Visiting customer sites

All sites have their particular hazards which you should be aware of before the visit takes place. Make use of our document to ensure the risks are minimised.

Managing the risks

To help you identify the hazards associated with visiting customer sites and the appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment – Visiting Customer Sites. It covers the generic hazards associated with this type of activity and suggests control measures to reduce risks to an acceptable level.

Note. This risk assessment covers the main issues that should be considered when planning visits to customer sites. All sites present different degrees of risk and you should ensure that you obtain information from the customer before preparing your document.

You should ensure your document only addresses “significant” hazards, i.e. any that could, and more importantly are likely to, cause an accident or injury.

Make your instructions clear

Don’t include activities in your document that simply don’t need to be there. Work to the principle that if there is any chance of your staff being unaware of the safe way of doing something, then you will need to make it clear in your document. Finally, always ensure that any control measures you identify and follow only go so far “as is reasonably practicable”. 

Note. The list of potential hazards is not exhaustive. However, for your risk assessment to be considered suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law it must accurately reflect the “significant” hazards found when staff visit a particular site.