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Construction

Construction Risk Assessment

A construction risk assessment for a job or phase of work: the scope and crew, a walk-around screen of nineteen hazard types with the permit and protection checks each one opens, a register with one entry per hazard rated before and after controls on a simple 3 × 3 matrix, the arrangements for the day, a go or hold decision, a review when the work is done, and sign-off by the assessor, the supervisor, the client and the crew.

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When this assessment says a job needs a permit — isolations, entry to a space, work on live systems — the permit itself has its own page: Permit to work

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Job and Scope

What work is being assessed, where, for how long, and who will do it.

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The activities, the phase of the job, and the part of the site — enough that someone could tell what is NOT covered.

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Site Hazard Screen

Walk the site. Mark each type of hazard present, absent or not yet known; the checks it brings appear beneath it.

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Mark every line. "Not sure yet" is flagged in the report so someone follows it up. Each type marked Present should get at least one entry in the register that follows.

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Hazard Register

One entry per hazard, rated before controls and again with them in place.

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For each hazard pick how likely and how bad, then the rating where they meet. Read likelihood across severity (minor, serious, major). Remote: Low, Low, Medium. Possible: Low, Medium, High. Probable: Medium, High, High. Write it specifically enough that someone could fix it.

Hazards*

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Arrangements and Decision

What has to be on site for this work, and whether it can start.

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Answer only for the hazards that apply. "Call 911" is not a rescue plan for a suspended worker.

5

Completion Review

Once the work is done: did it go as assessed, and what was left behind.

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Answer No while the assessment is being prepared; come back to this when the work is done.

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Actions and Sign-Off

What is still to do, and who has read and agreed the assessment.

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Follow-up actions

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Sign above — Assessor
Sign above — Supervisor
Sign above — Client
Crew walked through this assessment

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A construction risk assessment is the written check, made before work starts, of what on this job could seriously hurt someone and what will be done about it. Most of the forms in circulation either rate whole categories ("electrical: medium") or give you a blank table and wish you luck. This template does the job in two passes. First you walk the site and mark which kinds of hazard are actually present, and each one you mark opens the checks it brings with it — a permit for a confined space, tie-off for an open edge, locating buried lines before digging. Then you list the real hazards, one per entry, rated before and after controls. Any hazard still rated High once the controls are in shows up at the top of the report. You can fill it in here and download a finished PDF without creating an account.

Screen the site, then name the hazards

The screen is there so nothing obvious is missed. Nineteen hazard types cover most construction work: height, confined spaces, electricity, buried utilities, moving equipment, dust and silica, asbestos and lead in older buildings, noise, heat and the rest. For each, answer Present, Not present or Not sure yet. "Not sure yet" is an honest answer, and it is flagged in the report so somebody goes and finds out.

The screen is not the assessment. "Falls from height: present" tells a foreman nothing. The register below it does the real work: "fall through the unguarded stair opening on the second floor while landing drywall" is something a crew can fix with a guardrail before lunch.

A three-by-three matrix on purpose

Likelihood has three steps — remote, possible, probable — and so does severity: minor, serious, major. Where they meet gives the rating:

  • Remote — Low, Low, Medium.
  • Possible — Low, Medium, High.
  • Probable — Medium, High, High.
  • Low: carry on with normal care. Medium: the controls must be in and checked. High: the work does not start until the risk comes down.

Controls that change the job

The strongest controls change the work itself: build it on the ground and lift it into place, use a wet saw instead of a dry one, fence the swing radius of the excavator. Procedures, training and signs come next, and protective equipment last, because it only works when it is worn and fits. Write the controls in plain words a new hire could follow, and name the person who puts each one in place.

Then rate each hazard again as it will be once those controls are in. That remaining risk is what the crew lives with. If it is still High, the assessment has not finished its job, and the report says so.

Brief it, then look back

An assessment nobody has heard is paperwork. Walk the crew through it before they start, and have them sign the last section. When the work is finished, open the completion review: did the job go the way it was planned, was anything hurt or damaged, and what should change next time. That review is what makes the next assessment better than this one.

On the phone, speak while you walk, and the document writes itself: describe each hazard as you stand in front of it and take the photo, and the register entry fills in.

Common questions

What should a construction risk assessment include?

The scope of the work and who is doing it, the hazards on the site and in the task, who could be hurt and how, a rating of each risk, the controls that will be used, the risk that remains once they are in, who is responsible for each control, emergency arrangements, and a record that the crew were briefed.

Is a risk assessment required on US construction sites?

OSHA does not prescribe one single risk assessment form for construction, but its standards require employers to find and control hazards, and many specific rules — fall protection, excavations, confined spaces — assume that hazards have been assessed before work starts. Owners, general contractors and insurers commonly require a written assessment as well.

How is this different from a job hazard analysis?

A job hazard analysis takes one task and breaks it into steps. This assessment starts wider: the whole job or phase, the site it sits on, and the hazards that come from both. The register can still name the activity or stage for each hazard, so it can do the work of a task analysis too.

When should it be reviewed?

Before work starts, whenever the method, crew, equipment or site conditions change, after any incident or near miss, and on the reassessment date you set at the top. The completion review at the end is the last look.

Why is the risk rating picked by hand?

So the form behaves the same on the web and on the phone. The matrix is printed in the hint beside each rating question; pick the box where your likelihood and severity meet.