The IOSH Managing Safely – sometimes referred to as the IOSH Approved Managing Safely – is one of the most popular and widely recognised health and safety qualifications in the UK. It’s the ideal course for anyone in a managerial, supervisory, or team leader role who wants to gain the knowledge and skills to ensure that health and safety is an integral part of their organisation’s day-to-day business. Topics include assessing risks, understanding common hazards, investigating incidents, and measuring performance.
At the end of the course, knowledge is tested with multiple choice assessment and a practical risk assessment of the learner’s own workplace.
This blog will guide you through the IOSH Managing Safely risk assessment process step by step, including tutor tips and how to avoid the most common mistakes.

How to complete the IOSH Managing Safely Risk Assessment

It’s crucial to use the official IOSH risk assessment project template – this should be provided by your learning partner. The marking criteria for the assessment is designed to match the template, so using a different risk assessment template (such as one your organisation might commonly use) might result in losing marks unnecessarily.

Step 1 – Fill In Your Details

Name of assessor – put your name.
Date – put the date of the assessment.
Time – put the time of the assessment.
Work area – where the task is being undertaken – briefly describe the work area in terms of function, size, number of floors, number of people. Example: “Ground floor warehouse, 900 square metres with up to 50 people.”
Task being assessed – try not to choose something too specific, such as “changing a lightbulb”. The task should be broad enough that it can include a range of different hazard types.

Some examples of suitable workplace tasks:

• Unpacking deliveries in warehouse
• Everyday activities in administration office
• Food preparation in commercial kitchen.
• General woodworking tasks in carpentry workshop

Step 2 – Clearly Identify the Hazard

You need to select FOUR hazards that are not being adequately controlled.
It is important that what you put in the left-hand column is a hazard (i.e. something with the potential to cause harm).
Tutor Tip: If it is not a hazard, you will not be awarded any subsequent marks for controls etc, therefore you could lose up to 9 marks for that entire row.
You should choose significant hazards. Common hazards include:

• Working at height (for example, working at height on a ladder 3 metres high)
• Manual handling (for example, manual handling of boxes weighing 10kg)
• Slip hazards (be specific, for example, the wet floor in reception)
• Trip hazards (be specific, for example, trailing cables)
• Moving vehicles (for example, forklift truck in warehouse)

What is the hazard?

Outline the hazard in full.
Examples:
“Wet floor at the entrance to the building which is a slip hazard.”
“Trailing cables between wall sockets and workstations which are a trip hazard.”

Tutor Tip – Never write “slip and trips” – this is too vague. Instead, write “A slip hazard due to spillages of oil/petrol” to provide clarity for the marker and for workers. Remember, you would distribute a risk assessment to key personnel in real life, so you need to be as clear as possible.

Don’t just write “Manual handling”. Describe the hazard, for example: “Carrying heavy boxes of paper from reception to the photocopier.”
Don’t just write “Electricity”. Describe the hazard, for example: “Overloaded electrical sockets underneath workstations”.
Don’t just write “Circular saw”. Describe the hazard, for example: “The sharp blade on the circular saw.”

Step 3 – Who Might Be Harmed?

List the full range of people that might be harmed. Wherever possible, quantify this list.
Don’t reel off the same list of people for each hazard.
Do you have visitors in the work area? Cleaners? Maintenance workers? The public? If so, they note them here.
Visitors may be exposed to some hazards (for example, wet floor), but not to others (for example, overloaded sockets).

Step 4 – How Might People Be Harmed?

Be precise and state exactly what harm the hazard could cause.
Example: “the overloaded socket could catch fire and burn someone resulting in burns, scarring, smoke inhalation and possibly death. Alternatively, the overloaded socket could give someone an electric shock leading to a heart attack, unconsciousness and possibly death.”

Tutor Tip – Remember to include both injury and long-term ill-health effects when describing harm.

Step 5 – Evaluate Existing Risk Control Measures

Don’t write “None” – there will almost certainly be existing control measures.
Identify what controls you have in place for this hazard at the time of your assessment.
Don’t limit your answer to physical controls such as guards, local exhaust ventilation (LEV), signage, etc. Consider administrative / soft controls such as training, supervision, job rotation, inspections, maintenance or safe systems of work.
Be clear with your description of the controls. Don’t just write one-word controls such as “PPE”. Clearly define what type of PPE is required. For example: nitrile gloves or safety goggles.

