Risk Assessments

Risk Assessments – why we need to assess risks and how to assess a risk

The risks that need to be identified and controlled or managed are those risks that are most likely to happen and if they did happen would have the greatest impact.

The aim of assessing risks is to identify areas of high risk so that controls can be put in place to reduce the risks.

STEP 1:

The first step is to think about what the risks are – depending on the work this may be high level corporate financial and insured risks or at a more practical level, health and safety risks such as those that might be identified by walking around the premises.

A good way to start is to do some brainstorming with a group of people who are responsible for the company, function, project or piece of work – whichever is relevant to the particular context for your risk assessment.

For each risk, taking account of any control measure already in place, firstly assess the likelihood that it will happen:

High - Almost certain to happen
Medium – May happen
Low – Unlikely to happen

Then assess what the impact would be if it did happen:

High – Seriously damaging
Medium – Moderately damaging
Low – Minor or negligible

STEP 2:

The second step is use the matrix below to grade the risk – plot where each risk falls on the matrix using your assessment of likelihood and impact to identify the relevant box for each risk.

RED          very high risk – needs to be managed
AMBER    medium risk – may need to be managed
GREEN     low risk – therefore probably not of concern

STEP 3:

The third step is to record and manage the highest-level risks so that the risk is reduced. Allocate responsibility for managing each risk to a lead person and for each risk develop and implement an action plan to reduce the risk. Reassess the risk once risk reduction actions have been implemented.

Create a risk register – use a table like the one below to record your risks so that you can easily monitor actions and review progress.