General Risk Assessment

A general workplace risk assessment form that walks you through HSE’s five steps: identify the hazards, decide who might be harmed and how, evaluate the risks and decide on controls, record and implement your findings, and review.

• For each workplace, team or main activity – one form per area or activity is usually clearest
• Before new work, equipment, premises or processes are introduced
• To review an existing assessment after an accident, near miss or change

• Walk round the workplace and talk to the people who do the work
• Use the hazard prompt list in Step 1, then record each significant hazard in the Step 3 table
• Score risk before and after your planned controls using the matrix
• Turn every “further action” into a dated, owned item in the Step 4 action plan