What’s a Health and Safety Risk Register (and How Do I Get One?)

A health and safety risk register is a simple but important tool to help keep your team safe. Think of it as a list that shows the things that could go wrong at work—and what you're doing to stop or manage them.  The following is an introduction to Risk Registers to give you a beginners guide on why you need one and how they work. 

What’s in a Risk Register?

A risk register is a physical document or form that records the health and safety environment of your work place.

It usually includes:

• Hazards – things that could cause harm (like noise, chemicals, or tripping hazards)

• Risks – what might happen because of the hazard (like hearing damage or falls).  Risks are considered by likelihood of causing harm and the potential severity of the harm.

• Controls – what you’re doing to manage the risk (like changing to a safer machine, adding a guard to a piece of machinery, safe storage of chemicals.)

It also shows:

• Who’s responsible for each control

• When each item was last reviewed or updated

Why Is It Important?

Using a risk register helps you:

• Spot hazards before they cause harm

• Plan ahead and stay organised

• Meet your legal health and safety requirements

• Keep your people safe and well

 How Do I Start to Fill Out My Risk Register?

Filling out this paperwork correctly helps protect you and your team

1. Walk around your workplace – look for anything that could hurt someone.

2. Write it down – list the hazard, what could go wrong, and what you're doing to stop it.

3. Assign responsibilities – note who’s in charge of each control.

4. Review regularly – update it when things change or as part of regular safety checks.Share it – make sure your team knows what’s on the register, how these are managed and why it matters.

   
   

Keep It Simple

Your risk register doesn’t have to be complicated. It just needs to be clear, useful, and kept up to date. 

Here’s what a risk register might look like for Gardening Contractors.  This is an example only and does not cover every risk or hazard. 

Example Risk Register for Gardening Contractors

Here's what a completed risk register may look like.

The Risk Register must be kept up to date as over time equipment, staff and the way work is carried out may change.  These changes may also affect the hazards and risks staff are exposed to without them being aware of this.

Ensure staff are involved in the Risk Register, ensure they contribute as they will know what hazards and risks are involved in their jobs.  

Finally, when it is time to look at getting health monitoring, you will have a starting point which ensures the right tests are done for the specific hazard and risk exposure in your business.