Covers hazards, risks and legal duties, the HSE five-step assessment process, the hierarchy of controls, and dynamic risk assessment on the job.
This course explains what risk assessment is, how the process works, and the crucial role everyone plays in identifying hazards and controlling risks. It covers the foundational principles of workplace risk, the legal duties that underpin risk assessment, and the structured five-step process recommended by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Learners will also explore how to stay safe when conditions change unexpectedly through dynamic risk assessment.
Risk assessment, Hazards, Legal duties, Hierarchy of controls, Dynamic risk assessment, HSE five steps, ALARP, Workplace safety, Vulnerable groups, Likelihood and severity, Risk matrix, HSWA 1974, MHSWR 1999, Competent person, PPE
This lesson sets the scene by highlighting the scale of preventable workplace harm in Great Britain and defining what a risk assessment is. You'll understand why risk assessment exists as a structured process to identify workplace hazards, assess the risks they pose, and implement reasonable control measures to eliminate or minimise those risks.
This lesson explores six foundational principles: the difference between a hazard and a risk, the six categories of workplace hazard, how risk is calculated using likelihood and severity, why some people are more vulnerable than others and have specific legal protections, the legal requirement for risk assessment under the HSWA 1974 and MHSWR 1999, and the concept of ALARP and the hierarchy of controls. Through practical examples and interactive scenarios, you'll build the confidence to distinguish hazards from risks and understand how proportionate safety measures are determined.
This lesson walks through the HSE's five-step risk assessment process: identify the hazards, decide who might be harmed and how, evaluate the risks and decide on precautions using the hierarchy of controls and ALARP principle, record the findings and implement them, and review and update the assessment as conditions change. You'll learn who is competent to carry out assessments, what a standard risk assessment record should include, and common mistakes to avoid in both the assessment itself and what happens afterwards.
This lesson introduces dynamic risk assessment - the real-time, in-the-moment evaluation workers perform when conditions change unexpectedly during a task. You'll learn the Stop, Assess, Act, Report mental loop and understand when and why to apply it, particularly for lone workers or those in public-facing and changing environments.
