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Risk Assessment Guide 2026

Everything you need to know about conducting effective risk assessments, from identifying hazards to implementing controls. Updated for 2026 best practice.

12 min read
· Updated
Stephen Shields CMIOSH
Risk Management

Risk assessments are the foundation of workplace safety. They help you identify what could cause harm, evaluate the likelihood and severity of that harm, and put controls in place to protect your workers. In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through everything you need to know about conducting effective risk assessments in 2026.

Risk Assessment list in Safety Mate®
The Risk Assessment module in Safety Mate® gives you a clear overview of all your assessments

What is a Risk Assessment?

A risk assessment is a systematic process of identifying hazards in your workplace, evaluating the risks they pose, and determining appropriate control measures. It's not just a legal requirement-it's a practical tool that helps you protect your employees, contractors, visitors, and anyone else who might be affected by your work activities.

At its core, a risk assessment answers three fundamental questions:

  • What could go wrong? (Hazard identification)
  • How likely is it, and how bad could it be? (Risk evaluation)
  • What are we doing about it? (Control measures)
Hazard vs Risk

A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm (e.g., a wet floor). A risk is the likelihood that harm will actually occur and how severe it might be (e.g., someone slipping and breaking their wrist).

What are the 5 steps of risk assessment?

The five steps are: identify the hazards, decide who might be harmed and how, evaluate the risks and decide on precautions, record your findings and implement them, and review the assessment regularly. The same approach works whether you follow federal requirements, ADOSH-SF in Abu Dhabi or a client's HSE plan:

  1. Identify the hazards

    Walk around your workplace, talk to employees, review incident records, and think about what activities could cause harm.

  2. Decide who might be harmed and how

    Consider employees, contractors, visitors, members of the public, and vulnerable groups like young workers or pregnant women.

  3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

    For each hazard, consider how likely harm is and how severe it could be. Then identify what controls are already in place and what more you could do.

  4. Record your findings and implement them

    Write down what you found and the actions you're taking. Make sure the controls are actually put in place.

  5. Review and update regularly

    Risk assessments aren't one-and-done. Review them when things change, after incidents, or at least annually.

Let's look at how to apply each of these steps using Safety Mate®.

Getting Started in Safety Mate®

Safety Mate® risk management makes risk assessments straightforward. Here's how to create a new risk assessment:

  1. Navigate to Risk Management in the sidebar
  2. Click the "New Risk Assessment" button
  3. Enter a clear, descriptive title
  4. Add context in the description field
  5. Link it to a project if applicable
Creating a new risk assessment in Safety Mate®
The new risk assessment form in Safety Mate® - enter a title and description to get started
Pro Tip

Use clear, specific titles like "Manual Handling - Warehouse Operations" rather than vague ones like "Warehouse Risk Assessment". This makes it easier to find and manage assessments later.

Step 1: Identify Hazards

The first step is to identify everything in your workplace that could potentially cause harm. Think about:

Physical Hazards

  • Slips, trips and falls
  • Moving machinery
  • Working at height
  • Manual handling
  • Vehicles and traffic
  • Noise and vibration

Health Hazards

  • Hazardous substances
  • Dust and fumes
  • Biological agents
  • Radiation
  • Extreme temperatures
  • Poor ergonomics

In Safety Mate®, you add hazards to your risk assessment by clicking "Add Hazard". For each hazard, describe:

  • What the hazard is
  • Where it's found
  • What activities involve the hazard
Adding a hazard in Safety Mate®
Adding a hazard in Safety Mate® - describe the hazard and its potential consequences

Step 2: Who Might Be Harmed

For each hazard, think about who could be affected:

  • Employees - full-time, part-time, temporary
  • Contractors - working on your site
  • Visitors - clients, delivery drivers, inspectors
  • Members of the public - if your work affects them
  • Vulnerable groups - young workers, pregnant women, people with disabilities, lone workers

Safety Mate® lets you specify who is at risk for each hazard, which helps ensure your control measures are appropriate for everyone affected.

Identifying who may be harmed in Safety Mate®
Specify who might be harmed by each hazard

Step 3: Evaluate the Risks

Now you need to evaluate each risk by considering two factors:

  • Likelihood - How likely is it that the hazard will cause harm?
  • Severity - If harm does occur, how bad could it be?

Safety Mate® uses a 5x5 risk matrix to calculate risk ratings:

The 5x5 risk matrix in Safety Mate®
The 5x5 risk matrix in Safety Mate® - likelihood × severity = risk rating

Likelihood Scale

Rating Description Frequency
1 - Very Unlikely Could happen but very rare Less than once in 10 years
2 - Unlikely Not expected but possible Once in 5-10 years
3 - Possible Could occur sometime Once in 1-5 years
4 - Likely Will probably happen Once per year
5 - Very Likely Expected to happen frequently Multiple times per year

Severity Scale

Rating Injury/Health Example
1 - Negligible No injury or very minor Small bruise, minor discomfort
2 - Minor First aid required Minor cuts, sprains
3 - Moderate Medical treatment needed Fractures, burns, hearing loss
4 - Major Serious injury/illness Amputation, major fracture, cancer
5 - Catastrophic Death or permanent disability Fatality, paralysis

The risk score is calculated by multiplying likelihood × severity. This gives you a score from 1-25, which is categorised as:

1-4 Low Risk Monitor and maintain controls
5-9 Medium Risk Reduce risk when practicable
10-16 High Risk Priority action required
17-25 Critical Risk Immediate action - stop work if needed

Step 4: Record Control Measures

Control measures are the actions you take to eliminate or reduce risks. When deciding on controls, follow the hierarchy of controls:

1

Elimination

Remove the hazard completely. This is the most effective control.

