Methodology

How we carried out the risk assessment

  1. We looked at information produced by Ecclesiastical Insurance to help us understand where hazards could occur in our church. This included their Health and Safety Made Simple Guide, the introduction to this template, and the guidance provided on their website at www.ecclesiastical.com/healthandsafety.
  2. We also looked at relevant information provided by the Health and Safety Executive at www.hse.gov.uk
  3. We discussed if anyone could remember if there had ever been any accidents in the past.
  4. We then discussed if any other users of the church or anyone who had done work for the church had reported any concerns regarding health and safety.
  5. We then walked around the church, the grounds and any other buildings we are responsible for and noted anything that might cause harm. We considered how accidents might happen and how serious the outcome of those might be. We noted if there were any precautions in place or any additional ones we could take. If it was possible to eliminate the risk entirely, we did this as soon as we could. This was based on what we had learned from the information we had reviewed above (note one).
  6. We also considered any hazards presented by other activities, such as festivals, concerts or other events including tower tours and fetes. Where these were to be held, we agreed that we would review health and safety precautions before holding the event.
  7. We recorded the findings of our assessment using this template.
  8. We communicated the findings to all our employees and volunteers, including anyone new who joins us.
  9. We have put the risk assessment into practice, making sure that each identified action is progressed and noting when each one is completed on this template.
  10. We will review and update our risk assessments where we suspect they are no longer valid.

We used the Methodology to consider the Risks and produce the Risk Assessment