Conducting an Effective Risk Assessment of a Physical Space

In an ideal world, all physical spaces would be risk-free environments where nobody would ever come to any harm. But in reality, every space carries some level of potential danger and whilst we can never completely eliminate risk, we can look for ways to reduce it, so that we can keep our service users, and each other, as safe as possible.

Reducing risk is everyone’s responsibility

Formal risk assessments are reports that document the potential risks for an individual. They are an honest and transparent process to acknowledge the hazardous nature of foreseeable incidents and specific environments. Everyone in an organisation shares a responsibility for health and safety, and it is essential that all staff members have a shared understanding of risk, are familiar with the content of their organisation’s risk assessments, and know where to locate any relevant documentation.

With regard to assessing the risk presented by physical spaces, including external community services, we need to consider not only the space itself, but how things in the space could present a hazard. Moreover, we need to give due consideration to how our service users interact with the environment and how that might affect the level of risk.

Foreseeable risks and hazards

There are certainly some obvious risks associated with physical spaces – climbing equipment in a children’s playground, unlocked windows in multi-storey building, cleaning products in a communal kitchen – that are easily identifiable and that would naturally form the basis of our formal risk assessments. These are compiled in advance and should be reviewed on a regular basis to make sure they always reflect current conditions.

For example, we might create a risk assessment of a shared kitchen area in a residential setting. During this process, we are looking at both the physical environment and objects within that space that could cause harm: functioning fire doors; window locks; instructions for emergency situations; any free-standing furniture; availability of fire extinguishers; and access to appliances, sharp utensils, chemical substances, hot water and so on. By paying attention to both the space and things within the space, we can reach sensible conclusions about how to reduce risk.

However, sometimes unexpected things occur that simply cannot be accounted for or foreseen in a typical formal risk assessment. When this happens, we need to consider the best interests and the safety of the individual, so we can respond swiftly and appropriately.

When the unexpected happens

A dynamic risk assessment describes the ‘live’ process of identifying, measuring and evaluating potential risk. It requires us to think on our feet, quickly assess what or who may cause harm to an individual, measure the severity of that harm, then take appropriate action to avoid or minimise it. When we make dynamic risk assessments, we rarely have the luxury of time to weigh up all the options, as situations can change rapidly.  As a result, we may have to quickly remove an individual from a space, or use physical interventions to keep them safe.

Download our risk assessment flow chart

Unlike formal, written risk assessments, dynamic risk assessments happen in real-time, as a response to unforeseen or rapidly changing events and conditions. They are not designed to replace formal risk assessments; however, after an event and during the subsequent debrief, it is vital to review any existing risk assessment, to see whether any tweaks or changes might be required.

Carrying out an effective risk assessment of a physical space