Quick steps
- Open the correct record and find its current risk assessment.
- Check the assessment cycle, due date and whether it is Approved or Pending approval.
- Read the hazards, current controls, additional actions and responsible people.
- Check anything unclear with the responsible colleague before delivery.
- If authorised and you have completed the required check, use Mark reviewed today.
- Read the confirmation and reopen the assessment if the save or refresh is uncertain.
- Use the separate concern workflow when something requires safeguarding attention.
If it goes wrong
Read the message and check the existing record before retrying. Ask your manager if access, ownership or the correct next action is unclear.
What this guide covers
This guide explains how to read the assessment and recognise its workflow state. Follow your organisation’s procedure for risk decisions and delivery arrangements.
The record’s assessment, a venue assessment and a concern record have different purposes. Finding one does not mean the others have been completed.
Use the information relevant to the person, activity and location. If the assessment does not fit the planned work, ask for it to be checked.
Find the current cycle
Check the record identity before reading or changing anything. Then check which assessment cycle is current and the date shown for its next check.
Earlier cycles explain history. They should not be assumed to contain the latest controls. A familiar title can still belong to an earlier version.
Read the approval state as well as the date. Pending approval and Approved describe different stages, even if the content has recently been read.
Read controls and outstanding actions
Read each relevant hazard and the measures already in place. Check additional actions, who is responsible and when those actions are due.
A colour or score is a summary. It does not replace the written control or tell you exactly what to do during an activity.
Use the table’s search and status filters to find items. Remember that a filter can hide closed or open items from the current view.
An empty list is not proof that no risk exists. Check whether information is missing, filtered out or awaiting completion.
Reading, checking and approval are different
Opening the page does not approve the assessment. Recording that it has been checked is also different from an authorised approval decision.
Mark reviewed today records the check through its own action. Use it only after doing the check required by your organisation.
Do not press it merely to clear an overdue task. If controls need changes, arrange those changes and the appropriate approval instead.
A completed action item is another separate fact. Closing an action should describe something actually done, not remove a difficult item from view.
Verify the result of an action
Read the confirmation after saving or marking the check. If the page says the result is uncertain, reload and check the current assessment.
The controls can stop further changes until the current version is confirmed. Follow that instruction rather than repeatedly pressing the action.
If a different colleague changed the assessment, read the latest version before continuing. Your earlier view may no longer represent the current record.
When information is missing or out of date
- Identify what is unclear: the person, activity, location, control, responsible person or date.
- Contact the colleague responsible for the assessment and follow your local procedure before proceeding.
- Do not assume a venue document covers every individual need.
- Keep the explanation in the appropriate record. Avoid putting confidential details into ordinary support messages.
A planned activity does not override an unresolved assessment question. The calendar and the assessment describe different parts of the work.
When a concern also needs raising
A new disclosure, incident or observation may require the concern workflow as well as an assessment update. One action does not automatically prove the other happened.
Follow urgent contact procedures when needed. Check the concern’s confirmation and who holds the next action. Do not wait for a routine signature.