Important: Updated risk assessments for 2026

If you're involved in Health and Safety for group activities, please be sure to download the new forms, rather than using any old ones you may have saved.

You can find all the updated forms here.

The content of the HSV guidance forms remains the same. But they’re now subtitled as ‘Low level risk assessments’, with a box to complete added after each statement.

Completing the boxes

You must enter ‘Yes’ in each box to confirm that the action will be completed in advance or on the day (‘Action on the day’ section).

If the action isn’t relevant to your activity, you can replace ‘Yes’ with ‘N/A’.

For example:

• If you’re not using a gazebo, you can put ‘N/A’ by completing the gazebo checklist, in the ‘Action before an event’ section.
  
• If you’re using a venue with a signing-in system, you can put ‘N/A’ by completing the attendance register, in the ‘Action on the day’ section.

Entering ‘No’ isn’t an option.

Why change the forms?

The changes are a requirement of our insurers. They (and venue insurers, who request copies of our forms) felt that our guidance forms weren’t providing acceptable levels of mitigation of the risk.

We realise we’re now asking more from our volunteers in terms of form completion. But it was a choice between adapting our guidance forms to meet the new standards or reverting to the use of a full risk assessment for every type of event.

Thank you in advance for your understanding. And for the additional effort now required to meet our insurers and legal requirements with regard to risk management.