Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

5.8 
The management of risk 
assessment
Risk assessment is part of the planning and implementa-
tion stage of the health and safety management system 
recommended by the HSE in its publication HSG 65. 
All aspects of the organization, including health and safety 
management, need to be covered by the risk assess-
ment process. This will involve the assessment of risk 
in areas such as maintenance procedures, training pro-
grammes and supervisory arrangements. A general risk 

---

Risk assessment
71
assessment of the organization should reveal the sig-
nifi cant hazards present and the general control meas-
ures that are in place. Such a risk assessment should be 
completed fi rst and then followed by more specifi c risk 
assessments that examine individual work activities.
HSE has produced a free leafl et entitled 
Five steps 
to risk assessment
. It gives practical advice on assess-
ing risks and recording the fi ndings and is aimed at 
small and medium-sized companies in the service and 
manufacturing sectors. The fi ve steps are:
➤
look for the hazards
➤
decide who might be harmed, and how
➤
evaluate the risks and decide whether existing pre-
cautions are adequate or more should be done
➤
record the signifi cant fi ndings
➤
review the assessment and revise it if necessary.
Each of these steps will be examined in turn in the next 
section.
Finally, it is important that the risk assessment team 
is selected on the basis of its competence to assess risks 
in the particular areas under examination in the organiza-
tion. The team leader or manager should have health and 
safety experience and relevant training in risk assessment. 
It is sensible to involve the appropriate line manager, who 
has responsibility for the area or activity being assessed, 
as a team member. Other members of the team will be 
selected on the basis of their experience, their technical 
and/or design knowledge and any relevant standards 
or regulations relating to the activity or process. At least 
one team member must have communication and report 
writing skills. It is likely that team members will require 
some basic training in risk assessment.