How to Conduct a Basic Workplace Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is just a careful look at what could go wrong

Every UK business with five or more employees must record its risk assessments in writing, and even if your team is smaller than that, the law still expects you to think through the risks your work creates. The good news is that a basic assessment is not a bureaucratic monster. It is a structured look at what could harm someone and what you are already doing about it. Done properly, it takes an afternoon and can be reviewed in minutes each year.

Whether you run a café, a two-van joinery firm or a small design studio, the principles are identical. Here is a straightforward five-step approach that mirrors the guidance published by the Health and Safety Executive.

Step one: identify the hazards

Walk around your premises as though you were a new starter seeing it for the first time. Look at what could reasonably cause harm. Common culprits in small businesses include:

• Slips, trips and falls — trailing cables, spills near the kettle, uneven paving outside the back door.
• Manual handling — boxes of stock, deliveries, equipment that gets shifted weekly.
• Work at height — changing light bulbs, stacking shelves, using a stepladder that should have been retired years ago.
• Display screen equipment — poorly set-up laptops on kitchen tables, no breaks away from the screen.
• Hazardous substances — cleaning chemicals, dust, toners and paints. Check the safety data sheets.
• Machinery and tools — anything with a blade or a guard that has been removed "just for a minute".
• Stress and lone working — opening up alone, dealing with difficult customers, unrealistic deadlines.

Ask your team as well. The person who cleans the fryer every Friday knows more about that fryer than you ever will.

Step two: decide who could be harmed, and how

Do not think only about your full-time staff. Consider everyone who could be affected: part-timers, agency workers, contractors, cleaners, delivery drivers, customers, visitors and members of the public walking past your frontage. Then pay particular attention to groups who need extra thought:

• New and young workers, who may not recognise risks or feel able to speak up.
• New and expectant mothers, whose needs change as pregnancy progresses.
• People with disabilities or long-term health conditions.
• Those working alone, at night or off-site.
• Anyone whose first language is not English, who may not follow written instructions.

A useful habit is to write a short sentence for each hazard: "A delivery driver could trip over the pallet left in the walkway and injure their back." Specific is better than vague.

Step three: evaluate the risk and decide on control measures

Risk is a combination of how likely something is to happen and how serious it would be. You do not need a complicated scoring matrix — a simple high, medium or low judgement is enough for most small businesses. What matters is what you do next. Follow the hierarchy of control, asking yourself in this order:

• Can we eliminate the hazard altogether?
• Can we substitute something safer — a lighter box, a gentler cleaning product?
• Can we engineer a barrier — a guard, a handrail, better lighting?
• Can we organise the work differently — stagger deliveries, share the lifting, rotate tasks?
• Finally, and least effectively, can we rely on personal protective equipment such as gloves or safety glasses?

Personal protective equipment is the last line of defence, not the first. And remember the phrase "reasonably practicable" — you are not expected to eliminate every conceivable risk, only to do what a sensible employer in your position would do.

Step four: write it down and share it

If you employ five or more people, you must record the significant findings. Even below that threshold, a written record is worth its weight in gold: it proves your thinking, helps new managers pick up where you left off, and gives you something to hand to an insurer or an inspector.

Keep it short and usable. A single page per area or activity often works best, covering the hazard, who is at risk, the controls already in place, and any further action needed with a name and a date against it. Then tell your team. A risk assessment that lives in a folder nobody opens is not protecting anyone. Talk it through at inductions, team meetings and toolbox talks, and make sure everyone knows how to report a new concern.

Step five: review it when things change

Risk assessments are living documents. Review yours when you bring in new equipment, take on new premises, change a process, or after any accident or near miss. Otherwise, an annual check is sensible. Ask your team whether the controls are actually working in practice — sometimes the paperwork says one thing and the shop floor does another.

If you feel out of your depth, you can appoint a competent person to help, either from within your team or an external adviser. You can also use the free tools and example assessments published by the Health and Safety Executive for common trades. Start with the biggest risks, keep your notes honest and proportionate, and remember that a good risk assessment is simply evidence that you have thought carefully about your people.