Explain how health and safety risk assessments are monitoredand reviewed.There is little point in completing a risk assessment incorrectly. You may as well not

have taken the time to do it at all. The document is supposed to be a helpful thing

that assists the people running the situation (event, excursion or class), and if it does

not contain useful information, it will not be helpful.

In the same way of thinking, a risk assessment must be monitored and reviewed.

This acts to double-check that the information in it is useful and that nothing has

been missed.

Example risk assessment process.

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Monitoring risk assessments

Usually there is a single person in the school who is designated as the person

responsible for monitoring risk assessments. This ensures that the job is carried out

by someone who is knowledgeable about risk assessments and who is reasonably

experienced in understanding health and safety considerations. This person may be

the health and safety officer in most cases, although sometimes it may be the head

teacher.

The correct person to check risk assessments will be named on the health and

safety policy for the school.

If there are errors or obvious omissions in the risk assessment that are noticed

by the person who monitors it, or if they feel you have not understood the

document (and thus filled it out incorrectly), you should ask them to take a few

minutes to explain a few things to enable you to do it correctly in the future.

Once the assessment has been checked by others, it should be signed off by the

health and safety officer and also by the head teacher.

Reviewing risk assessments

Risk assessments should be completed in plenty of time ahead of the event that is

due to take place. The reason for this is two-fold: closer to the time, certain details

about the event may change; and sometimes it may be easy to leave out details by

accident. Giving it plenty of time between completing the assessment and being

involved in the event means that you may then have time to remember aspects you

had previously forgotten.

Prior to the event you should check through the risk assessment, to make sure that

everything in it is still relevant and true; that anything new around the event that may

constitute a hazard has been included in the form; and to double-check if you have

forgotten to include something.

This is called reviewing.If you find that changes need to be made, you should do so.

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Did you know?

The existence of health and safety law does not mean that there will be no accidents or

incidents. Sometimes the source of the incident, for example, a disease such as E. Coli, may

be an external supplier. However, in establishing clear guidelines in terms of responsibility

and accountability, the law makes it less likely that serious errors will lead to unfortunate

consequences. If everyone adheres to the law in terms of reporting and recording, it also

means that any major situation (take food poisoning for example), can be dealt with more

effectively.

Responsibility around risk assessing

Ultimately, although you may be made responsible for completing risk assessments

for activities that your class is involved with, the safeguards that have been put in

place - namely, the monitoring and reviewing processes - are there to lift the

accountability from your shoulders. Those who sign off the risk assessment will be

held responsible for the content of it, and if they find that it has been incorrectly

filled out, may ask you to re-write it.

If a risk assessment has been filled out correctly and has been signed off by all the

relevant people, its incorrectness cannot be considered to be your responsibility.

This is why you must ensure that any risk assessment you do complete on behalf

of the school is monitored and signed off.

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