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Maintained tool | Version 2.0

Risk Assessment

Use this five-point plan with workers and managers. Work through the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) steps with evidence from the actual work, name the gaps, and assign owners before you leave the page. It supports, but does not replace, a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. Completing it does not guarantee legal compliance.

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Instructions

Start with the five-point plan

HSE describes risk management as a step-by-step process. Use the five points below to structure this review. In each section, record evidence from the work, the people doing it and the controls currently in place. Then complete the priority action record.

Identify hazards
Assess the risks
Control the risks
Record your findings
Review the controls

1. Identify hazards

Look at roles, places, contact channels and what staff and data already tell you.

Workers and representatives have been asked about abuse, threats, near misses and unreported concerns.Roles, tasks, decisions, locations and contact channels with foreseeable risk are named.Incident, complaint, absence and service data are checked for patterns and repeat concerns.People who may face different or additional risk are considered without making assumptions about them.Evidence, gaps or actions

2. Assess the risks

Who could be harmed, how badly, and whether today's controls match the real exposure.

The review names who might be harmed and how, including workers, contractors, visitors and members of the public.Likelihood and potential severity are judged from evidence of the work, not assumptions.Existing controls are checked against real exposure, including locations, contact channels and lone-working arrangements.Where controls are not enough, further action, named owners and timescales are identified.Evidence, gaps or actions

3. Control the risks

Prefer remove or redesign the risk; then staffing, layout, procedures, training and escalation.

Contact, waiting, queues, payments, enforcement or refusal decisions have been considered for removal, reduction or redesign.Staffing, visibility, access, escape routes, barriers, communication and access to help match the assessed risk.Information about known risk is shared lawfully and only with people who need it for safety.Procedures state what staff may do, when to seek help, and when to pause, end or leave an interaction.Training reflects real work, known scenarios, local procedures and the limits of the worker's role.Managers know how to respond without blaming the worker or treating abuse as part of the job.Emergency, police, safeguarding, clinical and specialist escalation routes are clear and known.Evidence, gaps or actions

4. Record your findings

Keep a usable internal record, and know when the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) may also apply.

Significant findings are recorded: the hazard, who may be harmed, how harm could occur and what controls are in place.Workers can report incidents and near misses quickly in an accessible format.The initial record captures what happened, when, where, who was involved and what action was taken.Internal incident recording is distinguished from statutory Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) reporting.Gaps and actions are recorded with a named owner, due date and completion evidence.Evidence, gaps or actions

5. Review the controls

Check they work in practice after incidents, changes and concerns, including welfare.

Controls are reviewed to check whether they are working in practice.The review is repeated after incidents, near misses, worker concerns, changes in work or updated guidance.Immediate physical and psychological welfare is checked for people directly involved and for witnesses.Support after an incident is reviewed without forcing an immediate detailed debrief.Relevant records and digital material can be preserved without continuing unsafe contact.The risk assessment, procedures, information and training are updated when findings require it.Evidence, gaps or actions

Use and limitations

Adapt the review to the work, people, environment and known incident pattern.
Use current HSE guidance and competent advice for material or unusual risks.
Check current RIDDOR guidance for potentially reportable injuries.
Use specialist legal, equality, data-protection, safeguarding or clinical advice where required.

Governing guidance: Workplace Violence and Aggression. Staff can practise the same situations in Conflict Management training. Evidence basis: HSE steps needed to manage risk, HSE violence and aggression at work guidance, HSE worker consultation guidance, HSE reporting and learning guidance, Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3.

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