A confined space risk assessment starts with a question the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997, cited below, put first: can entry be avoided? Regulation 4 is about work in confined spaces and regulation 5 about emergency arrangements, and the assessment follows that order. Whether the work can be done from outside; if not, the specified risks of this space, the safe system of work, the rescue arrangements, the competence of the people entering and the people outside. The risk assessment template on this site prints the rows, free and without an account.
Avoid entry
The first row: can the work be done without entering, by remote tools, by a change of method, by a different design. Only where it cannot does the assessment go on to how. A confined space RAMS that skips this row is one the approver returns.
The space's risks
Lack of oxygen, toxic or flammable gas, liquids or solids that can flood or engulf, heat, the access and egress. Each a row with the control: testing and monitoring the atmosphere, ventilation, isolation of inlets, the permit, communication, the time limit.
The emergency arrangements
Regulation 5's requirement: the rescue plan with the people, equipment and training on site to carry it out before anyone enters, and the arrangements for raising the alarm. A confined space assessment without a rehearsed rescue is incomplete, and the emergency services are not the plan.
Competence and the record
The entrants and the top person trained for confined spaces, recorded; the assessment signed, dated, reviewed per entry where the space or the work changes. 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. DailyLogDesk Pro keeps the assessment with the permit and the RAMS; the template prints it.
Questions people ask about confined space risk assessment
What counts as a confined space?
A space that is substantially enclosed and where a specified risk is reasonably foreseeable; the regulations cited below define it, and the assessment records the judgement.
Can a small contractor do confined space work?
With trained people, the equipment and a rehearsed rescue; without them, the first row's answer is to avoid entry.
Is the template free?
Yes, without an account.