Avoid These Common Risk Assessment Mistakes

Overview

Risk assessments don’t have to be boring or confusing. Whether you’re in charge of safety at work or just want to make your job safer, this blog will show you how to do it better. You’ll learn how to write clear documents, avoid common mistakes, and even use tech to save time. These are real tips from someone who helps businesses like yours every day at Risk Fluent.

Avoid These Common Risk Assessment Mistakes

1. Make Your Risk Assessment Easy to Follow

Your risk assessment should be clear and simple. Think of it like a table with three columns:

• What is the hazard? (e.g., a sharp tool, loud noise, working at height)
• Who could be harmed? (e.g., workers, cleaners, visitors)
• What are you doing about it? (the safety steps you’re taking)

Instead of writing a long paragraph, keep each hazard and its safety steps in one row. This helps you stay organised and makes it easier for others to understand, too.

Pro tip: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) warns about not matching hazards with control measures. So always line them up!

2. Stop Writing Boring or Useless Stuff

When you write things such as “noisy tools will be avoided.” That doesn’t really say anything. Be specific. What tools are you using? How loud are they? What safety steps are you taking?

Write what you’re actually doing. For example:
“The job uses a Bosch drill and a Makita saw. Ear defenders must be worn when drilling into concrete.”

Writing vague or fake-sounding stuff can get you in big trouble if something goes wrong. Be real and honest in your documents.

3. Use More Than One Control Measure

Sometimes you see risk assessments that list just one safety step per hazard. That’s not good enough. You probably do way more than that to stay safe!

You might:

• Wear PPE (like gloves or helmets)
• Use guards on tools
• Train your team
• Put up warning signs

Write them all down. Show how much effort you’re putting in. Don’t sell yourself short.

4. Tech Can Make Your Life So Much Easier

Paperwork is slow. It takes ages to write everything by hand or in Word documents.

That’s where tech such as Risk Assessor comes in. It helps you:

• Write risk assessments faster
• Add photos to show real risks
• Keep everything in one place
• Spend more time doing safety work, not paperwork.

Yes, it takes a little setup. But once it’s running, it saves loads of time.

Risk Fluent uses Risk Assessor every day with clients. It works.

5. Know the Difference: Generic vs. Site-Specific

Some things are the same no matter where you work, such as the risks of welding or drilling. These are called generic risks.

Nevertheless, each site is different. Welding in a school is not the same as welding in a hospital. That’s where site-specific risks come in.

What to do:

• Make a library of generic task-based risks (e.g., “risk of UV fumes from welding”)
• Then, for each job, look at how that task interacts with the site (e.g., “school has young children nearby. Extra safety needed”)

If you use tech like Risk Assessor, this becomes even easier. You just drag and drop your task risks, add site info, and boom. You’ve got a full risk assessment.

Final Thoughts

Doing a good risk assessment doesn’t have to be hard. Just:

• Keep it clear and honest
• Match hazards with real safety steps
• Don’t be scared to use technology
• Understand when to use generic info vs site-specific details

Do you need help? Visit riskfluentltd.com to chat with real consultants. Or check out riskassessor.net if you’re ready to try the tech.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)