Risk Assessment

What is a risk assessment?

A risk assessment is a document where you think of some of the hazards that may potentially harm people and what you can do to avoid it. You are required to do this by law. It is a vital element for health and safety and the measures are supposed to conform to the Health And Safety At Work Act 1974.

Five steps are usually carried out to ensure that they have been carried out correctly. These steps are;

1.       Identify the hazards.

2.      Decide who might be harmed and how.

3.       Evaluate the risks and decide on control measures.

4.      Record your findings and apply them.

5.      Review your assessment and update if necessary.

How important is it when making a film?

It is very important to have a risk assessment when making a film because the people making the film need to protect the actors and any other crewmember from any harm.                          

Also the filmmakers need to protect themselves by making sure there are no risks because if anything did happen they would be responsible.

What types of dangers might you come across in a shoot?

What are the hazards?	Who might be harmed and how?	What are you already doing?	Do you need to do anything else to manage this risk?	Action by whom?	Action by when?	Done
As we are filming in a school their could be children around	The children as they could trip over some equipment and hurt themselves and also break the equipment		We are going to film after school so that there is no children around or just a few.	Crew	before filming	yes
As we use a glass/cup of water in our scene, it could be spilt.	If its glass it may smash. This is a safety hazard because the glass may cut someone and it will make a mess.If it is a plastic cup no one will be harmed but it will still make a mess and may damage equipment.	We have planned to take a plastic cup with us to ensure that it wont smash.	We will only fill the water up to about half way as it will decreases the risk of it spilling	Crew		we didnt use a plastic cup but we made sure we were careful
Filming under the table	The camerawomen may smack her head off the table when getting under the table and back up again.	Be really carefully and dont move suddenly.		Crew	before filming	yes