Risk assessments are an essential part of everyday life, and something that we should embrace rather than huff and humbug about. No one should go to work, school, on a trip, or out to play and experience a significant possibility of getting hurt or sustaining a foreseeable injury.
In most environments, it’s easy to carry out risk assessments because the people in them understand the risks that they may be exposed to, and while you still need to tick boxes, you can usually rely on them to keep themselves safe to the greater extent, and not to do unnecessarily dumb or dangerous things. But when it comes to schools, children are obviously younger and often have less awareness of potential risks, so you have to be extra vigilant!
Risk assessments are only going to become more important so to help you out, below we get back to basics by sharing what a risk assessment is, the steps to creating an effective risk assessment and how often you should be reviewing it.
What is a risk?
A risk is the likelihood that the harm from a particular hazard will be realised. To analyse the extent or magnitude of a risk, you need to take into account the total number of people who might be affected, and what the harmful consequences could be for each one. A risk assessment should therefore examine the likelihood of harm and the probable severity of the harm, taking into account immediate consequences and also any long-term effects.
All a bit dry we know, but it’s important to understand what you’re looking out for before you move into the risk assessment itself!
What is a risk assessment? Risk assessment definition
This is predominantly a health and safety term which refers to the process through which hazards are identified, and the risks that they pose evaluated.
A risk assessment is predominantly a health and safety term which refers to the process of identifying hazards, auditing the potential for unwanted situations to occur and enabling decisions to be made about steps which could minimise the possibility of the situation arising.
Effective risk assessment leads to the development of effective and informed risk management strategies which in turn reduce the likelihood of serious incidents and/or losses and can thereby significantly reduce costs. So that can only be a good thing right?
What do Health & Safety laws require you to show in the risk assessment process?
Well, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states risk assessments must be ‘suitable and sufficient’, showing that:
- Proper checks were made
- You asked who might be affected
- You dealt with all obvious significant risks, considering anyone who could be involved
- The precautions taken are reasonable, and remaining risks are low
- Workers or their representatives are involved in the process
Under UK law, employers have special duties towards the health and safety of young workers, disabled employees, night workers, shift workers, and pregnant or breastfeeding women, so make sure to consider these groups carefully.
The laws on risk assessment help to make it clear what needs to be included in the process, so use them to help you check you have it all covered.
How to do a risk assessment: What are the risk assessment steps?
Risk Assessment Step 1: Identify what requires a risk assessment
Before doing anything, you must decide whether it’s safe. The first step is identifying and deciding what the levels of risk are. Check out all the things that could cause people harm – the hazards – and decide on the likelihood of something happening that could cause harm – the risk.
Hazards are usually split into four types:
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Physical hazards – things like dust, slips, trips, and falls – maybe on rickety rope bridges in the playground, or falling objects like that huge tree next to the forest school area
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Mental – things like long hours, excess workload, working with high-need clients, or bullying
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Chemical – things like asbestos or cleaning fluids
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Biological – including tuberculosis, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases
The level of risk depends on how likely it is that a situation will happen, and how severe the harm could be. Once you know the level of risk, you can decide whether enough is being done to lower it.
Remember, make sure you look everywhere for risks and think outside the box. If you don’t, something could go terribly wrong.
When team members feel safe at work, it’s easier for them to engage with each other, sharing thoughts, ideas and collaborating on projects so you get the best outcome. You’re also more likely to find that they’re happier to be there, are more ‘present’ and willing to contribute and engage, rather than clock watching until home time comes around.
Risk Assessment Step 2: Identify who could be harmed
The next step on the journey to safety is deciding who hazards might affect. Start with your employees and children, as they’re in school a lot, so are more likely to encounter hazards.
Then look at everyone else who visits your school – this could be agency or contract staff, visitors, clients or members of the public. It’s your job to keep everyone safe who enters your school, and the grounds so don’t discount anyone at this stage.
To find all the potential risks, you need to look at routines in all the different locations and situations where staff do their jobs, so that all the hazards can be identified. So that includes the classrooms, assembly hall, playground, play equipment, halls around school and wider grounds.
Remember those workers you have special duties towards that we mentioned above? Well, you’re going to need to do an extra risk assessment for them too.
Risk Assessment Step 3: Identify how could they be harmed
Now you know what hazards are and who they might affect, it’s time to consider how likely it is that an event might happen. This will help you decide if you need to do anything to reduce the risk.
Quite often, even after all precautions have been taken, some risk remains. If the risk remains high, you have to make a call on whether the job is just too risky to do.
Risk Assessment Step 4: Document the risks and risk assessment template
So now you’ve identified what, who and how, what about documenting them? Well, if your school has five or more staff (which is highly likely!), the law says you must do a written risk assessment. This record needs to detail the hazards you found and the actions you’ve taken to reduce or eliminate risk. There’s a link to a risk assessment template in the blended learning of the iAM Risk Assessment course to help get you started.
To create a good risk assessment record, you need to ask yourself the ‘four Ws’
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What is the hazard? – Identify the hazards.
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Who does it affect? – Decide who might be harmed, and how.
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What is the level of risk? – Evaluate the risks – score the likelihood of something happening and the severity of the consequences. Give each a number between 1 and 5, with 1 being low risk, and 5 high. Then multiply the two together to decide on the current level of risk.
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What actions are needed to eliminate or reduce the risk? – Look at this as a hierarchy, with eliminating the risk as the top priority:
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Eliminate the risk – if that’s not possible, then:
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Reduce the risk
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Control the risk
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Implement workplace precautions
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Use PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) – this should always be the last line of defence, as the responsibility for remembering to use it is with the employee
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Asking and answering these questions determines the risk and helps you identify if things like additional training are needed.
Risk Assessment Step 5: Regularly review your school risk assessment
Finally, remember a risk assessment is a working document. Make sure it records all the significant findings and is available to view all the time – don’t lock it away never to be seen again. You need to review it regularly too. Generally, every 12 to 18 months, or if an accident occurs, or there are changes of personnel, work practices, legislation, or best practice.
School Risk Assessment Summary
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Risk assessments are there to help keep you, the staff, the children and anyone on your school premises safe from situations that could end in injury or even death.
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Weighing up whether you’ve taken enough precautions to prevent harm, or should do more, is vital to protecting your whole school.
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Keeping everyone safe can be tough, but it’s all part of the job. Effective risk assessment will ensure that less accidents and injuries occur, and that you comply with the law.
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Remember to ask the ‘four Ws’ – WHAT is the hazard, WHO does it affect, WHAT is the level of risk, and WHAT actions are needed? Use the risk assessment template to help get you started.
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Involve and include everyone in risk assessments, especially those in the ‘special duty’ category.
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Finally, remember to keep your risk assessment document available at all times and reviewed regularly.
Want to learn more about risk assessments for your school?
If you're interested in a scalable safety management system that helps simplify risk assessments for you and your school, check out iAM Compliant.
