder takes the stress out of completing these safety-critical documents. The tool is interactive and takes the user through the process, with helpful hints along the way, to enable a comprehensive and site-specific risk assessment to be compiled.