Event risk assessment: how to write one that works

Every event needs a risk assessment — it's the one piece of paperwork nobody argues about. This guide covers the format councils and landowners expect, the five steps behind it, and the hazards that catch organisers out.

The legal position, briefly

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, anyone organising an event has a duty to assess risks to workers, volunteers and the public. Employers with five or more employees must record significant findings in writing — and for events, everyone expects it in writing regardless, because the council, the landowner and your insurer will all ask to see it.

A risk assessment isn't a promise that nothing will happen. It's evidence that you looked for what could go wrong and did something sensible about it.

The five steps

1. Identify the hazards. Walk the site — physically if you can. Think about arrival, the event itself, and everyone going home.
2. Decide who might be harmed and how. Visitors, volunteers, contractors, passers-by. Flag anyone at extra risk: children, older people, wheelchair users.
3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions. For each hazard, what are you actually doing about it? These are your 'control measures'.
4. Record your findings. The standard format is a table: hazard, who's at risk, controls, and a risk rating before and after controls.
5. Review it. If the weather forecast changes, a vendor drops out, or the layout moves — the assessment moves too.

The table format reviewers expect

Columns vary slightly, but this structure is close to universal:

• Hazard — 'trailing cables from generator to stage'
• Who is at risk — 'public walking between stalls'
• Existing controls — 'cables routed behind fencing; ramped covers on the one crossing point; checked hourly'
• Likelihood × severity — usually scored 1–5 each, multiplied
• Further action, owner and date

The scoring matters less than the honesty. A reviewer would rather see 'medium risk, here's what we're doing' than a page of hazards all miraculously rated trivial.

Hazards organisers most often miss

• Vehicles moving during the event — vendor restocks, ice cream vans, contractors leaving early. Vehicle movement on a busy site is one of the most serious risks at small events. See our traffic management guide.
• Weather — wind on gazebos and inflatables, heat for fun runs, mud everywhere. Decide your limits in advance and write them down.
• Setup and breakdown — more injuries happen before gates open and after they close than in between.
• Cash and lone volunteers — who carries the takings, and how?
• Lost children — a procedure, a named point, and volunteers who know it.
• Fire — generators, LPG at catering stalls, straw bales next to a barbecue. Open-air events are still covered by fire safety law.

Keep it specific to this event

Generic risk assessments are the fastest way to lose a reviewer's confidence. If your assessment could describe any event in Britain, it describes none of them. Name the field, count the marshals, and state the wind speed at which the bouncy castle closes.

Vendors take note too: if you trade at many events, organisers increasingly reject the same PDF you've sent everywhere for years. A per-event risk assessment tailored to each site is becoming the norm.

Common questions

Is there an official government template?

The Health and Safety Executive publishes general guidance and example risk assessments, and many councils publish their own event templates. There's no single official national form — any clear table covering hazards, people at risk, and controls is acceptable to most reviewers.

Who should sign the risk assessment?

The person with overall responsibility for the event — usually the organiser or the chair of the organising committee. Signing isn't a formality: it says you understand the risks and own the controls. That responsibility can't be delegated to a consultant or a tool.

How often should it be reviewed?

Before the event whenever anything material changes, and on the day if conditions demand it — a rising wind or a bigger crowd than expected are both review triggers. Note the review on the document itself.

Do volunteers need to read the risk assessment?

The parts that affect them, yes — a risk assessment nobody has seen controls nothing. The practical method is a one-page briefing sheet per role (gate, car park, stalls) drawn from the assessment, handed out with the rota, plus two minutes at the morning briefing on the day's specifics: wind, ground, anything changed.