13.2a Explain why it is important to assess the health and safety risks posed by particular work settings, situations or activities

Risk assessment is extremely important for maintaining health and safety in the workplace. As well as being a legal requirement, they also provide clear guidance and information on how to keep people safe and prevent danger, harm and accidents. They identify potential hazards in the workplace, evaluate the risk and put in place measures and procedures to help reduce or prevent the risk.

The longer a health and safety risk is left unchecked, the higher the chance that it could injure someone, so it is important you report a risk as soon as you identify one. We will go over how and when to report health and safety risks that you identify in the next section.