Care Home Risk Assessment (UK)

A care home has to protect residents who are often frail and staff who do demanding physical work, alongside the usual premises risks. This guide covers the hazards specific to care settings and how to assess them.

The hazards specific to care

1. Moving and handling of people, the biggest cause of staff injury in care, covered by our manual handling guide.
2. Legionella in hot and cold water systems, a real risk with vulnerable residents, see our legionella guide.
3. Slips, trips and falls for both residents and staff.
4. Infection control and exposure to bodily fluids.
5. Hazardous substances such as cleaning chemicals, a COSHH matter.
6. Fire, with the added challenge of evacuating people who cannot move quickly.
7. Lone working on night shifts.

Individual resident assessments

Alongside the general premises assessment, care homes carry individual risk assessments for residents, covering falls, moving and handling, pressure areas, nutrition and any behaviour that challenges. These are a core part of safe care and sit with the care plan.

Fire and evacuation

Fire planning must reflect that many residents need help to escape, so personal emergency evacuation plans are usually needed. See our fire risk assessment guide.

Record it

Record the premises hazards and controls on a general assessment, and keep individual assessments with each care plan. Our risk assessment template gives you the form for the general assessment.