Risk Assessments

What is a risk assessment?

Risk assessment is an essential step in protecting our employees, students, visitors, and the University, as well as complying with the law. The core principles of the Policy Statement advocated by Queen Mary are provision and maintenance of a safe working and study environment that, as far as is reasonably practicable, is free from risks to health.
Managing risks to health and safety through the process of risk assessment and applying the necessary risk controls ensures effective workplace health and safety. In many instances, straightforward measures can readily control risks.

Identifying risks:

As well as the health and safety risks associated with research laboratories, teaching activities and office environments at Queen Mary, we also have to assess the risks associated with activities in catering, residential accommodation, building and grounds maintenance work, external contractors, machinery workshops, sports activities, national / international travel, and fieldwork.
The University’s activities are diverse and include managing effectively the risks from hazards such as asbestos present in older buildings, potential for legionella bacteria in water systems, chemicals handled in research, teaching, Estates and other activities, ionising and non-ionising radiation sources, high powered lasers, asphyxiant and compressed gases, biological agents, and genetically modified organisms.

Specialist Risk Assessment Templates:

Specialist health & safety risk assessment templates are provided as stand-alone Word format documents.

Specialist templates can be found in the applicable topic A-Z page - see: A-Z Topic Pages.

Always ensure internal Queen Mary and external / regulatory approval processes are completed for a specialist risk assessment before work commences. The requirements are detailed within the form, in guidance provided at: MySafety - Online Health and Safety Management System, or on the relevant topic page.

Fully completed specialist stand-alone forms should be converted to a pdf by the assessor and uploaded into MySafety with a specific Safety number for each one, the risk assessment must be marked as 'confidential' if sensitive information is included.

For step by step guidance on how to complete and upload a risk assessment and management of the process, see procedures and guidance at MySafety - Online Health and Safety Management System, within the risk assessment section.

All H&S staff can be contacted via the help desk at hs-helpdesk@qmul.ac.uk