Risk Assessment for Pubs and Restaurants: HSE's 5 Steps with Worked Examples
Every pub and restaurant employer must assess the risks to staff and customers and control them. HSE's five steps are: identify hazards, assess the risks, control the risks, record your findings, and review the controls. If you employ 5 or more people you must write down your significant findings. A fire risk assessment is a separate legal duty with its own rules.
On this page
A risk assessment isn't a folder for the inspector. It's you, walking round your own pub and asking: what here could hurt someone, how likely is it, and what are we doing about it? Most operators already do this in their heads. The law asks you to do it properly, write down what matters if you have 5 or more staff, and keep it current.
This guide covers Great Britain. Northern Ireland has its own health and safety and fire regulations, so check with HSENI or your council.
The short answer
- It's a legal duty. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require every employer to assess risks to staff and anyone else affected, including customers, contractors and delivery drivers.
- Five steps: identify hazards, assess the risks, control the risks, record your findings, review the controls.
- Write it down if you employ 5 or more people. Record the significant findings: the hazards, who might be harmed and how, and what you're doing to control the risk.
- Fire is separate. A fire risk assessment is its own legal duty under fire safety law.
- Keep it practical. HSE warns: "Do not rely purely on paperwork." What matters is the controls actually happening.
HSE's five steps, applied to a pub
Step 1: Identify the hazards
Walk the building at different times: before opening, during a busy Saturday service, and at close. Ask staff what worries them; the KP knows the floor by the dish pit is lethal at 9pm. Look at your accident book for patterns.
HSE lists the main causes of injury in catering as slips, trips and falls; lifting and manual handling; contact with hot surfaces and harmful substances; dermatitis; and cuts from knives. For a pub, add the cellar, glass, alcohol-related violence and late-night lone working.
Step 2: Assess the risks
For each hazard, think about who could be harmed and how badly, and how likely it is. You don't need a scoring matrix if it doesn't help you; "high, medium, low" with a sentence of reasoning is fine. Think specifically about:
- Young workers (under 18): HSE says your assessment must take account of their inexperience, lack of awareness of risks and immaturity.
- New and expectant mothers: HSE says you must assess risks to women of childbearing age in your general assessment, and do an individual assessment once someone tells you in writing that she's pregnant, has given birth in the last six months or is breastfeeding. Long hours, night work and heavy lifting are the usual issues in hospitality.
- Customers, especially in beer gardens, on stairs, around open fires and after a few drinks.
- Contractors and delivery drivers, especially around the cellar drop.
Step 3: Control the risks
Work down the hierarchy: remove the hazard if you can, then reduce it, then protect people from it. Moving the glass washer so steam doesn't hit the bartender's face beats telling them to be careful.
Step 4: Record your findings
If you employ 5 or more people, you must write down the significant findings. It doesn't need to be long. A table like the one below is enough for most pubs and restaurants.
Step 5: Review the controls
HSE says you must review your controls to make sure they're working, and update the assessment if they may no longer be effective, if there are changes (new staff, new processes, new equipment), if workers raise problems, or after accidents or near misses.
Worked example: a food-led pub
| Hazard | Who could be harmed and how | Controls in place | Further action | By whom / when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wet floor behind the bar and in the kitchen | Staff slip carrying glasses or hot food; HSE says kitchen and waiting staff are most affected | Anti-slip matting, spills cleaned immediately, slip-resistant footwear in uniform policy | Repair leaking glass washer drain | GM, by Friday |
| Cellar steps and hatch | Staff fall carrying cases; customers wander in | Handrail, steps lit, hatch closed when not in use, "Staff only" sign | Second handrail; delivery procedure briefed to new starters | GM, this month |
| Lifting kegs and stock | Staff back injuries | Keg lifter, two-person lift for full kegs, deliveries stacked at waist height where possible | Manual handling briefing for all bar staff | AM, next team meeting |
| Hot surfaces, fryers, steam | Burns and scalds to kitchen staff | Fryer lids, oven gloves, glass washer cycle sign, first-aid kit with burns dressings | Check glass washer door interlock | Head chef, with engineer |
| Knives and slicer | Cuts | Knife training, slicer guard fitted, under-18s not to use slicer | Add slicer to young worker briefing | Head chef |
| Cleaning chemicals | Burns, dermatitis, breathing irritation | Gloves, chemicals kept in labelled containers, dosing system for glass washer | Check product safety data for new oven cleaner | Head chef |
| Broken glass | Cuts to staff and customers | Glass collected regularly, glass bin, dustpan used not hands, polycarbonate in garden | None | n/a |
| Aggressive customers | Staff assaulted, especially at closing | Refusal policy, two staff at close on Friday and Saturday, CCTV, radio link to neighbouring pubs | Conflict training for duty managers | GM |
| Late-night lone working | Staff alone when cashing up | Never one person closing alone on weekends, cash-up in office with door locked | Review weekday close | GM |
| Beer garden furniture and heaters | Customers trip, burns from heaters | Furniture checked weekly, heaters serviced, cables covered | Replace two wobbly benches | Handyman |
| Gas appliances | Fire, explosion, carbon monoxide | Annual inspection by Gas Safe engineer, extraction interlocked, daily checks | None | n/a |
Your pub will look different. A wet-led local won't have the slicer; a hotel will have stairs, housekeeping chemicals and guests who sleep on site.
