How I Use the Dermatitis Risk Assessment Template in Pilla

Understanding What's Required of You

A dermatitis risk assessment identifies which staff are at risk of skin problems from their work, what's causing those risks, and what measures are in place to prevent and detect skin damage early. It's not a one-off exercise. It's a living document that needs reviewing regularly and updating whenever something changes, whether that's new cleaning products, different work routines, or a staff member reporting symptoms.

In the UK, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) require employers to assess and control risks from substances that cause skin damage. But regardless of where you operate, if your staff regularly wash their hands, handle chemicals, or work with irritants, you need one of these. Skin problems develop gradually. By the time they're visible, the damage is often well established.

I'd carry out a dermatitis risk assessment for each group of workers exposed to similar conditions. If all staff at one site work under the same conditions, one assessment per site is usually enough. If different groups face different exposures, such as kitchen staff versus front of house, you need separate assessments. The person completing it should be someone who understands the daily work routines and the substances staff actually come into contact with. Not someone in an office guessing.

Set a reminder to review it at least once a year, or sooner if you introduce new products, change cleaning routines, or have a staff member report skin problems. I've lost count of how many businesses I've visited where the COSHH file is two years out of date and the cleaning products listed in it aren't even the ones on the shelves any more.

Setting It Up as a Work Activity

I've built a dermatitis risk assessment template in Pilla covering the 5 key sections below. It gives you a structured starting point, but depending on how your business operates, you might need to add extra items to cover all your specific risks.

When you create the work activity, tag it (e.g. "Dermatitis Risk Assessment"). Tags make it easy to find and filter later, and they're what Poppi uses to track completion across different risk assessment types in automated reports.

You've got two options. Create it as a one-off work form, complete it, and manually create a new one when it's due for review. Or set it up as a recurring yearly work schedule, and Pilla will create the next one automatically. I'd recommend the recurring option. In my experience, the "I'll remember to create a new one" approach fails almost every time.

1. Who Among Your Staff Could Be Affected by Skin Problems?

Which staff roles are at risk and how: List the staff roles in your team who are most prone to skin issues and describe how they could be affected. Focus on positions or departments rather than naming individuals. Some roles involve frequent hand washing, prolonged wet work, or regular contact with cleaning chemicals. All of those increase the risk.

What are the specific causes: I want to know the specific substances, tasks, and conditions putting these roles at risk. Which products do they handle? How often are they washing their hands? Are they doing prolonged wet work? Are they in contact with known irritants or allergens? Be precise.

What good answers look like:

Who and how: "Kitchen staff, Kitchen Porters, and housekeeping staff are at risk of developing contact dermatitis from their daily work. Symptoms can include dry, cracked, red, or itchy skin on the hands and forearms."

Causes: "Kitchen staff wash their hands frequently throughout the day and handle detergents. Kitchen Porters do prolonged wet work and use stronger cleaning chemicals. Housekeeping staff handle cleaning products including bleach-based sprays and bathroom cleaners."

Common mistakes I see:

"All staff are at risk." Too vague. Different roles face different levels of exposure. I need to know which roles have the highest risk and why, not a blanket statement that covers everyone and tells me nothing.

"We haven't had any complaints." Skin problems develop gradually. Staff often won't report early symptoms, especially if they think cracked hands are just part of the job. I worked with a care home where three staff members had visible dermatitis on their hands and none of them had ever raised it. Identify risks proactively, not after someone's skin is already damaged.

2. How Does Your Business Avoid or Reduce Skin Contact or the Need to Wash Hands?

What measures are currently in place: What I want to see here is what your business already does to reduce the amount of direct skin contact staff have with irritants. Alternative products, equipment that reduces hand contact, glove policies, anything that eliminates or cuts down on frequent hand washing. Be specific about what you've actually implemented, not what you intend to do.

What additional measures do you plan to introduce: Tell me about any further steps you intend to take. Changes to products, new equipment, adjustments to work routines that would further reduce skin exposure. This is where you show you're thinking ahead, not just ticking a box.

What good answers look like:

Current measures: "We provide nitrile gloves for handling detergents and cleaning products. Automatic soap dispensers are installed in prep areas to control the amount of product used. We use milder cleaning products where possible and have replaced some hand-wash tasks with equipment such as dishwashers."

Planned measures: "We plan to review our cleaning product range to identify further substitutions for milder alternatives. We are also looking into installing no-touch taps in the kitchen to reduce unnecessary hand washing."

Common mistakes I see:

"We provide gloves." That's a start, but I need more. What type of gloves? When are they used? How often are they replaced? The wrong gloves can actually make things worse. I've seen businesses hand out latex gloves to staff with latex sensitivities because nobody checked.

"Hand washing is a food safety requirement." It is. But you can still reduce unnecessary washing by reviewing routines and using equipment where possible. The goal isn't to stop hand washing. It's to stop the avoidable hand washing that adds up over a shift.

