Write a Risk Assessment With AI: HSE's 5 Steps Done for a Shop, Cafe, Trade or Office
How to write a risk assessment with an AI agent in 2026: HSE's five steps, who must record it in writing, the fire risk assessment every premises must now record in full, food, COSHH, display screen and first aid assessments, four prompts that draft the documents for a shop, cafe, trade or office, what HSE enforcement costs and the review diary.
The Health and Safety Executive's figures for 2024/25 count 124 workers killed at work, 680,000 non-fatal injuries reported by workers in the Labour Force Survey, 246 criminal prosecutions with a 96% conviction rate and fines of more than £33 million. The paperwork behind every one of those cases starts with the same question: was there a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, and was it written down? A Hiscox survey of 1,500 small-business leaders found 30% had no risk assessment policy at all, which is not surprising when the owner is also the buyer, the cashier and the person who unblocks the sink.
The assessment itself is not hard. HSE says most small, low-risk businesses can do their own, and publishes free templates and worked examples for an office, a local shop, food preparation and service, a motor repair garage, a warehouse and a factory. What takes the time is the writing: the hazard list, the controls, the fire record every premises must now keep in full, the COSHH sheet for the cleaning cupboard, the display screen checks, the review dates. This guide shows how to write a risk assessment with an AI agent in an afternoon: HSE's five steps, who must record what, the four prompts that draft the documents for a shop, a cafe, a trade or an office, what getting it wrong costs, and the diary that keeps it current. The rules were checked against HSE and GOV.UK on 21 October 2026.
Want the first draft before you walk the floor? Open Jobbit, paste prompt 1 below with your business type, your premises and your staff count, and it returns the hazard list and the controls in HSE's five-step format. Free plan, 100 credits a day, no card.
HSE's five steps, and what the agent does at each
| Step (HSE's current wording) | What it means | What the agent does |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Identify hazards | Walk the premises and list what could cause harm: slips, electrics, chemicals, lifting, knives, ladders, lone working, violence, stress | Drafts the list for your business type from HSE's examples, then adds what you tell it from the walk |
| 2. Assess the risks | Who could be harmed and how, how likely, how serious, and whether the current controls are enough | Rates each hazard and asks the questions you cannot answer from the office |
| 3. Control the risks | Remove the hazard, or reduce it: a different product, a guard, training, protective equipment as the last resort | Proposes controls in that order and names who is responsible for each |
| 4. Record your findings | Write it down: the significant hazards, who is affected, the controls, and who does what | Produces the record in HSE's template format, dated and signed off by you |
| 5. Review the controls | Check it is working; review when staff, processes, substances or equipment change, or after an accident or near miss | Keeps the review date and asks the questions when something changes |
The duty to assess applies to every employer and to the self-employed where their work could harm others. The duty to record the significant findings in writing applies once you have five or more employees, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and the assessment must be suitable and sufficient. Below five employees you are still required to assess, you are just not required to write it down, which is a strange reason not to.
The assessments most small businesses actually need
- Fire. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes the owner, employer or occupier the responsible person for a fire risk assessment. Since 1 October 2023, under section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, it must be recorded in full, including all the findings, for every premises regardless of size; the old five-employee threshold is gone. GOV.UK publishes guides for offices and shops, small places of assembly, and small non-domestic premises.
- Food. A food business registers with the local council at least 28 days before trading, free of charge, and the registration cannot be refused. The Food Standards Agency's Safer Food Better Business pack is free and covers England and Wales. The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme score must be displayed in Wales and Northern Ireland and is voluntary in England. Food prepacked for direct sale has needed full ingredient labelling with allergens emphasised since 1 October 2021.
- COSHH. Any hazardous substance, which includes the bleach, the degreaser and the descaler, needs an assessment of exposure and controls, built from the manufacturer's safety data sheet.
- Display screen equipment. Staff who use a screen daily for continuous periods of an hour or more need a workstation assessment and an eye test on request.
- Manual handling, first aid, lone working, young workers, new and expectant mothers. Manual handling needs its own assessment where lifting is part of the job; a first aid needs assessment decides the kit and the trained people; lone working is covered inside the general assessment; under-18s must be assessed before they start; a new or expectant mother needs an individual assessment.