Example: In the case of a wet floor, the existing control measure might be signage.

Tip – don’t put too many controls. You want to have something to put in the “Additional Controls” column.

Step 6 – Current Risk Rating

Rate the risk of the hazard with the controls currently in place using the 5 x 5 risk rating calculator below.

• L (Likelihood): How likely is it that the hazard will harm someone?
• C (Consequence): What are the consequences if someone is harmed? (Severity of harm)
• R (Risk): L x C

Enter a likelihood rating from 1- 5 (L) and a consequence rating from 1-5 (C). Multiply these together to obtain a risk rating out of 25 (R).
Example: Likelihood 4 (“Likely”) × Consequence 3 (“Moderate”) = Risk Rating 12.

Tutor Tip – Don’t worry about getting the exact number “right” – the marker knows this system is subjective. Just be realistic with your ratings.
For the consequence rating, you should judge the foreseeable harm. If you are dealing with hazards such as electricity or working at height, then a rating of 5 (death) is justified.

Step 7 – Recommend Additional Controls

Provide additional controls that will reduce the risk. Be realistic and take into account the risk rating you just calculated.
Example: For a wet floor (currently controlled only by signage), we could introduce anti-slip matting and mop up of any residual moisture.
As well as ‘hard’ controls such as barriers and machine guards, think about ‘soft’, management controls such as training, supervision, safe systems of work, inspections and health surveillance.

Tutor Tip – Be as specific as possible. Don’t just write “Training”. Write: “Training for all new starters”.
Don’t just write “PPE”: Write: “High visibility jackets for all car park attendants”.

Step 8 – Calculate New Risk Rating (Residual)

Once you’ve decided on your new control measures, carry out another risk rating using the same 5 x 5 calculator.
Enter a likelihood rating from 1- 5 (L) and a consequence rating from 1-5 (C). Multiply these together to obtain a residual risk rating out of 25 (R).
Your new Residual Risk Rating should be lower than your previous one.

Tutor Tip – It is normally the likelihood rating that will decrease, rather than the consequence rating. For example, if you use a scaffold tower rather than a ladder, you may reduce the likelihood of a fall but, if you do fall, the consequence may still be death.
It is possible for the consequence rating to decrease, e.g. substituting solvent-based paint for water-based paint. Think carefully before you change the consequence rating.

Step 9 – Assign Actions

Action / monitored by whom?

State who is to monitor each additional control – assign a job title.
Examples:
• Provision of panic alarms – Facilities manager
• Training course for lone workers – HR manager

Action / monitored by when?

Every action needs a timeline. Don’t use phrases such as “On-going” or “Within a few weeks”.
Tutor Tip – Use specific, measurable dates.
Examples:

• Provision of panic alarms – By 8 July (one week)
• Training course for lone workers – By 30 September (three months)

Take note of the IOSH action level table below that provides guidance based on your Risk Rating. For example, if something has a residual risk rating of 15-16, IOSH expects “Urgent action – stopping the activity if necessary or maintaining existing controls rigorously.”

Consequence:	Is the degree or amount of any loss
Likelihood:	Is how likely that this loss will occur
Risk rating:	Is the consequence potential of the remaining risk after current controls have been taken into account.

 

 

Step 10 – Review Date, Signature and Training Provider

Sign off your risk assessment by filling in the details at the bottom of the form:

• Review Date: Give a sensible and realistic review date for your assessment, for example, 6 or 12 months.
• Sign the Assessment – If sending electronically, your typed name is acceptable.
• Include your Centre name in the final box.

Before returning your project, check that it is fully completed including your name, date and signature. This project must be your own work.

What can I do after I achieve the IOSH Managing Safely?

The IOSH Managing Safely provides a good level of foundational knowledge to then move on to higher level qualifications such as the NEBOSH National General Certificate.

IOSH recommend that you refresh your knowledge and stay up to date with industry best practice by taking the IOSH Managing Safely Refresher course every three years. At ACT, we can help you upskill your entire team at the same time, at a time and location to suit you with our inhouse training options.