Guide
How to write a risk assessment
A blank risk assessment form is intimidating. The HSE method turns it into five clear steps that anyone can follow for their own work.
The short answer
You write a risk assessment by working through the HSE five-step method: identify the hazards, decide who might be harmed and how, evaluate the risks and decide on precautions, record your findings and implement them, then review and update. Do it for the work you actually carry out, in your own words, and the result meets the legal test of being suitable and sufficient under Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Step by step
- Identify the hazards. Walk through the task and list anything with the potential to cause harm: electricity, work at height, dust, manual handling, and so on. Talk to the people who do the job, since they spot hazards a desk exercise misses.
- Decide who might be harmed and how. For each hazard, note who is at risk, including employees, subcontractors, visitors and the public, and how the harm would happen.
- Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions. Judge how likely and how serious the harm is, then decide the controls using the hierarchy of control: eliminate the hazard where you can, then reduce, isolate, control, and use personal protective equipment last.
- Record your findings and implement them. Write down the significant findings and put the controls in place. Listing a control you never apply is worse than not listing it.
- Review and update. Revisit the assessment when the work changes, after an incident, and periodically, so it stays current.
For electrical contractors
Electrician CHAS pack · £95
Five electrical risk assessments already written to the HSE method, ready to adapt to your jobs instead of starting from a blank form.
What makes it suitable and sufficient
The legal test is that the assessment matches the real work, identifies the significant hazards rather than every trivial one, and leads to controls that are actually put in place. In practice that means writing about the job you do, not a generic activity, and being honest about the hazards. If you employ five or more people you must record the significant findings in writing; with fewer than five it is recommended, and in practice expected by any buyer or assessor who asks to see it.
Related guides
Read what a risk assessment is, what a method statement is, and the electrician risk assessment guide.
Common questions
How do I write a risk assessment?
Work through the HSE five steps: identify the hazards, decide who might be harmed and how, evaluate the risks and decide on precautions, record your findings and implement them, then review and update. Write it for the work you actually do, in your own words.
What are the five steps to writing a risk assessment?
Identify the hazards; decide who might be harmed and how; evaluate the risks and decide on precautions using the hierarchy of control; record your findings and implement them; then review and update when the work changes or after an incident.
What is the hierarchy of control?
The order in which you choose controls: eliminate the hazard where you can, then reduce it, isolate it, apply control measures, and use personal protective equipment as the last line rather than the first.
Does a risk assessment have to be written down?
If you employ five or more people you must record the significant findings in writing. With fewer than five it is recommended rather than required, but a written assessment is what buyers and accreditation assessors ask to see.