5 Steps of Risk Assessment – Safeti School

Here’s a summary of the 5 simple steps to complete a health and safety risk assessment:

Step 1: Determine the key Hazards

Ask yourself ‘what could harm someone and how?’ Firstly, check accident records to identify any previous workplace injury or illness. Secondly, refer to manufacturer’s guidelines for safe guidance on how to operate plant and equipment.

We mustn’t forget to consider non-routine or infrequent work activities. It is essential to also consider the potential long-term impacts to health, such as from exposure to noise or dust.

Unless the risk is increased during work activities, ‘everyday’ risks should not be included. Such as using a kettle to boil water in the kitchen, for example. Or walking up and down a flight of stairs.

Step 2: Identify ‘Who might be harmed?’

Ask yourself who will be exposed to a particular risk. This might be primarily your own employees. But, there are also other groups of people (or animals!) who may be affected in different ways. A good example would be the impact of a construction project being carried out in a live hospital environment. Those affected may include patients, staff and the general public, for example.

Step 3: Assessing the Risk – Severity and Likelihood

  These two elements should be assessed and given a level of significance e.g. high, medium or low. Severity – How bad is the outcome likely to be i.e. the severity of injury or illness? Likelihood – What are the chances of it happening with the current controls in place?

Step 4: Evaluate Risks & add Controls 

We need to decide if the risks are at a reasonable or acceptable level, or if we need to put further control measures in place. For those that require further controls, we need to determine and record specific actions. Responsibility should be assigned to those who are required take action and a programme for completion agreed.

Step 5: Record and Review

Your risk assessment should be recorded and shared with the relevant people. Make sure to only include the significant risks. Keeping it simple and easy to read is important for training purposes.