How to regularly review and update tour risk assessments

To keep your tour business safe and legally compliant, you must formally review your risk assessments at least once every 12 months, or immediately following a significant change such as a new route, a change in legislation, or an accident. This process ensures that your safety measures remain effective and that you are prepared for the realities of operating in the field.

Why regular reviews are essential

In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) requires business owners to provide a safe environment for staff and customers. Risk assessments are not "set and forget" documents. As your business evolves, new hazards may emerge. Regular reviews help you identify these shifts before they lead to an incident, helping you maintain a high standard of care and protecting your reputation.

When to trigger a review

While an annual check is the absolute minimum requirement, several situations should prompt an immediate update to your documentation:

• New routes or locations: If you change the path of your tour or visit a new site, you must assess the specific hazards of that new area.
• After an incident or near-miss: If something goes wrong, it is proof that your current controls might be insufficient. You must review the assessment to prevent a recurrence.
• Changes in staff or equipment: If you hire new guides with different experience levels or start using new vehicles or gear, your risk profile changes.
• Feedback from the ground: If a guide or a customer points out a potential danger that isn't on your list, update it immediately.

Steps to complete your review

1. Gather your data: Look at your accident book, customer feedback forms, and any notes from your guides over the past year.
2. Physical walkthrough: If possible, walk the tour route yourself. Look for physical changes like eroded paths, new road layouts, or changes in local traffic patterns.
3. Evaluate existing controls: Look at the "controls" you put in place last year. Are they actually being followed? Are they working? If a guide finds a specific safety rule too difficult to follow, you need to find a more practical solution that still manages the risk.
4. Identify new hazards: Have any new risks appeared? This could be anything from a new building site on your route to a change in local weather patterns that makes a certain area slippery.
5. Update the document: Record the date of the review and any changes made. If no changes were needed, still record that the review took place.

Best practices for documentation

Documentation is your primary defense if a legal claim is ever made against your business. Always use version control on your documents. For example, label them as "Risk Assessment - City Walk - v2.0 (Jan 2024)".

Always ensure your staff have read and understood the latest version of the risk assessment. A document sitting in a folder is useless unless the people leading the tours know what it says.

Finally, keep your language simple. The goal isn't to sound like a lawyer; it's to provide clear instructions that keep people safe. Use active verbs and clear directions to ensure everyone knows exactly what to do to mitigate a risk.