What is risk assessment?

Risk assessment is a simple way to plan what you're going to do to minimise the chances of anybody getting hurt or causing damage to property or equipment. It's how to identify sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace.

Consider health, safety and security from the start. How can it be managed responsibly? Be clear and specific about what's going to be assessed. Concentrate on real risks – those that are most likely and which will cause the most harm. You should be competent to complete risk assessments and know what could go wrong and how to control it. If you don’t know, ask someone who does.

This guide will help you understand the process so you can assess risks accurately anywhere you work, whatever you're doing, whether it's for location shoots, breaking news, large music events, in engineering workshops or even just around the office.