Risk Assessment
In this section
This page has some summary points about risk assessments. The University Health and Safety Services has helpful guidance on assessing risk, and there is a short Moodle course which offers risk assessment training.
Why risk assess your events?
It's important to make sure your event is safe for you, your partners and the public to attend. If something where to happen at your event you would be asked for a copy of your risk assessment and if you hadn't appropriately planned for risks you could be held liable.
Don't forget that even online events might have risks involved (e.g. safeguarding vulnerable people from being contacted in the chat) so it's important to always consider if there is anything you need to be aware of. If the risks are trivial then you might not need a formal document recording them, but it's always best practice to spend some time thinking about it.
The risk assessment process involves the following 5 steps:
- identify the hazards - those within Science and Medicine departments should use the Hazard Grid
- determine the people who might be affected* - considering groups that could be at risk
- assess the risks
- decide whether further controls or precautions are needed
- ensure that control measures are used and maintained.
For more information on risk assessment visit Health and Safety ServicesLink opens in a new window
Common Risks
These are a few of the common risks you need to be aware of when thinking about planning for public engagement. It's not exhaustive and you should always do your own assessment. Crucially - always inform others supporting you at your event of the necessary controls they need to be aware of.
- Slips, trips and falls
- Are there trailing cables from laptops/ projectors etc. you need to tape down?
- Are you running an activity that's going to cause liquid spills and how can you make sure you can clean them up during the event?
- Electrical risks
- Has your venue got enough power outlets to avoid you needing to use lots of extension cables? Always avoid plugging extension cables into other extension leads. Make sure you don't overload sockets by plugging too much into them as this could lead to an electrical fire.
- Fire/ emergency evacuation
- Do you know where the fire exits are? Have you made sure these aren't blocked?
- Let people know where to find exits at the start of your event
- Familiarise yourself with the venue's safe capacity and don't exceed this.
- Working with children/ vulnerable adults
- Do you need to look at safeguarding procedures? Are you putting yourself or others in a vulnerable position?
- Be aware that in online spaces you might need to use certain platforms that enable you to control how people are communicating in the chat. It might not be appropriate for children to have cameras on in events. Can you control this?
Risk assessment template
How you choose to record your risk assessment is up to you. It's a document for your own records and you can choose where you want to store it/ how it should look. However this is the template WIE colleagues use: