All employers must assess and manage health and safety risks - whether they are a big business, a small business or just a one-person operation. Accidents and ill health can ruin lives and damage any business. You are not expected to eliminate all risk, but you are required to protect people as far as "reasonably practicable" under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 section3.1a & 3.1b. section 3.2a and b relate to risk assessment by the self-employed)
A risk assessment is an important tool in protecting your workers and your business that should be completed by a competent person with sufficient training and knowledge & is often described as the first step in the risk management process. It helps you focus on those risks that have the potential to cause harm. Most of these can be readily controlled by straightforward measures.
Once you've completed the assessment it is important to put your results into practice. If you need to make a number of improvements, you should produce an action plan to deal with the most important first. You should review your assessment on an ongoing basis to make sure that it remains up to date and effective
Free health and safety publication regarding risk assessment
