Risk assessment for a small business

Aug 29
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Introduction

A template is downloaded, filled in with generic hazards that apply to any workplace, signed, and filed. It mentions slips and trips, electrical equipment and manual handling, and none of it relates to what actually happens in this business.

Risk assessment is a legal requirement in most jurisdictions and it is one of the few compliance obligations that genuinely earns its cost when done properly. The generic version protects nobody and would not defend the business if anything happened, which are the two purposes it exists for. A generic assessment satisfies neither the regulator nor the person who gets hurt. The exercise pays for itself the first time it stops somebody being hurt.

1. Risk assessment for a small business means looking at your own work

Not at a template.

Walk through what actually happens: the tasks, the equipment, the substances, the vehicles, the premises, the people. The hazards that matter are specific to your operation and will not appear on a generic list. An hour walking the site produces more than a day with a template.

2. Find out what your jurisdiction requires

The obligation varies.

Whether a written assessment is required, above what number of employees, how often it must be reviewed and what must be recorded. Most places require something; the specifics differ enough to be worth checking.

3. Think about who could be harmed and how

The structure of the exercise.

Employees, customers, visitors, contractors, delivery drivers and members of the public, and the specific ways each could be hurt by what you do. Different groups face different risks from the same activity.

4. Consider people who are more at risk

Frequently omitted.

New or young workers, people with disabilities, pregnant employees, lone workers, and anybody unfamiliar with the site. A control that is adequate for an experienced employee may not be for somebody on their first week.

5. Decide what you will actually change

The point of the whole exercise.

Guarding, training, protective equipment, a different method, better lighting, a change in layout. An assessment that identifies risks and changes nothing has documented a problem rather than addressed one.

6. Deal with the highest risks first

Proportionate effort.

Something that could cause serious injury, however unlikely, takes priority over something that happens often and causes minor inconvenience. Ranking honestly prevents the whole thing becoming unmanageable. Twenty hazards treated equally means none of them gets addressed.

7. Tell people what you decided

An assessment nobody read is worthless.

The findings need to reach the people doing the work, in a form they will use — a briefing, a change in method, a notice at the machine. Filing it satisfies nobody, including a regulator.

8. Record it in a form you can defend

Enough detail, not a document.

What was assessed, what the hazards are, who could be harmed, what controls exist and what further action is planned, with a date. This is what demonstrates you took the duty seriously.

9. Review it when something changes

And after anything happens.

New equipment, a new process, a different site, an incident or a near miss. An annual review plus a review on change is the standard expectation and it is far quicker than the first assessment.

Record near misses as well as accidents. They are free information about what is about to go wrong, they cost nothing to capture, and in most businesses they are the only warning that arrives before somebody is hurt.

Conclusion

Assess your own work rather than completing a generic template.

Establish what your jurisdiction requires in terms of written records and review, identify who could be harmed and how for each group, give particular attention to new, young, lone and vulnerable workers, decide on specific changes rather than only documenting hazards, address the most serious risks first, communicate the findings to the people doing the work, record it in enough detail to be defensible, review on change and after any incident, and capture near misses.