Example risk assessments

So, you’re going to do a risk assessment for your workplace. You've read Five steps to risk assessment and you’ve printed off the blank risk assessment form [48KB] to remind you of the steps. But what do you actually need to write down? What might a 'good enough' record of a risk assessment look like?

Risk assessments should be about identifying practical actions that protect people from harm and injury, not a bureaucratic experience. For the majority of risk assessments, short bullet points work well.

The example risk assessments below show you what a record of a risk assessment might look like. If your industry is not listed below, pick the one closest to it and adapt it for your workplace.

Example risk assessments

The examples show the kind of approach HSE expects a small business or workplace to take. They are not generic risk assessments that you can just put your company name on and adopt wholesale without any thought. Doing that would not satisfy the law - and would not protect people effectively.

Even where the hazards are the same, the control measures you adopt may have to be different from those in the examples to meet the particular conditions in your workplace.

Remember

Every business is different - you need to think through the hazards and controls required in your business for yourself.