3. How Does Your Business Enable Staff to Protect Their Skin?

What measures are currently in place: I'm looking for moisturisers and barrier creams, training on proper hand care, guidance on drying hands thoroughly, and how accessible these resources are during a shift. That last point matters more than people think. If the moisturiser is in a cupboard in the staff room, nobody's using it at 2pm on a Saturday.

What additional measures do you plan to introduce: What further steps are you planning to improve skin protection? Training improvements, better product availability, changes to how skin care guidance is communicated. Anything that closes a gap.

What good answers look like:

Current measures: "We provide emollient moisturisers at every hand-washing station and in staff areas. Staff receive training during induction on proper hand care, including the importance of drying hands thoroughly and applying moisturiser regularly. Glove use is mandated for all cleaning and sanitising tasks."

Planned measures: "We plan to add skin care reminders to team briefing notes and introduce a short refresher on hand care as part of our quarterly safety briefings."

Common mistakes I see:

"We have hand cream in the staff room." Not good enough. If moisturiser is only in one location, staff won't use it during busy shifts. Place it at every hand-washing point. I'd go further and say it should be right next to the soap and the paper towels. Wash, dry, moisturise. Make it part of the same action.

"Staff know to look after their hands." They don't. Or more accurately, they know in theory but don't do it in practice because nobody's built it into the routine. Provide clear guidance and make it part of induction training.

4. What Measures Are in Place to Check for Early Signs of Dermatitis?

What measures are currently in place: Tell me how your business currently monitors staff for early signs of skin damage. Skin checks during return-to-work meetings, manager check-ins, training on recognising symptoms, whether staff feel comfortable reporting problems early. Early detection is the single most important thing here. Dermatitis caught early is treatable and reversible. Caught late, it can become a chronic condition that forces someone out of their role entirely.

What additional measures do you plan to introduce: What further steps are you planning to improve early detection? More frequent checks, better training, visual guides showing what to look for, changes to reporting procedures. I want to see a genuine commitment to catching this early.

What good answers look like:

Current measures: "Staff receive training on recognising early signs of dermatitis during induction, including what dry, red, cracked, or itchy skin looks like. Managers ask about skin health during return-to-work meetings and regular one-to-ones. Staff are encouraged to report changes early without concern."

Planned measures: "We plan to introduce visual guides at hand-washing stations showing early dermatitis symptoms. We also plan to add a skin health check to our monthly team briefings so it stays on the agenda."

Common mistakes I see:

"Staff would tell us if they had a problem." Most won't. They'll assume it's normal, worry about being moved off their role, or just not think it's worth mentioning. I've seen this play out dozens of times. Build regular checks into your routine so you're not relying on staff to self-report.

"We check during annual reviews." Annual checks aren't frequent enough. Dermatitis can develop and worsen within weeks. Monthly at a minimum. If someone's skin is deteriorating, you want to know about it in January, not next December.

5. Are There Any Further Control Measures?

This section captures any additional steps you intend to take that weren't covered above. I'd use it to reflect on any gaps you've noticed as you've worked through the assessment. Document commitments with clear timelines. "We'll look into it" is not a control measure. "We will review our glove range by end of March and trial alternatives in April" is.

What good answers look like:

"Following this assessment, we plan to review and upgrade our glove range to ensure we're providing the best fit and material for each task. We will schedule a feedback session with staff to identify any challenges with current hand-care routines. We also plan to introduce a quarterly expert-led briefing on skin protection for team leaders."

"No further measures identified at this time. All current controls are in place and working effectively. This will be reviewed at the next scheduled assessment."

Common mistakes I see:

"No further measures needed." Take a minute to genuinely consider whether there are gaps. If you're confident your controls are adequate, state that clearly and note when you'll review again. But don't rush through this section just because it's the last one.

"We'll add more if something happens." Risk assessments are proactive. The whole point is to identify improvements before incidents occur, not after. If your answer to "what else can we do?" is "wait until someone gets hurt," you've missed the purpose of the exercise.

Automate the Follow-Up with Poppi

This is the part most people skip, and it's the part that matters most. I've seen hundreds of risk assessments that were completed once and never looked at again. They sit in a folder until an auditor asks for them, or until someone gets hurt. The problem isn't laziness. There's just no system reminding anyone to check.

Once your dermatitis risk assessment is set up as a work activity in Pilla, you can use Poppi Actions to set up a scheduled report that tells you when it was last completed. The report also shows how many incomplete instances exist since the last completion, so you can spot anything that was assigned but never finished.

I'd set this up to cover all your risk assessment types in a single rule. Tag your dermatitis risk assessment, kitchen risk assessment, fire risk assessment, and any others, then include all the tags in one rule. Poppi sends the report on whatever schedule you choose. I'd recommend monthly to start with. You can always change it.