Standard Risk Assessment Form Template for England and Wales

A Standard Risk Assessment Form is your essential tool for meeting workplace health and safety obligations under England and Wales law. This comprehensive document helps you systematically identify hazards, evaluate risks, and implement control measures to protect employees and comply with statutory requirements. The form serves as both a legal safeguard and practical framework for maintaining a safe working environment.

When do you need this document?

You must complete risk assessments whenever you employ five or more people, introduce new equipment or processes, or identify potential workplace hazards. This includes routine workplace activities, chemical handling, fire safety considerations, and special circumstances involving vulnerable workers such as pregnant employees or young people. The assessment is also required before significant workplace changes, following accidents or near-misses, and during regular safety reviews. Construction sites, offices, retail premises, and industrial facilities all require tailored risk assessments to address their specific hazards and operational requirements.

Key legal considerations

Your risk assessment must demonstrate a systematic approach to hazard identification and risk evaluation, documenting both existing control measures and additional actions required. The assessment should clearly identify who might be harmed and how, considering all employees, visitors, contractors, and members of the public who might be affected. You must evaluate the likelihood and severity of potential harm, ensuring control measures follow the hierarchy of risk control - elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment. The document must include specific timelines for implementing additional control measures, assign clear responsibilities for action items, and establish review dates to ensure ongoing effectiveness. Legal compliance requires that assessments are suitable and sufficient, regularly reviewed, and accessible to relevant employees and their representatives.

Legal requirements in England and Wales

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers have a general duty to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of employees so far as reasonably practicable. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 specifically mandate risk assessments, requiring employers to make suitable and sufficient assessments of risks to employee health and safety. Special regulations apply for specific hazards: the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 require detailed chemical risk assessments, while the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 mandates fire safety risk assessments. You must review assessments whenever there are significant changes to work activities, following accidents, or when the assessment may no longer be valid. Risk assessments must be recorded in writing when you employ five or more people, and employees must be informed of assessment findings and any protective measures implemented.