Claire says "Being as I was trained by the HSE "
Garfield says "all due to my 'teacher', who was at the time, an HSE Principal Officer."

Would others like to share who trained them?

I'm still learning :)

The concept of risk being variable, measurable and how it affects decisions was inculcated in me during a career in general insurance, topped off by NEBOSH Cert & Diploma, Occ Hygiene PGC, Fire risk assessment training and is still ongoing

I first was taught how to risk assess when I was a safety rep, the course was union T&G, that was back in about 1995.

The 5-step really 7 step as we all say here :o) approach was taught to me when I did the NEBOSH gen cert in 2006.

As jonty says, still learning. As a consultant, every new work situation I encounter seems to raise issues about knowing what and where are the hazards.

Every-day’s a school day.

At the tender age of 20, taught how to do COSHH risk assessments by my sister who was a flavour chemist in a tobacco company (and the company lab safety officer). Ironic really as she sat there dragging on a menthol cigarette (free issue of course)

Like others here I'd say I'm still learning, but the first person to teach me to do RAs was the consultant who was employed by a previous employer to produce a H&S management system, which was back in 1996. Since then it's been NEBOSH Dip, numerous courses and seminars, the IRM Dip in RM (still not completed) and working with some excellent safety professionals in this job and my previous one,

John

Training course with Croner and various challenging experiences and like Paul Reynolds above - talking to those that do the work

NEBOSH Cert and BSC Diploma, supplemented by CPD articles in SHP etc. Also MHO & DSE courses fed in to make the big picture

Bob Lewis's comments at #14 might suprise some forum users with less than 20 years of experience in OS&H. However, it's fairly evident that "risk assessment" (RA) as both an expression and a process didn't enter mainstream OS&H until their arrival as an integral part of the COSSH Regulations in 1988. This was also the opinion of a retired senior HSE inspector with whom I discussed various OS&H issues about 2 years ago, coincidentally at a large derelict slate quarry in North Wales. If anyone happened to overlook the COSHH Regulations in 1988, there was no room for any doubt about RA as the main requirement of the Management of H&S at Work Regulations in 1992. For many experienced OS&H people in the late 1980s I guess that RA arrived as a welcome development. We had previously thought about and took decisions regarding hazards, risks, plus degree and likelihood of harm but had done so without the benefit of a clear logical framework to describe our thinking and then share our thoughts and conclusions with others.

As for an answer to the thread title, I also guess that those of us who were working in OS&H during the late 1980s didn't get specific training about RA from anyone at the time: We read HSE guidance plus various articles in OS&H journals, listened to speakers at meetings and seminars within and beyond the IOSH Network and had numerous discussions with colleagues, etc., partly based on past experiences and knowledge.