Risk assessment in the Workplace

Course duration 25 - 30 minutes

Learn the HSE's five-step approach to risk assessment, from spotting hazards to reviewing controls, so you can assess any task in any workplace with confidence.

Every workplace hazard, from a trailing cable to a grinding wheel, gets managed the same way: through a proper risk assessment. This course teaches the HSE's five-step approach set out in guidance INDG163, a simple, repeatable method that applies just as well to an office as it does to a building site or a warehouse.

You will learn how to identify hazards by observing work as it actually happens rather than as the procedure describes it, how to decide who is at risk including new starters, lone workers and other vulnerable groups, and how to evaluate risk and choose controls using the hierarchy from elimination down to personal protective equipment. We also cover recording your findings properly and why review is not the final step but the one that sends you back to the start, since a risk assessment describes the workplace on the day it was written and needs to keep pace with change.

This course is relevant to managers and supervisors with a duty to assess risk, and to every employee, since your knowledge of how a job really gets done, and the hazards and near misses you report, feed the process constantly. Study at your own pace on any device, with audio recaps to keep the five steps fresh whenever you need them.