Changing electric lamps

There are enough risks associated with the changing of electric lamps to make the task dangerous. Failure to ensure that these risks are reduced to an acceptable level may result in accidents, which could put you on the wrong side of the law.

Managing the risks

To help you identify the hazards associated with changing electric lamps and some appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment - Changing Electric Lamps. It covers the generic hazards associated with this type of activity and suggests control measures to reduce the risks to an acceptable level.

Note. Because, invariably, carrying out this task involves some work at height, we suggest you also refer to our Risk Assessment - Working at Height.

You should ensure that 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. For your risk assessment to be considered suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law it must accurately reflect the “significant” hazards found in your workplace.