How often should I review my Risk Assessments?
Risk assessments are not documents you produce once and file away forever. They are live documents that must be kept current, and reviewing them regularly is both a legal obligation and a matter of good practice.
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The law does not specify a fixed interval for risk assessment review. Instead, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to review assessments when there is reason to suspect they are no longer valid or when there has been a significant change in the matters to which they relate. In practice, this means a number of specific triggers should prompt an immediate review.
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An accident or near miss is one of the most important triggers. If something has gone wrong — even if no one was seriously hurt — it is a strong signal that the existing risk assessment may have missed something or that its control measures are not working as intended. Investigating the incident and reviewing the relevant risk assessment should go hand in hand.
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Significant changes to working practices, processes or equipment also require a review. If you introduce a new machine, change the layout of your workplace, take on new types of work, or change how an existing task is carried out, your risk assessments must reflect those changes. Using an out-of-date risk assessment that does not reflect current working practices is not only legally inadequate — it is potentially dangerous.
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Changes in personnel can also be a trigger. If a task is being carried out by workers with different levels of experience or training, or if you take on workers with particular vulnerabilities such as young workers, new starters or those with health conditions, the risk assessment may need to be revisited.
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In addition to these specific triggers, it is good practice to carry out a periodic review of all risk assessments — typically at least annually for higher-risk activities. This ensures that documents do not simply drift out of date through inertia, and provides a regular opportunity to check that control measures are still in place and working effectively.
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LESH can help you establish a risk assessment review schedule and management system that keeps your documentation current without placing an undue burden on your team. As part of bolt on to a retained competent person service, we can manage this process on your behalf.
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See our H&S Competent Person Services