Office Risk Assessment (UK)

An office is a low risk workplace, but low risk is not no risk, and the law still requires an assessment. The hazards are quieter than on a site, slips, screens, electrics and stress rather than falls and machinery, but they cause real injury and ill health, and a client or insurer will still expect to see the paperwork.

You still need one

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require every employer to assess the risks to workers, with no exemption for offices. Firms with five or more staff must record it. The good news is that an office assessment is quick once you know what to look at.

The hazards that matter

1. Slips and trips, the most common office injury: trailing cables, cluttered walkways, wet floors.
2. Display screen equipment: poorly set up desks causing back, neck and eye problems. See our DSE assessment guide.
3. Electrical: overloaded sockets, damaged leads, portable appliances.
4. Fire: covered by a separate fire risk assessment, but exits, alarms and housekeeping belong here too.
5. Manual handling: deliveries, boxes and the occasional office move.
6. Stress and wellbeing: workload and working patterns, increasingly expected to be considered.

Keep it proportionate

Match the effort to the risk. You do not need a thick document for a quiet office, but you do need to show you have looked at each hazard, decided who could be harmed, and set simple controls: keep walkways clear, set up workstations properly, test portable appliances, and keep exits free.

Record it

Our risk assessment template gives you the structure to record an office assessment cleanly, and our guide to writing a risk assessment covers the method if you want it first.