Draft the documents in four prompts
1. The general risk assessment
Message to send
Write a general workplace risk assessment in HSE's five-step format for Oak Lane Deli, a cafe and food shop in Nottingham with a kitchen, a counter, a seating area for 20, a cellar store reached by a ladder, and 6 staff including one 17-year-old on Saturdays. Hazards to cover: slips on wet floors, the deep fat fryer, knives and the slicer, hot drinks, manual handling of deliveries and the cellar ladder, cleaning chemicals, gas appliances, electrical equipment, late-night lone closing, cash handling and abusive customers, and the young worker. For each hazard: who is harmed and how, the current controls, the extra controls needed, who is responsible and by when. Add a review date in 12 months and a line for my signature. Plain English, one table.
You create a free account first (an email address is all it takes, no card). Your message is kept and sent the moment you are in.
2. The fire risk assessment record
Message to send
Write the fire risk assessment record for the same premises, in full as the Building Safety Act 2022 requires: the responsible person, the premises description, ignition sources (the fryer, the gas range, the coffee machine, electrics, smoking area), fuel sources (packaging, oils, the cellar stock), people at risk including the public and anyone alone at closing, the means of escape and travel distances, the alarm, the emergency lighting, the extinguishers and their service dates, the evacuation procedure and who checks the building is clear, the training record, and the significant findings with actions, owners and dates. Follow the GOV.UK guide for small places of assembly.
You create a free account first (an email address is all it takes, no card). Your message is kept and sent the moment you are in.
3. The specific assessments
Message to send
Write the COSHH assessment for these cleaning products using the attached safety data sheets (dilution, storage, gloves and eye protection, what to do if splashed or swallowed, who uses them), a manual handling assessment for the deliveries and the cellar, a display screen equipment checklist for the office laptop used daily, a first aid needs assessment for a cafe with 6 staff and a kitchen, and a one-page lone working procedure for closing with a check-in message. Each as a separate dated document with a review date.
You create a free account first (an email address is all it takes, no card). Your message is kept and sent the moment you are in.
4. The diary, the induction and the accident record
Message to send
Build a health and safety diary for Oak Lane Deli: the review dates of every assessment above, the extinguisher and alarm service dates, the gas safety check, the food hygiene rating inspection history, employers' liability insurance renewal, and first aid certificate expiry, with a reminder to me 30 days before each. Then write a one-page induction sheet for new staff covering the top hazards, the fire procedure, the first aider, the accident book and how to report a near miss, and a template for the accident book entry with the RIDDOR rule for injuries that keep someone off work for more than seven days.
You create a free account first (an email address is all it takes, no card). Your message is kept and sent the moment you are in.
Four prompts, an afternoon including the walk round the premises with the first draft in your hand, and the diary runs itself. The free plan does it on 100 credits a day; the Go plan at £7 a month adds 2,000 credits for the reminders and the updates.
The hazards by business type
| Business | The hazards HSE's examples put first | The extra document |
|---|---|---|
| Shop | Slips and trips, manual handling of stock, ladders and steps, electrical equipment, violence and cash handling, lone working at closing | Fire record; DSE if there is a back-office screen |
| Cafe or takeaway | Wet floors, burns and scalds, knives and slicers, gas, fryer fires, chemicals, allergens, young workers | Fire record; food registration and Safer Food Better Business; COSHH; allergen matrix |
| Trade (electrician, plumber, builder, cleaner) | Working at height, electricity, manual handling, hand-arm vibration, dust and chemicals, driving, lone working in customers' homes | COSHH; a site-specific assessment per job; gas or electrical competence records |
| Office | Display screen equipment, slips and trips, electrical equipment, stress, lone working, fire escape routes | DSE assessments; fire record |
What getting it wrong costs
HSE charges Fee for Intervention at £188 an hour from 1 April 2026 the moment an inspector finds a material breach, and the bill runs from the visit through the letters and the follow-up. In 2024/25 HSE brought 246 prosecutions, secured convictions in 96% of them, issued more than 4,400 enforcement notices and saw fines of over £33 million. The injury side is larger: 1.9 million workers with a work-related illness, 40.1 million working days lost and a cost to Britain of £22.9 billion on the 2023/24 basis. Beyond HSE, the practical cost sits with the insurer: employers' liability insurance is compulsory at £5 million with fines of up to £2,500 a day without it, and an insurer handling a claim asks for the risk assessment first.
