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Write a venue risk assessment

Start an assessment for a venue, list its hazards and controls, and mark it reviewed when it is still right.

Checked against the screens:

Every organisation can choose its own words for the people and roles it works with. When you are signed in, this guide uses your organisation’s words. Otherwise it uses the product’s own.

Everyone who can see a venue can read its assessment. Managers and admins can write it. DSLs can mark it reviewed.

Steps

  1. Open the venue and press Risk assessment in its header.
  2. If there is none yet, choose Start an assessment. Give it a subject line.
  3. Seed it from your organisation's starter hazards, or choose Start blank.
  4. For each hazard, say who is at risk, how they could be harmed, and the controls already in place.
  5. Score the likelihood and severity before and after the controls. Add further actions and a target date.
  6. Check the date the next check is due. Press Save header if you change it.
  7. When every hazard is still right, press Mark as reviewed, then Yes, mark as reviewed.

If it goes wrong

  • If a save says it did not work, what you typed is still on the page. Try again in a moment.
  • If you see no edit controls, you can read the assessment but not change it. Ask a manager or an admin.
  • If you need a fresh start, archive the assessment and begin a new one. Nothing is deleted.

How it links together

The assessment is read on the venue page and by mentors before a visit. Marking it done moves the next due date. Starter hazards feed a new one.

From hazards to a safe visitWritten once, read every visit.
  1. Starter hazardsYour organisation's list
  2. AssessmentHazards and controls
  3. Checked againDate moves on
  4. Read before a visitOn the venue page

What the page shows

At the top are the subject, when it was assessed and when the next check is due. A strip counts hazards by band: current risk and the expected risk after controls.

Below that is the list of hazards. A venue has one active assessment at a time. Older ones stay in the history at the bottom of the page.

Writing a hazard

  • What is the hazard? A short plain description.
  • Who is at risk, and how would they be harmed?
  • Existing controls: what is already done to keep people safe.
  • Likelihood and severity, which give a green, amber or red band.
  • Further actions, who does them and the target date.

Each hazard saves on its own. Use + Add hazard for another. To drop one, press remove and confirm. That cannot be undone, so edit it instead if it only needs changing.

Starter hazards

Starting an assessment can copy your organisation's own list of common hazards. Managers and admins edit that list in the starter hazards guide. If it is empty, the built-in list is used.

Marking it reviewed

Only press Mark as reviewed once you have read every hazard and each one is still right. Change any that are not first.

It records who reviewed it and when, and moves the next due date on. A DSL can do this without being able to change the hazards.

Archiving

Archive assessment moves it to the history. The venue then shows as having no assessment until a new one is started. Nothing is deleted.

The old address in the administrators' section for a location's risk assessment now sends you to this page.

Questions people ask

Who can edit a venue risk assessment?

Managers and admins. A DSL can mark it reviewed but cannot change what it says.

Can a mentor read it before a visit?

Yes. Anyone who can see the venue can see its assessment, as read-only text.

What does Mark as reviewed do?

It confirms the assessment is still right, records who and when, and sets the next date to look at it again.

How do I replace an assessment?

Archive it, then start a new one. The old one is kept in the history.

Can I delete a hazard?

Yes, with remove and a confirmation. It cannot be undone, so edit it instead if it only needs changing.

Where do the starter hazards come from?

From your organisation's own list. A manager or admin keeps that list up to date.