Risk Assessments
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All ratified groups are required to hold an up-to-date Risk Assessment covering their day-to-day activities. This enables us to cover your group under our insurance policy. If something goes wrong and you don’t have a Risk Assessment, or an item listed on your current Risk Assessment hasn’t been followed, you may be liable for what has happened.
What are Risk Assessments for?
Risk Assessments enable us to insure your group and its activities, which means that you will be covered by our Public Liability Insurance if something goes wrong, such as someone getting injured. However, they’re also important for helping you to understand the potential risks and hazards posed by your proposed activities, and how to minimise these to help keep your members and the general public safe while attending your group’s session or event.
Completing a Risk Assessment properly will help you identify whether a particular activity is safe to run, or whether you need to do something differently to help minimise the possibility of damage occurring. It can help to think of it simply as a checklist of the possible dangers posed by your activities and the things you’ll do to ensure they are as safe as possible.
Remember, ‘risks’, ‘hazards’, and ‘dangers’ do not just constitute physical harm. They can also refer to hazards which might put someone’s mental or emotional health and wellbeing at risk, and also to any potential damage to the reputation of your student group, YUSU, or the University.
Types of Risk Assessment
General Risk Assessment
The general risk assessment is the main risk assessment covering your day-to-day activities which is submitted annually as part of re-ratification. Think of it as a checklist of the possible dangers posed by your activities and the things you'll do to ensure they are as safe as possible. All student group risk assessments must at minimum cover the following risks:
Slips, trips and falls
Fire
Manual Handling
Electricity
Food (Shop-bought snacks)
The purpose of this risk assessment is to cover all of your general, recurring activity, so that you don’t have to complete a specific risk assessment for each individual meeting, event or social your group holds!
The general risk assessment should be extremely comprehensive in covering every aspect of your regular activity. The most important thing about risk assessments is that they are followed. You need to know what it says and ensure the mitigations listed are followed!
Specific Risk Assessment
A specific risk assessment is required for any ‘Special Events’. A special event is defined as any event or activity which is not covered by your general risk assessment, or meets any of the following criteria:
Involve an external (non-YUSU or UoY) speaker or party.
Involve an external organisation or supplier (must have their own PLI of at least £5 million).
Involve food or drink.
Involve over 100 people.
Involve children or members of the public.
Involve travel outside of York, including abroad.
Constitute a performance, competition or show.
If you are unsure, please ask!
Risk Assessment Terminology
Here's what's meant in this context by the following terms:
Hazard - a danger (e.g. electrical supply)
Risk - how the hazard could harm people (e.g. electrocution)
Risk Controls - how you will minimise the risk posed by the hazard (e.g. ensure equipment has been Portable Appliance Tested (PAT)
Risk Rating - A number used to ascertain the level of risk posed by an individual hazard
Risk Matrix - A table used to evaluate the risk controls required
How to complete a Risk Assessment
We’ve created a basic template which you can use to complete your Risk Assessment. The top line shows an example of how to complete it, and you can include the example in yours if you think it is relevant.
To complete your Risk Assessment, the first thing you need to do is ascertain all the potential hazards posed by your proposed activities, and the risks which could cause, or be caused by, each of these. Good basic examples of these are:
Hazard: Slips, Trips and Falls >>> Risk: Injury from falling on slippery surface/tripping over obstacles or trailing wires
Hazard: Fire >>> Risk: Burns, inhalation of smoke, fire becoming uncontrollable
Hazard: Food >>> Risk: Allergic Reaction to ingredients, choking
Your Risk Assessment might include other hazards, such as overcrowding at a big event, or risks posed by specific pieces of equipment or activities.
Once this is complete, you need to establish the risk rating. To do this, you can use the following risk matrix to allocate a number to each hazard:
Evaluate how likely it is that the hazard will occur, and how severe the consequences could be if it did. Multiply these numbers together to obtain the risk rating for each hazard.
For example, the likelihood of a fire occurring is low, so this is assigned a 1, but if it did the consequences could be fatal, so it is also assigned a 3. The risk rating is these numbers multiplied together, so the overall risk rating of this hazard is 3.
Once you have established your risk rating, you can evaluate whether you need to put in any precautionary measures to help bring down the level of risk, and then outline these on the form. You can follow these guidelines:
For a risk factor of 3 or less, normal safe working practices should suffice.
This includes ensuring that there are no trailing wires for people to trip over, and running through the fire evacuation procedure at the start of each session.
For a risk factor of 4 to 6, some preventative measures must be taken to minimise the consequences.
This might include ensuring that certain activities only take place in the presence of a qualified instructor, and that equipment can only be used by those trained to do so.
These precautions can then make the risk less likely to occur, which in turn lowers the risk factor, making it safe to run the desired activity.
For a risk factor of 9, you should avoid and seek an alternative.
All of this should be outlined on your Risk Assessment, which should be shared with Geoff at g.ward@yusu.org.
Following your Risk Assessment
The final crucial thing about Risk Assessments is that they must be followed. If an accident occurs which causes damage and it is listed on your Risk Assessment, you will only be able to make an insurance claim if the listed precautionary measures were taken.
For example, if you are serving some shop-bought snacks your Risk Assessment should state that you will include a list of allergens in the snacks which is accessible by all attendees. If a list is provided and someone has an allergic reaction, they are liable for what happens. However, if you do not provide a list and someone has an allergic reaction, you are legally liable for the consequences.
Further Help and Resources
If you have any questions regarding Risk Assessments or would like support in completing yours, please contact Geoff Ward, YUSU’s Health and Safety Development Coordinator, at g.ward@yusu.org
We also have this completed example Risk Assessment which includes the key risks posed by most groups’ activities which you are welcome to take inspiration from, and a Bake Sale Risk Assessment which can cover a bake sale run by your group which you are welcome to use. Just remember to follow it!
Questions?
Geoff Ward, Health and Safety Development Coordinator - g.ward@yusu.org
Jasmine Pledger, Student Citizenship and Employability Development Coordinator - j.pledger@yusu.org