Example: Stop using a hazardous chemical by finding an alternative process
2

Substitution

Replace the hazard with something less dangerous.

Example: Use a less toxic cleaning product
3

Engineering Controls

Isolate people from the hazard through physical means.

Example: Install machine guards, ventilation systems, barriers
4

Administrative Controls

Change the way people work through procedures and training.

Example: Safe work procedures, training, signage, job rotation
5

PPE (Last Resort)

Personal protective equipment as the final layer of protection.

Example: Safety glasses, gloves, hearing protection, respirators

In Safety Mate®, you add control measures to each hazard and specify whether they're existing controls or new actions required:

Adding control measures in Safety Mate®
Adding control measures in Safety Mate® - document existing controls and new actions

Residual Risk

After implementing controls, you should reassess the risk to determine the residual risk - the level of risk that remains. Ideally, your controls should reduce the risk to an acceptable level.

Residual risk assessment in Safety Mate®
Reassessing the residual risk after control measures are applied
Assign Actions

Safety Mate® lets you create tasks directly from your risk assessment. Assign control measures to team members with due dates to ensure they're implemented.

Step 5: Review and Update

Risk assessments must be living documents. Review and update them:

  • When there are significant changes to the work activity
  • After an incident, accident, or near miss (see our incident investigation guide)
  • When new equipment or substances are introduced
  • When legislation or guidance changes
  • At regular intervals (at least annually)

Safety Mate® makes it easy to track when assessments were last reviewed and set reminders for regular reviews:

Document control and review history in Safety Mate®
Track review history and set reminders to keep assessments current

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Being too generic

Avoid copy-pasting generic assessments. They should be specific to your workplace and activities.

Not involving workers

The people doing the work often know the hazards best. Involve them in the assessment process.

Overcomplicating it

Risk assessment doesn't need to be complicated. Focus on significant risks, not every trivial hazard.

Filing and forgetting

A risk assessment gathering dust is worthless. Communicate findings and review regularly.

Not following through

Identifying controls is pointless if you don't implement them. Assign responsibility and track completion.

Communicating Risk Assessments

A risk assessment is only effective if the people who need to follow it actually understand it. Safety Mate® includes powerful features to ensure your risk assessments reach everyone and are clearly understood.

Digital Signatures for Acknowledgement

Getting workers to acknowledge they've read and understood a risk assessment is crucial for compliance and accountability. Safety Mate® allows you to:

  • Send risk assessments directly to team members' devices
  • Capture digital signatures as proof of understanding
  • Track who has and hasn't acknowledged each assessment
  • Set automatic reminders for outstanding acknowledgements
  • Generate audit-ready reports of all signatures
Digital signatures for acknowledgement in Safety Mate®
Capture digital signatures to confirm workers have read and understood the risk assessment

Multi-Language Translation

In diverse workplaces, language barriers can be a significant safety risk. If workers can't read or understand a risk assessment, they can't follow it. Safety Mate® solves this with automatic translation to over 30 languages:

European Languages

  • Polish
  • Romanian
  • Portuguese
  • Spanish
  • French
  • German

Asian & Other Languages

  • Hindi
  • Urdu
  • Arabic
  • Mandarin
  • Bengali
  • And many more...
Multi-language translation in Safety Mate®
Instantly translate risk assessments to over 30 languages with a single tap
Inclusive Safety

Providing risk assessments in workers' native languages isn't just good practice-it demonstrates your commitment to inclusive safety and can significantly reduce incidents caused by misunderstanding.

Conclusion

Risk assessments are a cornerstone of good safety management. They help you identify hazards before they cause harm, demonstrate legal compliance, and create a safer workplace for everyone.

By following the 5-step process and using tools like Safety Mate® to manage your assessments, you can:

  • Create thorough, well-documented risk assessments
  • Keep track of control measures and who's responsible
  • Set reminders for regular reviews
  • Demonstrate compliance to auditors and inspectors
  • Build a culture where safety is everyone's responsibility

Still running assessments on paper or spreadsheets? Our guide to going digital covers what changes, and what doesn't, when you move them online. On construction sites, the same assessments feed your method statements and permits to work.

A completed risk assessment PDF in Safety Mate®
A completed risk assessment in Safety Mate® with hazards, controls and risk ratings

Ready to simplify your risk assessments?

Safety Mate® makes it easy to create, manage and review risk assessments. Book a demo to see it live.

Book a demo

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