Risk assessment review checklist

This is a checklist on what should be on your risk assessment. You can use it to review your current risk assessments and highlight what you are doing well and where you could improve.

Legal standard: Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, Regulation 3 Risk assessment and Regulation 4 Principles of prevention to be applied.

Regulation 3 (1) every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of-

(a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and

(b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking.

Regulations 4 Where an employer implements any preventive and protective measures he shall do so on the basis of the principles specified in Schedule 1 to these Regulations1

Further information: HSE: risk assessment website (http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/ )

Legislation: Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3242/contents/made)

Section	Standard	Comment
ADMINISTRATION DETAILS
1.1 Recorded	It is recorded Electronic copy Word processed Linked to other records or documents Other languages if required
Risk assessment description	There is a description It’s meaningful It’s relevant
1.3 Risk assessment reference No.	There is an administration reference
1.4 Proportional to the risk	Risk assessment appears detailed enough for higher risk hazards The activity etc. assessed is broken down into key components
1.5 Assessment date	Yes Current, within 1 year
1.6 Assessor’s name	Yes Assessor is connected with the work (ie not a contractor or ‘other’)
1.7 Assessor’s job role	Yes
1.8 Assessor’s signature	Yes
1.9 Review date	Yes Evidence the risk assessment has been reviewed Appropriate time scale Reason for review noted
1.10 Manager responsible name	Yes
1.11 Manager responsible signature	Yes
1.12 Manager responsible date	Yes

HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND RISK ESTIMATION/EVALUATION
2.1 Hazards identified	Yes Correct - ‘things with the potential to cause harm’ NOT hazardous events/harm Significant hazards Routine, non-routine, emergency hazards Specific regulations – see support standards
2.2 Hazardous event and consequence identified	Yes Correct. A hazardous event takes place when someone or something interacts with the hazards, allowing it to cause harm. Consequence is the most probable harm that could arise.
2.3 Expert, industry and common knowledge used to identify reasonably foreseeable risks	Evidence to expert and/or industry knowledge where applicable Specific regulations – see support standards
2.4 Who is harmed	Yes Appropriate Relevant to hazard Included reference to employees at increased risk
2.4(a) Groups of employees at increased risk: Young person Inexperienced workers Pregnancy/new mothers/women of childbearing age Individual capabilities Disabilities – permanent and temporary Lone working	Yes Appropriate Relevant to hazard Included reference to employees at increased risk
2.5 Risk Estimation	Risk estimation carried out and recorded on the assessment Used an appropriate matrix Likelihood of hazardous event reasonable Severity of consequence reasonable Risk estimation recorded Appropriate values Correct value
2.6 Risk Evaluation	Yes Correct High risk hazards can be easily identified Existing risk controls taken into account Residual risk noted

RISK CONTROLS
3.1 Significant findings recorded	Yes
3.2 Risk controls	Relevant to hazard Full description (ie not ‘PPE’, ‘Training’ or ‘relevant experience’) Protective and preventative controls Further action, if any, needed to be taken Person responsible Target date Completed y/n noted Specific regulations – see support standards
3.3 Hierarchy of control	Evidence that the HoC has been applied Evidence that controls that offer higher levels of protection are applied Specific regulations – see support standards

Hierarchy of controls Schedule 1 MHSWR, regulation 4:

Avoiding risks;

Evaluating the risks which cannot be avoided;

Combating the risks at source;

Adapting the work to the individual, especially as regards the design of workplaces, the choice of work equipment and the choice of working and production methods, with a view, in particular, to alleviating monotonous work and work at a predetermined work-rate and to reducing their effect on health;

Adapting to technical progress;

Replacing the dangerous by the non-dangerous or the less dangerous;

Developing a coherent overall prevention policy which covers technology, organisation of work, working conditions, social relationships and the influence of factors relating to the working environment;

Giving collective protective measures priority over individual protective measures; and

Giving appropriate instructions to employees.