What Is a Hazard Log and How to Keep One

A hazard log is a running list of the hazards you have identified across your work, with the control and the current status of each. It is the single place you track what could cause harm and whether something is being done about it. It is not a legal document in its own right, but it is one of the most useful tools for staying on top of health and safety, and it feeds directly into your risk assessments.

Why keep a hazard log

Risk assessments tend to be done per job or per task, which means hazards can be recorded in several separate places. A hazard log pulls them together so nothing falls through the gaps. It gives you one view of every known hazard, who raised it, what the control is, and whether the action is open or closed. On an audit or a client review it shows you are managing risk actively rather than filing forms and forgetting them.

What to record

A good hazard log has a row per hazard and columns for the date raised, who raised it, the location or activity, a description of the hazard, who could be harmed, the control measure, the action owner, a target date and a status. Keeping the likelihood and severity scoring consistent with your risk assessments lets you prioritise the log by risk level.

How it works with your risk assessments

The hazard log and the risk assessment are two views of the same information. A hazard first spotted on site goes into the log, then gets assessed and controlled properly in a risk assessment. New hazards found while doing an assessment get added back to the log. Run together they keep your safety paperwork current rather than letting it date.

Get set up quickly

Our risk assessment template uses the same five by five scoring a hazard log needs, so the two work together out of the box. Members also get the wider library of specialist documents as we add them.