Risk Assessments

Use the Risk Assessments module to document a work activity or operation, describe the hazards involved, assess the initial and residual risk, assign accountability, and move the assessment through approval and review.

This module is configured around two connected record types:

• Risk Assessment: the main record used for the overall assessment, approval, review date, linked hazards, and linked actions
• Hazard Template: a linked hazard entry used to break the assessment into specific hazards, controls, ratings, and follow-up items

In practice, this means you can create one risk assessment for a job, project, or operation, then add one or more linked hazard records underneath it.

What you can record

The main Risk Assessment record can include:

• Project / Operation
• Assessment Description
• Prepared By
• Preparation Date
• Project Manager
• linked Associated Hazards
• linked Associated Actions
• whether the record requires review
• the Next Review date
• Reviewer Comments

The linked Hazard Template records capture the detailed hazard-by-hazard analysis, including:

• Main Activity
• optional Sub Task
• Identified Hazard
• optional Outcome/Unwanted Event
• optional Cause
• required Company Controls
• optional Procedure Reference
• required Initial Risk Rating
• optional Additional Controls
• required Residual Risk Rating
• optional Accountable
• optional Further Action/Comments
• whether the hazard is a Critical Risk
• required Critical Risk Selection when critical risk is set to Yes
• optional Target Date and Close Date
• Comments

The main required fields in the base risk assessment are:

• Project / Operation
• Assessment Description
• Prepared By

Prepared By defaults to the current user, and Preparation Date defaults to today.

In the linked hazard form, the required fields are:

• Main Activity
• Identified Hazard
• Company Controls
• Initial Risk Rating
• Residual Risk Rating
• Critical Risk Selection when the critical-risk question is shown

Risk assessment workflow

The main risk assessment form uses these statuses:

• Draft: the assessment is being prepared
• Pending Approval: the assessment has been submitted and is awaiting approval
• Approved: the assessment has been approved for use
• Archived: the assessment has been retired from active use

The configured progression is:

1. Create the record in Draft.
2. Complete the main details, link hazards and actions, and set the review details.
3. Use Submit for Approval to move the record to Pending Approval.
4. Use Approve to move the record to Approved.
5. Use Archive when the assessment is no longer active.
6. If an archived record needs to be used again, Re-Open sends it back to Pending Approval.

The Project Manager field is especially important in this process. The current configuration uses that person field in the approval stage, so the selected project manager is the key reviewer for pending approvals and review reminders.

Creating a risk assessment

To create a new risk assessment:

1. Open the Risk Assessments module.
2. Create a new Risk Assessment record.
3. Enter the core details such as Project / Operation, Assessment Description, Prepared By, Preparation Date, and Project Manager.
4. Decide whether the assessment requires formal review. If it does, keep Requires review on date below selected and enter Next Review.
5. Add any initial Reviewer Comments that are relevant.
6. Save the record in Draft.
7. Use Linked Hazards in Associated Hazards to add one or more hazard records.
8. Use Linked Actions in Associated Actions if follow-up actions are needed.
9. Submit the assessment for approval when the content is ready.

Working with linked hazards

The detailed risk analysis is done through the linked Hazard Template form.

Use Linked Hazards and Log New to create a hazard record from inside the parent assessment. This keeps the hazard entry connected to the risk assessment while letting you record detailed controls and ratings for each specific hazard.

Linked hazard records use a simple workflow of their own:

• Draft: the hazard entry is still being prepared
• Active: the hazard entry has been submitted and is part of the live assessment content

Each hazard entry can describe:

• the main activity and sub task being assessed
• the specific hazard and unwanted outcome
• the current controls already in place
• the initial risk rating before further action
• additional controls to reduce the risk
• the residual risk rating after those controls
• the accountable person and any target dates
• whether the hazard is considered a critical risk

The Main Activity list is configured with a broad set of hazard categories, including areas such as chemicals, falls, electrical risks, manual handling, noise, transport, violence, welfare, and environmental exposures. This supports consistent categorisation across hazard records.

Recording risk ratings and controls

The linked hazard form uses two required risk-rating fields:

• Initial Risk Rating: the rating before extra controls are applied
• Residual Risk Rating: the rating after additional controls are considered

Both fields use the system risk matrix and are configured to show the rating name together with likelihood and consequence details. This helps the assessment capture not just a simple severity label, but the reasoning behind the rating.

The typical pattern is:

1. Describe the Identified Hazard.
2. Record the existing Company Controls.
3. Assess the Initial Risk Rating.
4. Enter any Additional Controls.
5. Reassess the hazard using Residual Risk Rating.
6. Assign Accountable, dates, or comments if follow-up is required.

Critical risk fields

The hazard form includes a Critical Risk yes-or-no field.

When Critical Risk is set to Yes, the form shows Critical Risk Selection, where one or more critical-risk categories can be chosen. The configured list includes categories such as:

• Collapse
• Electricity
• LOTO failure
• Material and manual handling
• Moving objects
• Noise
• Working at Height
• Production loss

This lets the module separate ordinary hazard analysis from hazards that need to be flagged against a defined critical-risk list.

Reviews and reminders

The Review section on the main assessment includes:

• Requires review on date below
• Next Review
• Reviewer Comments

The review toggle defaults to enabled. When review is required, Next Review is mandatory, and the configured validation only allows today or a future date.

The current notification setup also includes:

• a Pending Approval email sent to the selected Project Manager when the record is submitted for approval
• a Due for Review email sent to the selected Project Manager based on the Next Review date

Related records and actions

The module is designed to connect the risk assessment to follow-up work:

• Associated Hazards links the main record to its detailed hazard entries
• Associated Actions links the assessment to action records in the actions module

This makes it possible to keep the assessment itself concise while still tracking the detailed hazards and any actions raised from the assessment.

Useful actions

The current setup includes a few built-in record actions:

• the main Risk Assessment form has a Create a Copy action and an EXPORT TO WORD action
• the linked Hazard Template form has an Email This action and its own Create a copy action

The copy actions are useful when a new assessment or hazard entry is similar to an existing one. The Word export action can be used when the assessment needs to be produced in document form.

List views

The main risk assessment list is configured to surface key information such as:

• workflow status
• Preparation Date
• Assessment Description
• Prepared By
• Project Manager
• Next Review
• attachments
• document number

The hazard template list is configured to show key hazard-level details such as:

• workflow status
• creation date
• Sub Task
• Identified Hazard
• Initial Risk Rating
• Residual Risk Rating
• document number

Tips for better risk assessments

• Write Assessment Description so the purpose of the assessment is obvious in record lists and emails.
• Use separate linked hazard records when different hazards need different controls, owners, or target dates.
• Record Company Controls clearly before setting the initial rating, so the current state is documented properly.
• Use Additional Controls and Residual Risk Rating together so the intended improvement is easy to follow.
• Set Project Manager carefully, because that person is central to the approval and reminder process in the current configuration.
• Keep Next Review current if the assessment remains live over time.