Using Pilla for Health and Safety Risk Assessments

Why risk assessments matter

Risk assessments are a legal requirement under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. If you employ anyone — even one person — you must:

• Identify significant hazards in your workplace
• Assess who might be harmed and how
• Evaluate risks and decide on controls
• Record your findings (mandatory if you have 5+ employees, but good practice regardless)
• Review and update assessments regularly

But beyond compliance, risk assessments serve a practical purpose. They force you to think systematically about what could go wrong and what you're doing about it. Every workplace has potential hazards — from hot surfaces and heavy loads to chemical exposure, working at height, and work-related stress. Without systematic assessment, it's easy to overlook risks until someone gets hurt.

The business case is simple: workplace injuries mean staff absences, compensation claims, enforcement action, and reputational damage. The cost of preventing an injury is almost always lower than the cost of dealing with one.

The five-step process

The Health and Safety Executive sets out five steps for risk assessment. This isn't bureaucracy — it's a logical process that ensures you don't miss anything.

Step 1: Identify hazards

A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm. Walk through your workplace with fresh eyes and look for:

Physical hazards — Hot surfaces, sharp equipment, wet floors, trailing cables, heavy objects, working at height, noise levels, poor lighting.

Chemical hazards — Cleaning products, sanitisers, drain unblockers, pest control substances. These are covered by COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) regulations.

Biological hazards — While food safety has its own framework, think about risks like dermatitis from wet work, or exposure to pests.

Ergonomic hazards — Repetitive tasks, awkward postures, heavy lifting, prolonged standing, poorly designed workstations.

Psychosocial hazards — Stress from workload, violence and aggression from customers, lone working, night shifts.

Environmental hazards — Working outdoors in extreme temperatures, driving for work, screen use.

Don't just think about routine operations. Consider cleaning, maintenance, deliveries, emergencies, and busy periods when shortcuts might happen.

Step 2: Decide who might be harmed

For each hazard, identify everyone who could be affected:

• Your staff — Including new starters who don't know the risks yet, temps and agency workers, part-timers, and staff with disabilities or health conditions that make them more vulnerable
• Customers — Especially vulnerable groups like children, elderly people, or those with disabilities
• Contractors — Cleaners, maintenance workers, delivery drivers who enter your premises
• Others — Neighbours, passers-by, emergency services

Some groups need extra consideration. Young workers (under 18) have specific protections. Pregnant workers have different risk thresholds. Night workers face additional health considerations.

Step 3: Evaluate risks and decide on controls

For each hazard, assess:

• Likelihood — How probable is it that harm will occur? Consider frequency of exposure, existing controls, and human factors.
• Severity — If harm does occur, how serious would it be? A minor cut is different from a severed finger.

Then apply the hierarchy of controls:

1. Eliminate — Can you remove the hazard entirely? Can you stop using a dangerous chemical?
2. Substitute — Can you replace it with something less hazardous? A safer cleaning product, a lighter delivery size?
3. Engineering controls — Physical measures like guards on equipment, ventilation systems, non-slip flooring.
4. Administrative controls — Procedures, training, signage, rotation of tasks to limit exposure.
5. PPE — Personal protective equipment is the last resort, not the first solution. Cut-resistant gloves, hearing protection, safety footwear.

The hierarchy matters because controls higher up the list are more reliable. PPE depends on people using it correctly every time; a machine guard works whether the operator is paying attention or not.

Step 4: Record your findings

Document each hazard with:

• What the hazard is
• Who is at risk
• What controls are already in place
• What additional actions are needed
• Who is responsible for those actions
• Target completion dates
• Review date

If you have 5 or more employees, written records are legally required. Even if you have fewer, written records demonstrate due diligence and help you track what's been done.

Step 5: Review and update

Risk assessments are living documents, not paperwork you file and forget. Review:

• At least annually — Even if nothing has changed, a fresh look often spots things you've become blind to
• After any incident — Accidents, near misses, and ill health reports all indicate your controls may be inadequate
• When circumstances change — New equipment, new processes, new staff, refurbishment, changed opening hours
• When new information emerges — Updated guidance, new legal requirements, learning from other businesses

Using Pilla for risk assessments

Pilla provides pre-built risk assessment templates for common workplace hazards. Each template guides you through the assessment process with structured questions based on best practice.

How it works:

• Select a risk assessment template for the hazard you're assessing
• Work through each section, answering questions specific to your operation
• The template prompts you to consider who's at risk, what controls you have, and what further actions are needed
• Your completed assessment is stored digitally, timestamped, and easy to review

The templates below cover some of the main workplace hazards, with more being added regularly. Each links to a detailed article explaining what to consider and how to complete that specific assessment.

Premises and general workplace

Every workplace needs a general risk assessment covering the premises as a whole. These assessments look at the building, the environment, and the activities that happen across the entire site.

Equipment and machinery

Work equipment regulations require you to assess risks from any equipment your staff use. This ranges from simple hand tools to complex commercial machinery.

Physical hazards

These assessments cover the physical risks that cause the most workplace injuries — cuts, burns, strains, and falls.

Chemical hazards

COSHH regulations require specific assessment of substances hazardous to health. Most workplaces use cleaning chemicals or other hazardous substances that need proper management.

Psychosocial hazards

Mental health and wellbeing are health and safety issues. Stress, violence, and poor working conditions cause real harm and require proper risk assessment.

Environmental and activity-specific

Some hazards relate to specific activities or working conditions that need dedicated assessment.

Security and terrorism

Recent legislation has introduced new requirements for venues to assess and prepare for security threats.

Connecting assessments to daily practice

A risk assessment identifies hazards and controls. But controls only work if they're actually implemented and monitored. This is where your assessment connects to daily operations:

Training — Your assessments identify what staff need to know. Use Pilla's video library to document procedures and track who's been trained.

Daily checks — Many controls need regular verification. Is the non-slip matting in place? Are fire exits clear? Is PPE available? Build these into scheduled work items.

Incident reporting — When something goes wrong, review your assessment. Was the hazard identified? Were controls adequate? Update the assessment based on what you learn.

Regular review — Schedule assessment reviews as recurring work items so they don't get forgotten.

Common mistakes

Treating assessments as paperwork — Completing a template without actually thinking about your specific risks. Generic assessments don't protect anyone.

Forgetting the "assessment" part — Listing hazards without evaluating likelihood and severity, or without deciding on proportionate controls.

Set and forget — Completing assessments once and never reviewing them. Workplaces change, and assessments must change with them.

Ignoring near misses — If something almost caused harm, your controls aren't adequate. Near misses are warning signs.

Over-relying on PPE — Using protective equipment as the primary control when better options exist higher up the hierarchy.

Missing vulnerable groups — Forgetting to consider new starters, young workers, pregnant staff, or contractors.

Not involving staff — The people doing the work often know the risks better than managers. Involve them in assessments.

Next: Implementing your controls

Your risk assessments define what needs to be controlled. The Daily Checks guide shows how to verify those controls are working day-to-day.

The system works as a cycle:

• Risk assessments identify hazards and controls
• Daily checks verify controls are in place
• Incident reports reveal where controls have failed
• Reviews feed back into updated assessments

Without assessments, you don't know what to control. Without checks, you don't know if controls are working. Without reviews, you don't learn from what goes wrong.