Risk Assessments

A hazard is anything that could cause harm, and a risk is the chance of that harm happening and how serious it would be. A risk assessment is the document that records these for a media production. It is not simply a list of dangers: it shows who might be hurt and in what way, how serious the danger is judged to be, and what actions will lower or remove it.

Its purpose is to identify every potential risk before work starts and show how each one will be reduced or eliminated. This helps keep the production safe and shows that the producer has planned health and safety in advance, rather than reacting after something goes wrong. A risk assessment cannot remove every danger, so the aim is to reduce risk as far as is reasonably practicable, and the precautions recorded matter as much as the hazards.

How it is recorded

A risk assessment must be written down. Smaller productions often use a printed template or checklist with clear headings; larger companies may use an online form builder, which makes forms easier to store, share and update. Forms vary, but they normally record the same things: the hazard, who might be harmed and how, the evaluation of the risk, and the precautions that will keep people safe.

The evaluation judges how likely the harm is and how serious it would be, which helps the producer decide how much the precautions need to do.