<div style="max-width: 740px; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px 2px; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(65, 72, 86); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><div style="display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 8px; margin: 0px 0px 14px;"><p>FOOD SAFE JOURNAL</p></div><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 14px; color: rgb(14, 20, 34); letter-spacing: -0.02em; text-align: left; font-size: 32px; line-height: 1.2;"><strong>Safety Statements and Risk Assessments, in Plain English</strong></h1><div style="width: 74px; height: 4px; border-radius: 3px; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background: linear-gradient(90deg, #65C93E 0%, #4EA82A 100%);"><p></p></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(44, 51, 64);"><strong>Two documents come up in every health and safety conversation in Ireland, and they get confused constantly: the risk assessment and the safety statement. They are not the same thing, and one is built out of the other.</strong></p><h2 style="margin: 42px 0px 14px; color: rgb(14, 20, 34); letter-spacing: -0.01em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(230, 232, 236); padding-bottom: 9px; text-align: left; font-size: 23px; line-height: 1.25;"><strong>The difference, briefly</strong></h2><ul style="margin: 18px 0px 8px; padding: 6px 0px; list-style: none; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 232, 236); border-radius: 16px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="color: rgb(65, 72, 86); margin: 0px; padding: 15px 22px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.55;"><strong>A risk assessment</strong> identifies a hazard, works out who might be harmed and how badly, and records the controls you are putting in place. You have one per significant hazard.</li><li style="color: rgb(65, 72, 86); margin: 0px; padding: 15px 22px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(237, 239, 242); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.55;"><strong>A safety statement</strong> is the overall document for the business. It sets out your policy, who is responsible for what, and the arrangements you have made — and it is based on your risk assessments.</li></ul><p style="margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.72; color: rgb(65, 72, 86);">So the order is: identify hazards, assess the risks, then write the statement that describes how you are managing them. Writing the statement first, from a template, is why so many of them describe a business that does not exist.</p><h2 style="margin: 42px 0px 14px; color: rgb(14, 20, 34); letter-spacing: -0.01em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(230, 232, 236); padding-bottom: 9px; text-align: left; font-size: 23px; line-height: 1.25;"><strong>What the law expects</strong></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.72; color: rgb(65, 72, 86);">The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 places general duties on employers, including identifying hazards and assessing risks, preparing a safety statement, and providing the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to protect employees. It is a duty framed around what is reasonably practicable, not a fixed checklist — which is precisely why a generic document fails it.</p><h2 style="margin: 42px 0px 14px; color: rgb(14, 20, 34); letter-spacing: -0.01em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(230, 232, 236); padding-bottom: 9px; text-align: left; font-size: 23px; line-height: 1.25;"><strong>Writing a risk assessment that is worth having</strong></h2><ol style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding-left: 22px; color: rgb(65, 72, 86); font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.72;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 9px;"><strong>Identify the hazard</strong> — be specific. Not 'kitchen', but 'deep fat fryer' or 'wet floor at the pot wash'.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 9px;"><strong>Decide who might be harmed</strong> — including young workers, agency staff, pregnant employees, cleaners and contractors who are not there during service.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 9px;"><strong>Evaluate the risk</strong> — how likely, how severe. A simple matrix is enough; the number is less important than the ranking it forces you to do.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 9px;"><strong>Record the controls</strong> — what you have already done, and what you are going to do, by when and by whom.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 9px;"><strong>Review</strong> — when the job changes, after an incident, and periodically.</li></ol><h2 style="margin: 42px 0px 14px; color: rgb(14, 20, 34); letter-spacing: -0.01em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(230, 232, 236); padding-bottom: 9px; text-align: left; font-size: 23px; line-height: 1.25;"><strong>The hazards a hospitality safety statement usually misses</strong></h2><ul style="margin: 18px 0px 8px; padding: 6px 0px; list-style: none; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 232, 236); border-radius: 16px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="color: rgb(65, 72, 86); margin: 0px; padding: 15px 22px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.55;">Wet and contaminated floors — the most common cause of injury in kitchens, and the easiest to under-rate.