Introduction
We all do risk assessments or safety checks everyday, for example, when we cross the road. We choose an appropriate place to cross, look both ways and make a decision about whether it’s safe to cross.
We know that young people learn by doing. Activities encourage the development of young people and they can feel a huge sense of achievement in completing them. We want to provide EXCITEMENT but not DANGER; ADVENTURE but not HAZARD.
Assessing risk starts in the early stages of activity planning and goes on throughout the activity until all participants go home at the end of the activity. Embedding risk assessment within the planning process allows us to deliver safe, enjoyable and exciting programmes for young people.
There are five simple steps. If you’ve done risk assessments elsewhere, these should look familiar.
Risk Assessment Form
Scouts have provided us with an example risk assessment template on Microsoft Word. This can be edited and saved in a file on your OneDrive.
Example Risk Assessment
We also have a few examples of Risk Assessment Forms and different ways to record your risk assessment.