A basic risk assessment template is enough for most small-contractor tasks when it has the right five columns and one block. The columns: the hazard, who is at risk and how, the control in place, the residual risk, and any further action with an owner and a date. The block: the significant findings, because regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, cited below, requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees, and regulation 3(6) requires an employer with five or more employees to record the significant findings and any group of employees especially at risk. The risk assessment template on this site prints that basic shape sized to the task, free and without an account.
The five columns
Hazard: what could cause harm. Who and how: the people and the harm. Control: the measure in place, specific. Residual risk: what remains, on a simple scale. Further action: what else is needed, by whom, by when. A basic template that drops the last column is one where the gap between what is in place and what is needed is never written down.
The significant findings block
The hazards that could cause real harm and the controls decided, stated in a few lines. It is the part of the record the regulation names and the part a basic template most often omits. The HSE's five steps, cited below, end in record and review, and this block is the record.
Author, date, reviewer, review
Four fields in the header. An assessment nobody signed and nobody dated cannot be placed on a timeline, and an inspector's first question is when it was done and when it was reviewed. The template carries the four fields.
When basic is not enough
A task on a managed site needs the method statement as well; a task with several complex hazards needs likelihood and severity scales the basic template folds into residual risk. The risk assessment and method statement tool on this site is the next step up; DailyLogDesk Pro keeps either against the job.
Questions people ask about basic risk assessment template
Is a basic template acceptable to the HSE?
The regulation asks for suitable and sufficient, proportionate to the risk; for a simple task a basic assessment done properly is exactly that.
Do I need a scoring matrix?
Not for a basic assessment; a three-level residual risk is enough when the controls are specific.
Is it free?
Yes, without an account.