</li><li style="color: rgb(65, 72, 86); margin: 0px; padding: 15px 22px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(237, 239, 242); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.55;">Deep fat fryers — burns, and the fire risk of filtering or moving hot oil.</li><li style="color: rgb(65, 72, 86); margin: 0px; padding: 15px 22px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(237, 239, 242); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.55;">Knives, mandolins and slicers, including during cleaning, which is when most cuts happen.</li><li style="color: rgb(65, 72, 86); margin: 0px; padding: 15px 22px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(237, 239, 242); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.55;">Manual handling of deliveries and cellar work.</li><li style="color: rgb(65, 72, 86); margin: 0px; padding: 15px 22px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(237, 239, 242); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.55;">Lone working — early openers, late closers, and anyone doing a cash lodgement.</li><li style="color: rgb(65, 72, 86); margin: 0px; padding: 15px 22px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(237, 239, 242); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.55;">Young workers — different rules apply, and hospitality employs a lot of them.</li></ul><h2 style="margin: 42px 0px 14px; color: rgb(14, 20, 34); letter-spacing: -0.01em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(230, 232, 236); padding-bottom: 9px; text-align: left; font-size: 23px; line-height: 1.25;"><strong>The test of a good one</strong></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.72; color: rgb(65, 72, 86);">A safety statement that lives in a drawer has failed regardless of how well it is written. The test is simple: can a supervisor tell you what is in it that applies to their area, without reading it?</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.72; color: rgb(65, 72, 86);">If the answer is no, the document is a compliance artefact rather than a safety measure — and in the event of an incident, that will be evident to everyone.</p><ol style="margin: 18px 0px; padding: 22px 24px 22px 44px; background: rgb(245, 250, 230); border: 1px solid rgb(226, 239, 176); border-radius: 16px; color: rgb(65, 72, 86); font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.72;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Walk the building with someone who works there and list the real hazards.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Write an assessment for each significant one, and name who owns the control.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Build the safety statement from those assessments, not from a template.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Brief every employee on the parts that affect them, and record that you did.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Review after any incident, any change to the job, and at least annually.</li></ol><blockquote style="margin: 34px 0px; padding: 30px 28px; background: linear-gradient(155deg, rgb(19, 32, 59) 0%, rgb(11, 16, 32) 100%); border-radius: 18px; box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); letter-spacing: -0.01em; text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;"><strong>The templates, and the training behind them.</strong></h3><p style="margin: 0px 0px 14px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.65; color: rgb(201, 210, 228);">The Risk Assessment Pack includes nine pre-filled assessments for hospitality hazards plus a safety statement skeleton — and Health & Safety at Work covers the duties they sit under.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px;"><a href="/health-and-safety-courses" style="display: inline-block; background: #65C93E; color: rgb(14, 20, 34); text-decoration: none; font-weight: 800; font-size: 16px; padding: 13px 24px; border-radius: 10px;">See health & safety training</a></p></blockquote><hr><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(107, 114, 128);"><strong>Sources</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(107, 114, 128);">Health and Safety Authority — <a href="https://www.hsa.ie/" style="color: rgb(46, 95, 208); text-decoration: underline; text-underline-offset: 2px; font-weight: 600;">https://www.hsa.ie/</a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(107, 114, 128);">HSA — Safety statement and risk assessment — <a href="https://www.hsa.ie/eng/topics/managing_health_and_safety/safety_statement_and_risk_assessment/" style="color: rgb(46, 95, 208); text-decoration: underline; text-underline-offset: 2px; font-weight: 600;">https://www.hsa.ie/eng/topics/managing_health_and_safety/safety_statement_and_risk_assessment/</a></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(107, 114, 128);">This article is general guidance, not legal advice. Your own HACCP plan, safety statement and the officer inspecting your premises are what govern your business.</p></div>

Every employer in Ireland needs a safety statement based on written risk assessments. What each one is, how they differ, and how to write one that is actually used.

Safety Statements and Risk Assessments, in Plain English

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Safety Statements and Risk Assessments, in Plain English

Safety Statements and Risk Assessments, in Plain English

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