Risk Assessment

Why do we do this ?

Risk Assessment is is a hugely important part of our day to day working with young children.  In fact, Risk Assessment is hugely important in almost every workplace, regardless of the nature of the work undertaken there.

As you work your way through your course, you will initially be 'retrospectively' risk assessing activities with a view to identifying  where the dangers were, and what had been done to minimise them.  In normal circumstances, however, a risk assessment is done prior to an activity taking place, the idea being to minimise the risk of injury, and so you will eventually learn to risk assess activities before they are undertaken.

How do we do this  ?

Conducting a risk assessment often involves little more than the application of common sense.  It involves thinking about what might go wrong when undertaking a specific piece of work, and how to keep each other safe during the activity.

It is not about choosing NOT to do an activity because there may be risk involved.  It is important, after all, that we teach children about danger and how to cope with it.  It is about 'managing' the risk, so that the children are not denied the learning opportunities that come with, for example, making smores or building dens, so that they are as safe as possible while doing these things.

Click the image  to download a handout which will take you through the process of risk assessment.