Scoring everything as low so the form looks calm
- Score the uncontrolled job honestly. A fall from a roof is severity 5 even if you think you are careful.
- The residual score drops because of a real control, not because the number was edited.
Risk assessment template
A risk assessment records what could hurt people on this job, who those people are, and what you will do about it. HSE’s free template is a blank form. It will not know you are cutting blocks next to a school gate or responding to an alarm in an empty unit.
The record has to be suitable and sufficient. That means proportionate to the work, not a novel, and not a sentence that says “various hazards, wear PPE”.
What it has to cover
- The task and the place, not a company-wide slogan.
- Who might be harmed: operatives, other trades, residents, the public.
- Likelihood and severity before controls, on a 5×5 matrix. Risk is the product. 1–4 is low, 5–9 medium, 10–16 high, 17–25 very high.
- Controls in hierarchy order. PPE is last, not first.
- The residual score after those controls, and who will check they are actually in place.
- A review when the job, the people or the site changes.
Hazards and controls
Listing PPE and calling it the assessment
- Write the step that removes or isolates the hazard first.
- Name the PPE only where the other controls still leave something to protect against.
Relevant UK law and guidance
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Employers and the self-employed have to make a suitable and sufficient assessment.
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The assessment is how you show you have thought about workers and other people.
- HSE risk assessment guidance. HSE tells small businesses to record significant findings. The template is an aid, not a substitute for looking at the job.
Sample excerpt
Hazard: cutting bricks with a disc cutter beside a public footway.
Who might be harmed: the cutter, the labourer stacking, and pedestrians.
Initial 4 × 4 = 16 (high). Controls: wet cut or extraction, screens, a cordoned footway. Residual 2 × 4 = 8 (medium). A mask is additional, not the control that makes the score move.
Questions
Is a risk assessment a legal requirement?
Yes, where you employ people or where your work can affect others. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require a suitable and sufficient assessment. If you have five or more employees you must record the significant findings. Many smaller firms record them anyway because the client asks, and because memory is a poor briefing.
Who should write a risk assessment?
A competent person: someone with the knowledge, experience and time to see this job clearly. Competence is not a job title. The person who has never visited a roof should not be the only author of a roofing assessment.
What is the difference between a risk assessment and a method statement?
The assessment decides the controls. The method statement puts those controls into the order of work. You can write them as two documents or as one RAMS. The site still needs both ideas.
Do I have to use a 5×5 matrix?
No. The law does not prescribe 5×5. It is the scale RamsBox uses so a high score is obvious in a briefing: 1–4 low, 5–9 medium, 10–16 high, 17–25 very high. Any scale is useless if the severity of a fall is scored as a 2.
How often should it be reviewed?
When the work changes, after an incident or a near miss, and when you have reason to think it is no longer valid. A review date that nobody checks is not a review.
Is HSE’s template enough on its own?
It is a sound blank form. It does not contain your trade’s hazards. Use it, or a trade draft, and then write the significant findings for this site. RamsBox is not affiliated with HSE.
Related
AI-assisted draft. A competent person must review it and approve it for the site before use. RamsBox does not provide health and safety advice and is not affiliated with HSE.