Risk Assessment Quick Guide

Why Risk Assessment Matters

• Handcrafted is legally required to protect staff, residents, trainees, visitors, and others from harm.
• Risk assessment underpins all our work – from workshops and housing to support work, outreach, and admin.
• Risk can never be eliminated, but it must be identified, reduced, and managed.
• Good risk management keeps everyone safe, reduces stress, builds accountability, and demonstrates responsibility to funders, regulators, and trustees.

Principles

Every risk assessment follows the same framework:

1. Hazard – What has the potential to cause harm? (e.g. broken step, aggressive visitor, relapse triggers, data breach)
2. Risk – What could happen? Consider:
   1. Likelihood (how probable)
   2. Severity (how serious the consequences)
3. Control / Mitigation – What steps are we taking to:
   1. Reduce likelihood (make it less likely to occur)
   2. Reduce severity (limit harm if it does occur)

Types of Risk Assessments

• Workshop & Activities – tools, machinery, COSHH, fire, first aid, environment checks.
• Individual Residents – personalised risk management plans (linked to safety plans).
• Home Environment – housing condition checks, visitor risks, fire safety, tenancy compliance.
• Support Work – risks of relapse, self-harm, exploitation, mental health deterioration.
• Organisational – data protection, lone working, safeguarding, infectious disease, environment.
• Dynamic / Informal – constant “on the fly” assessment: entering a home, meeting a new trainee, supervising an activity. Staff should notice hazards and act immediately.

Process

1. Identify hazards (physical, emotional, environmental, organisational).
2. Assess risks (likelihood + severity).
3. Control using proportionate mitigation measures.
4. Record when significant decisions are made. Documentation shows accountability.
5. Review & Update regularly – especially after an incident, a change in activity, or at weekly support reviews.

Resident's Safety Plans

• Every resident must have a Safety Plan which outlines a resident's risks and how we are managing them.
• Risks noted in referrals should be translated into the plan as soon as possible but we must also supplement this information with our own risk assessment.
• Plans should include:
  • Risk description (what can go wrong)
  • Exacerbating factors (what makes it more likely)
  • Management strategies (what staff and the resident are doing to reduce the risk)
• Right at the top of the safety plan, state any risks to staff and others that we need to be aware of especially when lone working.
• Put the most serious and most likely risks nearer the top of the safety plan.

• Update weekly at support reviews. State in the review notes if changes are made.
• Ensure a clear link between referral risks, the safety plan, and our actual practice.
• More detail and an example plan can be found in the Safety Plans Quick Guide

Roles & Responsibilities

• All staff:
  • Remain vigilant and raise concerns immediately.
  • Carry out informal dynamic assessments daily.
  • Follow safety, safeguarding, and lone working policies.

• Support Workers:
  • Complete environment checks and record hazards.
  • Ensure residents’ risk plans are live, updated, and practical.

• Workshop Leaders:
  • Keep risk assessments for tools, machines, and activities up to date.
  • Ensure PPE, signage, and safe systems are followed.

• Managers:
  • Ensure risk assessments are documented, reviewed, and accessible.
  • Provide training and supervision so staff feel competent.
  • Escalate significant risks to senior leadership or external services.

Remember

• Always act immediately on obvious hazards, then follow with longer-term planning.
• Risks cover both physical (fire, trips, machinery) and non-physical (self-harm, relapse, exploitation, stress).
• Documenting decisions protects both staff and residents.
• Include residents in risk planning – what our residents and trainees are doing to keep themselves safe matters as well as what staff do.
• Review risk assessments after incidents, near misses, or changes in circumstance.

Related Policies

• Health and Safety Policy
• Safeguarding Children Policy
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Policy
• Lone Working Policy