Posted By John Hi.Everyone, My boss is a bit concerned that hand written risk assesments are a nuisance to write out and would rather have a tick box type. I've explained to him that the range of different hazards, activities and control measures in different industries would make it too difficult to formulate this type of assessment but I am throwing it out to the IOSH community to see if anyone has any ever come across a suitable form. We have over 30 different people involved in writing assessments, some are articulate and write well, others are not. Thanks, John

Posted By Tom Doyle Hi John, I think Industrial Safety Integration may have just what you are looking for. You can check out the CIRSMA risk assessment system at www.industrialsafetyintegration.com. Tom

Posted By Kieran J Duignan In my opinion, the approach to risk assessment depends on the severity of the hazards and of the scale of risks involved. As hazards may be relatively objective, you are likely to have a fair degree of reliability about the ratings given by diffrent people. However, risk levels to some extent depend on the perceptions of the rater; tick boxes may not be adequate. In the event that some of the people exposed to risk have a disability (which may not be adequately recorded by the employer), exclusive reliance on ticking boxes reinforces an exisitng deficiency. As you will be aware, risk assessments which fail to record physical and cognitive disabilities may leave the employer open to a claim for damages with no standard ceiling on the award.

Posted By J Knight Risk assessment is not about paperwork, it is about process; as a previous respondent indicates, provided the risk is effectively controlled (with all that that implies) then the process has been a success. On a practical level, since assessments must have a record where there are more than five employees, why not introduce different recording systems for different needs? Where hazards are clearly defined and easily controlled a crib-sheet with prompts and tick boxes will work nicely; in more complex areas where more skill and judgment might be needed use a more complex recording tool which encourages a more explicit application of thought, John

Posted By John Thanks to all for your kind responses and help. Much appreciated. John