5 Steps Risk Assessment
As part of managing the health and safety of your business, you must control the risks in your workplace. To do this you need to think about what might cause harm to people and decide whether you are taking reasonable steps to prevent that harm.
This is known as Risk Assessment and it is something you are required by law to carry out.
A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about identifying sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace.
You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will help you decide whether you have covered all you need to.
Think about how accidents and ill health could happen and concentrate on real risks – those that are most likely and which will cause the most harm.
To assist companies with this the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) rolled out the 5 Steps to Risk Assessment process.
The 5 Steps are summarised and additional detail can be found by following the links for each step.
Additional HSE Guidance for the process can also be found by clicking the button below
Step 1
Identify the hazards
Hazard identification is part of the process used to evaluate if any particular situation, item, thing, etc. may have the potential to cause harm.
Step 2
Decide Who might be harmed and How
For each hazard you need to be clear about who might be harmed; it will help you identify the best way of managing the risk.
That doesn’t mean listing everyone by name, but rather identifying groups of people (eg ‘people working in the storeroom’ or ‘passers-by’).
Step 3
Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions
For each hazard you need to be clear about who might be harmed; it will help you identify
the best way of managing the risk. That doesn’t mean listing everyone by name, but rather
identifying groups of people (eg ‘people working in the storeroom’ or ‘passers-by’).
Step 4
Record your findings and implement them
Putting the results of your risk assessment into practice will make a difference when looking after people and your planned work, task or project.
Writing down the results of your risk assessment, and sharing them, encourages you to do this.
Step 5
Review your risk assessment and update if necessary
Things are likely to change between first conducting your risk assessment and your planned work.
It makes sense therefore, to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis.