Suitable and sufficient, UK wide
Risk Assessments
Every employer has a legal duty to assess the risks their work creates. AL23 Safety carries out clear, practical risk assessments across the UK that identify your hazards, judge the real level of risk and set out the controls to manage it. We give you documents that protect your people and stand up to scrutiny, written by competent consultants who know what good looks like.
Is it a legal requirement?
Yes, for every employer, whatever your size
Under Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees and anyone else affected by their work, from a sole trader to a national operation.
If you employ five or more people you must also record the significant findings. Smaller employers do not have to write it down by law but doing so is sound practice and is routinely expected by insurers, clients and tender prequalification questionnaires. In practice, if you want to win work or renew cover, a written assessment is not really optional.
The phrase that matters is “suitable and sufficient”
The assessment has to match the actual work, the actual site and the actual people. A generic document pulled off the internet does not meet that test and will not protect you if something goes wrong.
Who can carry one out?
A competent person, in proportion to the risk
The Regulations require the assessment to be done by a competent person: someone with the training, experience and knowledge to identify the hazards and judge the risk properly.
Simple, low-risk activities
These can often be assessed by someone in-house who knows the work well.
Higher-risk or technical work
It often makes sense to bring in a consultant, either to carry out the assessment or to work alongside your team and check nothing has been missed. That is where we come in.
How it works
The five steps, applied properly
A sound risk assessment follows the five steps set out in HSE guidance. We use the same structure, applied properly rather than as a form-filling exercise.
Identify the hazards
We walk the job, talk to the people who do it and look at what could realistically cause harm, including health hazards like noise or dust, not just the obvious safety ones.
Decide who might be harmed and how
Employees, contractors, visitors, the public and anyone more vulnerable, such as young or pregnant workers.
Evaluate the risk and decide on controls
We judge how likely harm is and how serious it could be, then apply the hierarchy of control: remove the hazard where we can and only fall back on PPE as a last resort.
Record the findings
Written up clearly so your team can read and use them and so you can show a regulator a proper job was done.
Review and update
We keep the assessment live as your work, equipment and people change.
The hierarchy of control
What separates a real assessment from a tick-box one
Rather than reaching straight for hard hats and gloves, a good assessment works down a clear order of priority. Each level is more reliable than the one below it.
- 1
Eliminate
Remove the hazard altogether where possible.
- 2
Substitute
Swap it for something safer.
- 3
Engineering controls
Isolate people from the hazard.
- 4
Administrative controls
Safe systems of work, signage and training.
- 5
PPE
Last resortProtective equipment, last, to manage whatever risk is left.
Working in that order gives you stronger, more reliable protection than relying on PPE alone. It is also exactly what an inspector expects to see.
The assessments we carry out
General, site and task specific, plus the specialist topics
We produce general, site-specific and task-specific risk assessments, plus the specialist topic assessments your operations need:
COSHH
Hazardous substances
Manual handling
Lifting and carrying
DSE
Display screen work
Noise and vibration
Hearing and HAVS
Work at height
Falls from height
Keeping them live
Not a document to file and forget
A risk assessment has to reflect how you work today, not last year. We keep yours current with scheduled reviews and clear triggers for when to reassess.
As a rough guide the HSE suggests reviewing annually, with higher-risk activities looked at more often. Where you need it, we can also act as your ongoing competent person between visits.
Reassess when any of these change:
- A change in process or equipment
- New people or competence needs
- An incident or a near miss
- New guidance from the HSE
Why AL23 Safety
Assessments that protect and stand up to scrutiny
Competent consultants
Your assessments are carried out by people with the training and experience to get them right.
Suitable and sufficient
Documents built around your actual work, which is what the law requires and what keeps you protected.
Practical, not bureaucratic
Clear assessments your team will actually use, with controls that get implemented rather than just listed.
On site or remote
We assess at your premises or support you remotely, whichever suits.
Nationwide
We support businesses across the UK.
Get your risk assessments sorted
A single assessment, a full set or ongoing support to keep them current
Whatever you need, we will help you manage risk properly and stay on the right side of the law. Get in touch to talk it through.
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