Writing a risk assessment goes wrong in the same place every time: at a desk, from memory, before anyone has looked at the site. The order that works starts with a walk of the task where it will happen, with the person who will do it, listing the hazards seen. Then, for each, who is at risk and how, the control and the residual risk. Then the significant findings in a few lines, the signature, the date and the review date. The HSE's guidance, cited below, gives risk assessment as five steps: identify hazards, assess the risks, control the risks, record your findings, review the controls, and says that if you employ 5 or more people you must record your significant findings. The risk assessment template on this site prints the document from that walk's figures, free.
Walk it first
The services, the ground, the access, the other trades, the public, the height, the plant: the hazards of a task are on the site, not in a list. The walk with the operative who will do the work finds the hazards the office does not know about, and it is the step the HSE's guidance calls identifying hazards.
Assess and control each one
Who could be harmed and how; how likely and how serious; the specific control that reduces it; the risk that remains. A control is a measure, edge protection or isolation or an exclusion zone, and never an attitude. A residual risk that is still high is a control that has not been found yet.
Write the record
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 significant findings are the hazards that could cause real harm and the controls decided; a few lines under the rows. Author, date, reviewer, review date in the header.
Brief it, keep it, review it
The assessment is briefed to the crew with the method statement and signed; it is kept against the job; it is reviewed when the task, the site or the people change and after any incident. DailyLogDesk Pro keeps it and reminds the contractor at the review; the template on this site prints it.
Questions people ask about writing a risk assessment
How long does writing a risk assessment take?
The walk is most of it; the writing is minutes once the hazards are listed, and the tool prints from the figures.
Who should write it?
A competent person who knows the task, with the operative who will do it. A consultant who has not seen the site writes a generic one.
Is the template free?
Yes, without an account.