6.3 Risk assessment
Risk assessment can sound daunting, but it is common sense to anticipate what might cause harm to staff or members of the public and to find ways of reducing any risks to a minimum. Risk assessment simply provides a systematic way to go about this and need not take a great deal of time.
Risk assessments should be undertaken for regular activities in the building and may also need to be undertaken for one-off events.
Community Development Officers either have received training in risk assessment or have access to training and will be able to help you. They can work with Management Committees to identify what risk assessments should be undertaken and to carry these out. This will demonstrate that the Committee is living up to its Health and Safety responsibilities and even more importantly will reduce the possibility of anyone being harmed or injured.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have produced an extremely helpful free leaflet detailing their recommended five steps to risk assessment. We recommend that organisations should visit the HSE website and download a copy for themselves.
The HSE website can be accessed at www.hse.gov.uk
CLICK HERE FOR RISK ASSESSMENT SAMPLE