Recently for several different reasons I have been thinking about (and carrying out) risk assessments. In principle it’s a brilliant idea. The ones I have completed required me to assess the likelihood of the risk of harm on a scale of 1-4 and the severity of any possible harm on a scale of 1-4, and then multiply those two numbers to get a value for the level of risk on a scale of 1-16. Anything over 7 is unacceptable and action must be taken to reduce the risk. Between 4-6 the moderate risk may or may not be acceptable, but further steps to reduce it should be considered. Less than 4 is acceptable, but if it can be reduced further, excellent.

It can seem like a bureaucratic pen-pushing exercise or ‘health and safety gone mad’ to use the popular exclamation. But it is not asking you to be silly or to imagine the unexpected (by definition). It is asking you to consider possibilities and the level of risk of your activities and then reduce the risk to acceptable levels. Surely that is a good thing? Surely it is right to weigh things up, consider possibilities and seek to make things as safe as possible. I think they are a good thing and an important thing and am all for them. What follows is not a criticism of risk assessments, it is intended as a bit of fun.

Be blessed, be a blessing