A handful of hazards recur on almost every construction job and are worth keeping as prepared, job-specific starting points: working at height, ladders, confined spaces and hot works. Each has a stable core of controls and a small set of site-specific details, and each is one where a generic document is spotted immediately. Alongside them sits the dynamic assessment, which is legitimate in exactly one circumstance and misused in many others.
Height and the ladder risk assessment: prevent before you arrest
Ask first whether the work can be done from the ground. Then prevent the fall with a platform, tower or edge protection. Only then plan to arrest it, and if you do, state the anchor, the free fall distance, the clearance below and the rescue plan. A ladder risk assessment has to explain why a ladder rather than a tower, because that choice is the finding a reviewer looks for.
Confined space and the hot works risk assessment template: the ones with permits
A confined space risk assessment template UK contractors accept covers atmosphere testing, ventilation, entry control, communications and the rescue arrangements, and the rescue plan is the section that matters. A hot works risk assessment template covers screening, fire watch, gas storage and the period after the work stops, which is when most hot works fires start.
What is a dynamic risk assessment, and where a point of work risk assessment template fits
A dynamic assessment is the judgement a competent person makes when the situation changes and there is no time to write. It is legitimate for reacting; it is not a substitute for the written assessment of planned work. A point of work risk assessment template is the middle ground: a short check at the task, recorded, before starting.
Questions people ask about work at height risk assessment
What height counts as working at height?
Any place where a person could fall a distance liable to cause injury, including below ground level. There is no minimum, which surprises people planning work over an open riser or a shallow pit.
Does every confined space risk assessment call for a permit?
A permit-to-work system is the normal control for entry, and the assessment decides. What is never optional is the rescue arrangement, because self-rescue cannot be assumed and the emergency services are not a plan.
How long should the fire watch continue after hot works?
For a period stated in your assessment and any permit, and it is measured in hours rather than minutes. The fire watch is the control most often cut short and the one most often missing when a fire is investigated.