First of all, what is a risk assessment? A risk assessment is the documentation of the hazards and potential risks that could be caused within a business. If anything is to cause potential harm to a person whether that's a worker or someone in the public, it needs to be mentioned within the risk assessment.

Who needs a risk assessment? Every business requires a risk assessment as even the most low-risk job will use things that can cause harm to someone. Take for example an office job. Although it is a very low-risk job there are still multiple hazards such as plug sockets. It's important to remember that even the most obvious things may need to be included in a risk assessment. Being a small business or a 'safe' business does not excuse anyone from not having a risk assessment as anyone could be potentially injured by even the smallest of hazards. The consequences of not having a risk assessment in place can be severe. No business wants to be known for risking the health and safety of its workers or customers.

What are the steps that need to be taken for a risk assessment? The risk assessment can be easily split into four steps. These include...

Identify - Identifying everything within the occupation that could be a potential risk or hazard to someone.

Analyse - This is where the level of risk can be discussed. Hazards that contain a higher risk should be a priority for every business. Often graphs may be used to outline the level of risk that a hazard could possess. Such as the example below.

Control - Once the hazard and its risk have been identified and analysed, it's time to put the controls in. Higher risk hazards will have more controls. Working at heights will have strict controls to make sure someone or something doesn't fall. Harnessing would be included with this and an operation that requires working at heights will usually involve several people. With the analysis stage complete the business should have decided whether or not the hazard can be avoided at all costs or at least substituted to something safe before reaching the control stage. There is often a safer way of doing things. Most of this will also be covered in the method statement (mentioned later) in more detail than within the risk assessment.

Review - Finally the risk assessment needs to be reviewed. The review should be done often and thoroughly to make sure the right arrangements have been taken place over each hazard. The risk assessment may have changed over time so making sure it's thoroughly checked will help avoid any potential disaster if something is to be incorrect within it.

Finally, businesses should consider a method statement as well as a risk assessment to further ensure safety. To read more about method statements click here. Here will help discuss what a method statement is, the differences between the risk assessment and the method statement, and how to write a method statement.

Once again, risk assessments are vital to making sure any business. No business wants the reputation of not taking its safety seriously as that will drive everyone away. No one wants that. Hopefully,, that covers the basics of the risk assessment.