General risk assessment for a shop or other business open to customers

  • Pre-filled to make it easy
  • Customisable to your needs
  • Action points to help you fix any problems

This risk assessment for a shop or other business open to customers is designed to help you comply with your health and safety duties.

If your business involves the general public coming to your premises eg a shop, cafe, salon etc, it is important to take health and safety seriously and carry out regular risk assessments.

This risk assessment covers the most common hazards you might find in your premises and suggests what sort of action you should be taking to protect your employees and visiting customers. Because every workplace is different, the risk assessment has space for you to include anything that is specific to your premises or type of business.

Don’t forget to also download and complete our fire safety risk assessment!

Q&A

  • When should I use this document?

    This risk assessment for a shop or other business open to customers is suitable for your business if you invite customers onto your premises; for example, if you have a shop, restaurant, salon or showroom.

    The risk assessment template is designed to be used regularly. There are no fixed rules about how often you should carry out a full risk assessment - it should be at least annually, but could be more frequently than that. You should do a risk assessment whenever something changes in your business that affects safety. It might be a new layout, system of work or piece of equipment, or the need could be prompted by someone having an accident or a near miss on your premises.

    If you have an office, there is a specific template for that: see Risk assessment for an office.

  • What does this document cover?

    The risk assessment is a standard form, pre-filled table that guides you through the process of performing a thorough risk assessment. It comprehensively covers the most common health and safety hazards that are found in business premises that welcome customers, from slips and trips and manual handling to stress, the risks of working alone and the potential for physical or verbal abuse.

    Risk assessments are not just an exercise in paperwork. To help you engage with it properly, this one includes:

    • guidance notes to help you find any hazards specific to your business
    • action points to help you follow up with a plan of attack
    • reminders to think about problems that are commonly overlooked or ignored
  • Why do I need this document?

    If you have any employees, the law requires you to do regular risk assessments. It is also crucial to follow them up with suitable action to minimse any risks that you find, and keep proper records of your risk assessments to prove that you have fulfilled your legal duties.

    If you have five or more employees, you are legally required to keep a written record of your risk assessments, but even if you have fewer employees, it is good practice to keep a copy anyway.

    This template risk assessment for a shop or other premises open to the public, once properly completed and filed, is an easy way to make sure you stay on the right side of the law.

  • Where can I find out more?

    If you need help with health and safety basics, or want to check out whether what you have been doing to date is legally compliant, see our Health and safety annual action plan, an easy downloadable guide to what you should be doing to comply with general health and safety law.

    If you need detailed, step-by-step guidance on how to carry out a full, legally compliant risk assessment, see Health and safety risk assessments.

    You will also need to carry out a separate fire risk assessment for your business premises. See Fire safety risk assessment for an easy to complete template that you can use.

    We also have a specific Risk assessment for remote workers if any of your team regularly work away from your premises eg making deliveries or visiting clients.

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