As an employer, you must protect your workers, and other people, from harm.
Look for things that could cause injury or illness and decide if you’re taking reasonable
steps to prevent them.
This is called assessing risk and it’s straightforward for most small businesses.
It’s just one part of how you can manage risk to keep people safe and healthy at work.
Look around your workplace for things that could cause harm. These are called hazards.
Ask yourself:
How are people using equipment? Are they working in disorganised or unsafe ways?
Is your workplace in a suitable condition,
for example are walkways always clear? Your accident book and sickness records might
help identify less obvious hazards.
Think about hazards to health like; repeated or heavy lifting, using chemicals and causes
of work-related stress.
Pay attention to potentially vulnerable people like pregnant workers, young people or those
with disabilities.
Remember other people who might be harmed, like contractors or visitors.
Speak to your workers as they may see potential hazards and have good ideas to help reduce
the risks.
Once you know the hazards in your workplace, decide:
who might be harmed and how and what you’re doing to protect them.
It’s then much easier to decide: what further actions to take and
who should carry them out.
Sometimes you might not be able to remove a hazard completely. So think about how you
can make it less likely to cause harm.
For example, you could: do the job another way,
use different materials or tools or provide personal protective equipment.
If you employ 5 or more people, you must record: the hazards,
who might be harmed and what you’re doing to control the risks.
You can use our risk assessment template and examples to help you.
Review what you’re doing to control risk whenever there are significant changes, like
new staff or equipment.
You should also review your controls:
if your workers spot a problem or after any accidents or near misses.
Update your records with any changes you make.
Protecting people is about what you do to control risks, not the forms you fill in.