Step 4 - Record your findings

Make a plan and stick to it

It is important that you record the results of your risk assessment in an action plan. This section contains advice on how to do this effectively.

Before you begin Step 4, you should have completed Checkpoint 3 - Evaluate the risk and take action:

• Consulted with employees and their representatives to discuss problems in more detail.
• Worked in partnership with employees and their representatives to develop actions to take.
• Ensured that issues affecting individuals are addressed.
• Fed back results to employees, with a commitment to follow-up.
• Recorded what you have done.

Developing an action plan

If your risk assessment has identified areas of concern and you have taken steps to develop some solutions, it is important that you record your findings.

The best method of achieving this is to write and disseminate an action plan.

An action plan will:

• help you set goals to work towards;
• help you to prioritise;
• demonstrate that you are serious about addressing employees’ concerns;
• provide something to evaluate and review against.

An action plan is a key part of your risk assessment and should at least include the following:

• what the problem is
• how the problem was identified;
• what you are going to do in response;
• how you arrived at this solution;
• some key milestones and dates for them to be reached;
• a commitment to provide feedback to employees on progress;
• a date for reviewing against the plan.

There is no prescribed method or format for an action plan. However, this site includes a template and worked example you may want to use. The action plan needs to be agreed with employees, senior management and employee representatives. The final plan should be shared with employees.

• Action plan template and worked example [31kb]

Checkpoint 4: Record your findings

Before you begin the next stage, you should have done the following:

• Created and agreed with senior management, employees and their representatives an action plan for the implementation of solutions.
• Shared your action plan with all employees, including dates for monitoring and review.

Next: Step 5 - Monitor and review