1.
This standard applies to risk assessment of work activities undertaken by UCL employees, i.e. staff and post-graduate students. Specifically it details the arrangements Departments must have in place to ensure that both the process of assessment and the assessments themselves are suitable and sufficient.
2.
It does not cover the process of assessment itself – guidance on this can be found at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/safetynet/guidance/risk_assessment/index.htm
3.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require UCL to assess risks to the health and safety of anyone that may be affected by our activities – staff, students and others eg visitors, contractors - so as to identify the measures needed to prevent and/or control harm.
4.
Other health and safety regulations also require assessment of specific risks and/or types of work. They may vary in the detail eg whether they cover non-employees but the essentially the process of assessment is the same. NB: this does not necessarily mean an assessment has to be carried out more than once for the purpose of different regulations. The Management Regulations are broad in scope and cover all risks with the more specific regulations setting out in more detail what needs to be considered as part of the assessment.
5.
Hazard is anything that has the potential to cause harm.
6.
Harm is usually considered to be injury or ill-health but it could also include damage to property, equipment or the environment. It could also include damage to reputation either personally or to the group you work with or to UCL in general.
7.
Risk is the chance that harm could be caused by hazards together with an indication of how serious the harm could be.
8.
All work activities that pose a significant risk must be assessed. Insignificant risks need not be assessed or else those associated with life in general, unless the work activity compounds or significantly alters those risks. Assessments should be clear as to what is covered but also clear as to any exclusions.
9.
Assessments can be broad in scope or else address a particular hazard arising from a work activity; this is particularly the case for certain hazards that require a specific approach to assessment and/or detailed information not relevant in more routine activity assessments for example work with ionising radiation. The use of the RiskNET risk assessment module allows for recording of different types of activity assessment under one overarching title eg covering a whole research project.
10.
The level of detail needed in any assessment should be in proportion to the risk associated with the work activity ie with more hazardous activities needing more detail and/or more sophisticated/formalised approaches to assessment eg HAZOPs.
11.
Local arrangements for assessment must be documented and approved by the Head of
Department and must address the following:
UCL Safety Services

Who can carry out assessments
Considerations
Those carrying out assessments should be competent ie have sufficient knowledge, skills and experience to undertake the assessment. If they are not directly involved in the activity being assessed, they must involve/consult those carrying out the work.
The ability to carry out assessment may require specific training and/or specialist input (see section below on training).
Peer review
Authorisation
Preparation of assessments must always involve those carrying out the work, but certain assessments eg high risk, complex and/or novel work may also need additional scrutiny by a competent independent individual. NB: there are specific requirements for scrutiny of assessments for work with genetically modified organisms (see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/safetynet/guidance/GMOs/risknet_tool.html
)
The Departmental Safety Officer (DSO) may be involved in the review process as a means of checking impact of the work on other activities in the department or else whether novel hazards are being introduced into the department.
Assessments should be authorised by the person in management control of the work. This means that assessments could be selfauthorised. However, certain activities may require a higher level of authorisation because of the risk posed by the work, even with identified controls in place.
The DSO should not be solely responsible for authorising assessments but may be a co-authoriser for assurance purposes. They can also monitor consistency – both of approach to the assessment and the controls selected.
Recording
Communication
Training requirements
The means of recording assessments must be identified. The use of the RiskNET to record assessments is not mandatory (with the exception of assessment for work with genetically modified organisms) but recommended as this provides a central, searchable database of departmental assessments.
The findings of the assessment and in particular the control measures identified must be communicated to all those carrying out, or affected by, the work. If the assessment is recorded on RiskNET, this can be achieved by use of the distribution list which automatically informs an individual when they are named on assessment. Other means of communication may be more appropriate, eg tool-box talks, for those affected by the work eg cleaners, security staff.
Departmental Codes of Practice/Standard Operating Procedures may also be used to communicate findings of assessments and in particular the controls needed for particular activities.
There is no specific requirement for training although assessments may need input/advice by others to ensure that they are fit for purpose.
However, departments should identify whether only trained persons can carry out assessments (this could be general or specific types of assessment) and the nature of this specific training.
NB: General training on the principles of assessment is available for all UCL staff and post-graduate students - see
UCL Safety Services

Review and revision
Assurance and monitoring
Considerations http://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/safetynet/training/principles_of_risk_ass.pdf
All assessments must be reviewed if there is any reason to suspect they are no longer valid if there has been a significant change to the work (see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/safetynet/guidance/risk_assessment/review/index.htm
).
Although there is no defined legal period for review, it is good practice to set a review period to ensure that assessments (and controls) remain valid over time. The frequency of review could be linked to the overall risk of the activity; with assessments for higher risk activities being reviewed more frequently than low risk ones. NB: risknet automatically sets a review date of 12 months which can be changed if needed?
The means for recording revisions of assessments should be documented including whether changes require re-authorisation and by who.
The means by which departments ensure that there are suitable and sufficient assessments in place for all departmental activities should be identified. This could range from a simple check of presence/absence of assessments for sample activities to a more detailed check on the quality of assessments and whether controls identified have been implemented.
1.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 SI 1999/3242 The Stationery Office http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
Safety Services Reference(s):
First Published
Reviewed
February 2016
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UCL Safety Services