Risk Assessments

The risk assessment is the document everything else is built on, and this category is the working version of it: the five-step method with a live example, the risk matrix with the scoring rules, the JSA for the job level, the fire risk assessment in the five-key-question order, the COSHH assessment with the hierarchy of controls, the aspect-and-impact register for the ISO 14001 side, the general assessment builder, and the risk register that keeps it all alive. Every tool scores on the same 5×5 grid, so the documents on your site speak the same numbers.

Which tool for which job: the general assessment is the workplace document — the one the inspection opens. The JSA is the job document — the one the crew carries on the task. The risk matrix is the scoring rule the first two use, and the five-step page is the method that tells you why the order matters. The risk register is where the significant lines go after the assessment, with the owner and the date. If you only build three documents this quarter — the general assessment, the JSA for the highest-risk task, and the register — this category is all of them.

Every tool in this category works the same way: it runs in your browser, it scores or checks as you go, nothing is uploaded, and it prints as a signed, dated document you can file. The professional version — the sign-off, the audit, the training — runs through umer-hse.pro.

The toolkit's risk assessments are built on the five-by-five, and the five-by-five is built on the bands. Likelihood on one axis, severity on the other, and the score in the five bands — 1 to 4 low, 5 to 9 medium, 10 to 15 high, 16 to 25 extreme. The bands matter more than the arithmetic: a score of 9 and a score of 10 are the same calculation, but they are different decisions, and the band is where the decision lives. The initial score is the risk before the controls, the residual score is the risk after — and the gap between the two is what the controls are worth.

Which tool for which hazard is the first decision. The general risk assessment covers the task and the place. The COSHH assessment covers the substance, and it runs its own six-step method with the exposure data and the hierarchy of control. The fire risk assessment covers the building and the people in it, under the fire order. The DSE assessment covers the workstation. The JSA covers the step-by-step task. The tool is chosen by the hazard, not by the habit — a COSHH problem solved with a general assessment is a substance with no exposure data, and a fire problem solved with a JSA is a building with no escape plan.

The review is part of the tool. The assessment that is not reviewed is a photograph, not a system — and the triggers are the change of process, the new substance, the incident, the finding from the inspection, and the date. The printable versions of every tool are in the Resources, and the professional audit of the whole system — the one that checks the assessments against the floor — runs through umer-hse.pro.

• The bands: 1 to 4 low, 5 to 9 medium, 10 to 15 high, 16 to 25 extreme — the decision lives in the band
• The initial score before the control, the residual after — the gap is what the control is worth
• The tool is chosen by the hazard, not by the habit
• The review is part of the tool — the trigger, the change, the incident, the date