1. Purpose and Scope
This procedure details how [Organisation Name] identifies, assesses, and controls workplace risks. It applies to all activities, sites, and personnel working for or on behalf of the organisation, including contractors, agency staff, and home workers. It supports the organisation’s overall health and safety management objectives.
Working through related paperwork at the same time? See also our US PPE Policy & Hazard Assessment Template, US Safe Lifting & Materials Handling Procedure Template and COSHH Assessment Procedure Template.
2. Assessment Triggers
Conduct or review a risk assessment when:
- Introducing a new task, piece of equipment, substance, or work area.
- Processes, site layouts, staffing levels, or shift patterns change materially.
- An accident, near miss, or report of work-related ill health connects to a task.
- An existing assessment reaches its scheduled review date.
- Assigning individuals who need specific consideration (such as young workers, new and expectant mothers, staff with disabilities, or lone workers) to a task.
3. Roles and Responsibilities
- Assessment Owner ([Role]): Maintains the risk assessment register, sets review schedules, and approves assessments for higher-risk activities.
- Assessors ([Role]): Competent personnel trained in this procedure who conduct and document risk assessments.
- Managers and Supervisors: Implement required controls, brief team members, and ensure staff maintain controls on the floor.
- All Personnel: Follow established risk controls, and immediately report unworkable controls, control failures, or unidentified hazards to [Role].
4. Preparation
Complete these preparation steps before starting a formal assessment:
- Gather relevant background information, including past risk assessments, manufacturer instructions, safety data sheets, and accident or near-miss logs.
- Walk through the work area while staff perform the task.
- Talk directly with the operators to identify practical work factors and potential failure points.
- Check if any assigned workers require specific consideration (such as young workers, new and expectant mothers, staff with disabilities, or lone workers).
5. Procedure Steps
- Identify all hazards associated with the task, including equipment, chemicals, biological agents, environmental factors, and work organisation.
- Determine who could be harmed and how. Consider workers, nearby staff, contractors, visitors, and the public.
- Evaluate the risk level by weighing the likelihood and severity of harm against existing controls.
- Determine additional controls using the hierarchy of controls. Assign an owner and a deadline for each action.
- Log significant findings in [System/Location], including hazards, exposed groups, existing and new controls, action owners, and review dates.
- Brief affected personnel on the findings and required controls before filing the assessment and starting work.
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6. Hierarchy of Controls
Select controls in this order of priority:
- Elimination: Remove the hazard completely (e.g., redesign the process or stop the hazardous activity).
- Substitution: Replace the hazard with a safer option (e.g., use a safer chemical or lighter materials).
- Engineering Controls: Isolate people from the hazard using physical safeguards (e.g., guards, local exhaust ventilation, or mechanical lifting aids).
- Administrative Controls: Apply procedural safeguards (e.g., safe operating procedures, training, warning signs, job rotation, or extra supervision).
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Issue suitable protective gear as a last resort when other measures cannot fully mitigate the risk.
7. Records and Retention
- Store completed risk assessments in [System/Location] and log them in the central register with their designated owner and review schedule.
- Save records of briefing sessions, including attendee names and dates, in [System/Location].
- Keep superseded assessments for [Retention Period] to preserve historical records for audits and investigations.
8. Incident Handling and Control Failures
- If an accident or near miss occurs, stop work where necessary. Review and update the risk assessment as part of the incident investigation before resuming the task.
- If a control proves unworkable or ineffective on the floor, report it to [Role] immediately. Do not use informal workarounds; request a formal review.
9. Review Cycle
- Review individual risk assessments at intervals set by the assessor. Default frequency is [Frequency], or shorter for higher-risk activities.
- [Role] reviews this procedure every [Frequency].
- Next scheduled procedure review: [Date].
FAQs on a risk assessment procedure
What is a risk assessment procedure?
A risk assessment procedure details how your organisation identifies, assesses, and controls workplace risks. It applies to all activities, sites, and personnel working for or on behalf of the organisation, including contractors, agency staff, and home workers.
Having it written down means the same rules apply to everyone, so managers are not making judgement calls case by case under pressure.
What does a risk assessment procedure include?
This template covers assessment triggers, preparation, procedure steps and hierarchy of controls.
Every section is written to be filled in. The bracketed placeholders mark the decisions that are yours to make, such as timescales, approval owners and retention periods.
How to implement a risk assessment procedure with Whale
Copy this template into Whale and work through the bracketed placeholders so it reflects how your organisation actually operates.
Assign it to the teams it applies to so it sits where people work rather than in a shared drive, and set a review date so it gets revisited on schedule instead of quietly going out of date.
Use our templates to fast-track your documentation
Customize this template and 100s of others for free in Whale, the fastest way to get your team aligned.