As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly create a risk assessment template.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a blank document or spreadsheet and note the workplace, activity, location, people exposed and the person responsible for the assessment.
   2. Gather existing procedures, incident records, equipment instructions, substances information and details of current controls without including unnecessary personal data.
   3. Paste the prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and replace the bracketed slots with the workplace or activity details.
   4. Copy the generated table into the document or spreadsheet, then add the actual hazards, possible harms, existing controls, responsible people and review arrangements.
   5. Walk through the activity with the workers who do it and compare each row with what happens in practice, adding hazards or controls the template missed.
   6. Check the likelihood, severity and risk ratings against the stated scoring method, and ask a competent health and safety colleague to challenge the controls and residual risks.
   7. Send the completed assessment to the responsible manager for approval, assign the recorded actions and set the review date or trigger.

   Prompt

   Create a UK workplace risk assessment template for [workplace or activity]. This is a blank template, not a completed assessment, and it must not invent hazards, controls, legal requirements or workplace facts.
   
   Use clear British English and make it suitable for editing in a word processor or spreadsheet. Include sections for:
   - assessment title, location, activity and date
   - assessor, responsible manager and review date
   - people who may be harmed, including employees, contractors, visitors and members of the public where relevant
   - hazard and possible harm
   - existing controls
   - initial risk rating, with clearly defined likelihood and severity scales and a transparent scoring method
   - further controls or actions required
   - action owner and target date
   - residual risk rating after the further controls
   - completion status, approval and sign-off
   
   Add concise instructions beside each field. Include a table layout and a short explanation of how to use it. State that the scoring method is a planning aid and does not replace competent assessment or compliance with current UK health and safety requirements. Add a final checklist covering consultation with affected workers, implementation of controls, recording actions and setting a review trigger. Do not claim that the template is legally sufficient for every workplace. Where information is missing, mark it as [TO COMPLETE] rather than guessing.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.