Hazards people often miss
- Hand-wash basins too hot. HSE notes a scald risk where water comes out above 44°C.
- The walk-in cold room door. Can it be opened from inside?
- Carrying trays down stairs to a function room or basement restaurant.
- Workload and fatigue. Double shifts, closes followed by opens, and long Sundays all raise accident risk. Check your rota against your working time rules.
- Violence towards staff. HSE's own reportable-incident examples include a barman attacked after asking a customer to leave at closing time.
Fire risk assessment is a separate duty
Your general risk assessment and your fire risk assessment are two different legal duties.
- England and Wales: under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the "responsible person" (usually the employer or whoever controls the premises) must carry out a fire risk assessment, review it regularly, and train staff.
- England: since 1 October 2023, changes made by section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 mean all responsible persons must record their fire risk assessment in full, not just businesses with 5 or more employees.
- Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own fire safety rules.
For a pub, the fire risk assessment covers ignition sources (kitchen, fryers, log burners, electrics), fuel (stock, furniture, waste), escape routes and how you'd get a busy Friday crowd out. Many pubs pay a competent assessor for this.
Common mistakes
- Downloading a generic template and never changing it. An inspector can spot a template in seconds. It must describe your pub.
- Writing it once and filing it. If you've added a beer garden, a pizza oven or a function room since you wrote it, it's out of date.
- Not telling staff. A risk assessment the team hasn't seen isn't controlling anything. Brief new starters on the controls that affect them.
- Ignoring the accident book. Your accidents and near misses are the best evidence of where your risks really are. See accident and incident logs.
- Controls that depend on equipment nobody maintains. The interlock, the emergency lighting, the anti-slip mats. Put them in your maintenance log.
Keeping risk assessments in ShiftComplete
ShiftComplete lets you create, keep and print your risk assessments in the app, alongside the daily checks that put the controls into practice. If your control is "floors checked every hour on Friday and Saturday nights", that can be a weekday checklist with named, timestamped ticks. Incidents and maintenance issues are logged with a photo, severity and status, so when you review the assessment you can see what's actually happened.
It's £1.49 per staff member per month with everything included, and free for 60 days with no card needed. If you'd like help setting it up, book a free 15-minute call.
Frequently asked questions
Does a pub legally need a risk assessment?
Yes. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require every employer to assess the risks to their workers and anyone affected by their work, including customers. If you employ 5 or more people, you must record the significant findings in writing. Even with fewer, writing it down is the easiest way to show you've done it.
How often should a risk assessment be reviewed?
HSE doesn't set a fixed interval. It says you must review your controls to make sure they are working, and review the assessment when things change: new staff, new equipment or processes, or after accidents, near misses or staff raising problems. Many pubs review every year anyway and after any refit, menu change or incident.
Is a fire risk assessment the same as a health and safety risk assessment?
No. A fire risk assessment is a separate duty under fire safety law (the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales, with different rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland). In England, since 1 October 2023 every responsible person must record their fire risk assessment in full, whatever the size of the business. Your general risk assessment can refer to it, but doesn't replace it.
Do I need a separate risk assessment for under-18s?
HSE says you have the same duties to young workers as to anyone else, but your assessment must consider their lack of experience, awareness of risk and maturity. Review it before a young person starts, especially for jobs like using slicers, fryers, cellar work or late finishes. Many pubs add a short section to the main assessment rather than writing a separate document.
Who enforces health and safety in pubs and restaurants?
In Great Britain, health and safety in pubs, restaurants, hotels and leisure premises is generally enforced by your local council's environmental health department rather than HSE inspectors. The same council team usually also handles food hygiene, though they're separate laws. Northern Ireland has its own arrangements through HSENI and councils.
Sources
- HSE: Risk assessment: steps needed to manage risk
- HSE: Managing risks and risk assessment at work
- HSE: Catering and hospitality FAQs (main causes of injury)
- HSE: Slips and trips in catering
- HSE: Young people at work: the law
- HSE: Protecting pregnant workers and new mothers: risk assessment
- HSE: Hot and cold water systems (scald risk)
- HSE: Is HSE the correct enforcing authority for you?
- GOV.UK: Fire safety in the workplace
- GOV.UK: Fire Safety Order supplement to guidance note 1 (section 156 changes)
- HSE: Examples of reportable incidents
Checked 24 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.