Self Employed Sole Trader- Risk Assessments?

[jed001]

My guess is 'yes' it is the law in terms of what u cud get prosecuted for....say for example a scaffolder. What if the scaffold falls and injures peeps and damages property...same applies to tree chappies i suspect. Risk Assessment and Methodology statement demonstrates planning...how you intend to undergo yr task, what safety measures you have in place (eg protect the public) and risk evaluation should/if things go wrong. What u should bear in mind is Hse could drop in on you at any time, specially if you are operating on public property. They would be very keen to ask to inspect said docs.!!

[treequip]

yes i realise that, i guess my main question is the "law" bit.

 

Risk assesments are required by statute law (The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999)

 

Under the law everyone is required to perform a risk assessment. Most people perform a risk assessment of one sort of another without calling it a risk assessment, it’s part of everyday life. Many sole traders and small companies perform an informal risk assessment but don’t record it.

 

The duty to record the findings of the RA comes in if you employ more than 5 people. The act doesn’t make any differentiation between full time or part time, or between manual and office workers or personnel on sites so if you have 5 or more employees in total you would be wise to make a RA for each site regardless of the number of staff you have on site.

 

Andy