How to write a risk assessment
- Risk score before controls (likelihood x severity, out of 25)
- 16
- Residual risk score after controls
- 8
- Reduction from the controls, percent
- 50
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs you enter, by the method stated below it. The only constants DailyLogDesk supplies are the published reporting clocks and assessment steps, each cited where it is used. The defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.
How to write a risk assessment, for a contractor who has to produce one before Monday: walk the site or the task, list the hazards you actually find, say who could be harmed and how, score the likelihood and severity before the controls, write the controls you will use, score again after them, name who does what, and sign and date it with a review date. The risk assessment template on this site takes those inputs and prints the assessment a competent person can sign; Pro keeps it against the project and reminds you when the review is due.
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Walk the task before you write a word
The hazards on the page have to be the hazards on the site: the live services, the fall edge, the fumes in the enclosed room, the public walking past the gate, the lone operative in the evening. Walk it with the person who will do the work and write what you both see. A generic list of hazards copied from a template is the assessment an inspector recognises in seconds and a court weighs at nothing.
Score before and after the controls, on the same sheet
For each hazard, who could be harmed and how, then likelihood against severity before any control, then the control, then likelihood again with the control in place. Two scores on the same row show what the control does; a single score after the controls hides it. The template on this site scores both and prints the reduction, out of 25, so the person signing can see what they are signing for.
Name the person, the date and the review
A control with no name against it is nobody's job. Each row carries who puts the control in place and when it is checked; the footer carries the assessor's name and signature, the date, and the date the assessment is next read against the site. Pro files the signed assessment against the project and raises the review when it falls due.
Brief it and record the briefing
An assessment the crew has not heard protects nobody. The controls are briefed at the start of the task, in the crew's own words, and the sign-on sheet is the record that they were. The toolbox talk and the assessment are filed together, because an investigator asks for both.
Will it do what you need for How to write a risk assessment?
Tell us what your business needs and we will tell you straight whether DailyLogDesk Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you are better off with something else. A person reads these and replies.
How to write a risk assessment: common questions
How long should a risk assessment be?
As long as the hazards on that task. A small task with four hazards is one page; a roof replacement is several. Length is not a measure of quality, but a one-line assessment for a task with a fall from height is a measure of something.
Do I need a risk assessment if I am self-employed?
You assess your own work and carry the duty yourself, and any client or main contractor will ask to see the record before you start on their site whatever your headcount.
Is the template free?
Yes. The risk assessment template on this site prints a scored, signed assessment with no account. Pro adds the record against the project, the method statement filed with it and the review reminder.