An action plan should be brought into effect once suitable monitoring techniques have been chosen. This will usually include a risk assessment.

The risk assessor must take into account a number of factors. These are as follows:

• How likely is it that something will go wrong?
• If it does go wrong, how serious are the consequences?
• How often does the risk arise?
• How many people would be affected?
• Are the effects acute or chronic?
• What would be the effect upon the business?
• What does the law require?

The employer may produce a generic, or model, risk assessment where similar activities are undertaken in similar places of work. The generic assessment should be able to account for the majority of hazards and risks that arise but will require fine-tuning and adaptation to cater for individual circumstances. The method of generic assessment must be appropriate to the nature of the work.

The employer is under a general duty to reduce risks, so far as is reasonably practicable.