A risk assessment is a systematic process of evaluating the potential risks that may be involved in a job or task that is being carried out.

Employers need to think about what might cause harm to their employees, visitors and contractors and decide whether sufficient steps are in place to prevent harm.

In order to carry out a risk assessment you need to;

• identify the hazards
• decide who might be harmed and how
• evaluate the risks and decide on precautions
• record the significant findings
• review the assessment and update if necessary

A risk assessment is a legal requirement and they are required to be carried out for all tasks, activities and environments (e.g. offices, laboratories, production areas, remote work sites) that have hazards associated with them.

The following regulations specifically require risk assessments;

• The Management of health and safety at work regulations
• Workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations
• Control of substances hazardous to health regulations
• Provision and use of work equipment regulations
• Display screen equipment regulations
• Manual handling operations regulations
• Personal protective equipment regulations
• The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (England and Wales)
• Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, supported by the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (Scotland).

Viridis provides a range of risk assessment solutions including:

• Policy and procedure development and implementation
• Working with your staff to carry out risk assessments (COSHH, DSE, Manual Handling, workplace, job safety analysis)
• Risk assessment training to give your staff confidence to carry out their own risk assessments