The paperwork around the assessment
- The accident book: required where ten or more people are employed, and sensible for everyone, with an entry template from prompt 4.
- RIDDOR: specified injuries are reported to HSE, and any injury that keeps a worker off normal duties for more than seven consecutive days is reported within 15 days.
- The law poster: the HSE health and safety law poster displayed, or the equivalent leaflet given to each worker.
- Consultation: employers must consult employees on health and safety matters, which for a small team is the induction sheet and a ten-minute conversation each quarter, recorded.
- Insurance: employers' liability at £5 million from the first employee, the certificate displayed.
How an AI agent differs from a template download
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Manus and Meta's Muse will all fill in HSE's template if you type the hazards. Jobbit runs the system:
- It drafts every document from your business type in HSE's format, with the controls in the right order.
- It reads the safety data sheets and writes the COSHH assessment from them.
- It keeps the diary and reminds you 30 days before every review, service and renewal.
- It updates the assessment when something changes: a new fryer, a new member of staff, a near miss.
- It writes the induction sheet and the accident entries so the record exists when it matters.
- It does not walk the floor, which is your job: HSE's step 1 needs eyes on the premises, and the agent's first draft is the checklist you carry round.
A one-afternoon plan
- 1 pm. Describe the business, the premises and the staff in one message. Run prompt 1. Print the draft.
- 1:30 pm. Walk every room with the draft and a pen. Add what the draft missed; delete what does not apply.
- 2:15 pm. Run prompt 2 for the fire record. Check the escape route and the extinguisher dates as you go.
- 3 pm. Photograph the labels on every chemical. Run prompt 3.
- 3:45 pm. Run prompt 4. Put the diary in your calendar, sign the assessments, and give the induction sheet to the next person who starts.
Draft the risk assessment and the fire record on the free plan: 100 credits a day, no card.
Open JobbitRead next
- AI policy for a small business: the other policy staff need to read.
- AI document generator: the fifteen documents a small business ends up needing.
- AI for restaurants and cafes: the hygiene, the allergens and the rest of the admin.
Frequently asked questions
Do I legally need a written risk assessment?
Every employer must assess the risks, and the significant findings must be recorded in writing once you have five or more employees, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The fire risk assessment is different: since 1 October 2023 it must be recorded in full for every premises, however small. Food businesses also need their hygiene system documented, and Safer Food Better Business is the free way to do it.
What are the five steps of a risk assessment?
HSE's current wording is: identify hazards, assess the risks, control the risks, record your findings, and review the controls. The assessment must be suitable and sufficient, which means it covers the significant hazards for your work, not every conceivable one, and the controls are reasonably practicable.
Can AI write a risk assessment?
It can draft one in HSE's format for your business type, including the fire record, the COSHH assessment from the safety data sheets, the display screen and manual handling assessments and the first aid needs assessment, and keep the review diary. An agent on Jobbit does that from the four prompts above. You still have to walk the premises and check the draft against what is actually there, which is step 1.
How often should a risk assessment be reviewed?
HSE says to review it when you have reason to think it is no longer valid: a change of staff, process, substances or equipment, or an accident or near miss, and otherwise at a sensible interval, with 12 months the common choice. The diary in prompt 4 holds the dates and the reminders.
What is a fire risk assessment and who does it?
A record of the fire hazards, the people at risk, the means of escape, the alarms and extinguishers, the procedures and the actions needed, carried out by the responsible person for the premises under the Fire Safety Order 2005. Since 1 October 2023 it must be recorded in full regardless of the size of the business. Many small premises do it themselves with GOV.UK's guides; a consultant's assessment for a small shop is typically a few hundred pounds.
What does HSE charge if an inspector finds a problem?
Fee for Intervention at £188 an hour from 1 April 2026, covering the inspection, the letters and the follow-up once a material breach is found. In 2024/25 HSE brought 246 prosecutions with a 96% conviction rate and fines over £33 million, and issued more than 4,400 notices.
What other assessments does a cafe or shop need?
A cafe needs the food business registration 28 days before opening, a documented hygiene system such as Safer Food Better Business, allergen information for everything it sells, a COSHH assessment for its chemicals, a fire record, and an individual assessment for any young worker or expectant mother. A shop needs the general and fire assessments, a manual handling assessment for stock, and a display screen assessment for the back-office screen. Prompt 3 drafts the specific ones.