Your Legal Obligations
If you run a business, however big or small, you must carry out a careful examination of what in your work could cause harm to people.
You must decide what in your work could cause harm to:-
- you
- your employees, should you have any
- members of the public
This is so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm.
There are five steps to any risk assessment:-
- identify the hazards
- decide who might be harmed by them and how
- evaluate the risks and decide on precautions
- record your findings and implement them
- review and update your assessment if necessary
Don't overcomplicate the process - risk assessments should be 'suitable and sufficient'. If your risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply, your risk assessment should also be simple.
If your business is small and you are confident that you understand what's involved, you can do the assessment yourself - you don't have to be a health and safety expert.
If you work in a larger business you could ask a health and safety expert to help you.
If you are not confident, get help from someone who is competent. In all cases, you should make sure that you involve your staff or their representatives in the process - they may have useful information about how the work is done, which will make your assessment of the risk more thorough and effective.
Last Updated on Friday, April 12, 2019
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