Leaders & Safety

Example Risk Assessments

This site includes a collection of example Risk Assessments to support leaders in planning activities safely.

They are provided as guidance only and must be reviewed and adapted for your own activity and setting.

👉 View the Risk Assessment index

Important: Risk Assessments on this site

The Risk Assessments provided on this site are examples and starting points only.

They are not intended to be copied, reused, or relied on without review.

Your responsibility as a leader

  • You must review and adapt any example Risk Assessment to your own activity.
  • You must consider your section, location, equipment, numbers, and supervision.
  • You are responsible for creating and approving a Risk Assessment that is suitable for your local context and follows current Scouts guidance.

Even if two activities look similar, risk assessments are not transferable without review.

How to use the example Risk Assessments

  1. Read the example Risk Assessment linked to an activity.
  2. Use it to identify common hazards and control measures.
  3. Adapt or recreate it for your own setting.
  4. Review it with your leadership team as required.
  5. Keep your own version under review.

If an activity does not yet link to an example Risk Assessment, do not run it until you have created and reviewed one.

Use these as the reference point for how risk assessments should be approached and reviewed:

How editing works (for contributors)

This website is edited in the CMS and stored in GitHub.

Activities can link to a Risk Assessment using a dropdown in the CMS.

  • A Risk Assessment’s “ID” is the automatically generated slug/filename made from its Title. Example: a title “Soldering Basics” becomes ra_soldering-basics.
  • Do not rename a Risk Assessment slug/filename after it has been used, because Activities may stop linking correctly.
  1. In the CMS, create the Risk Assessment first:
    • Fill in the hazards table and review date.
    • Save it.
  2. Then create (or edit) the Activity:
    • Select the Risk Assessment from the Risk Assessment dropdown.
    • Save/publish the Activity.

Drafts are allowed (not a blocker)

You can create an Activity without linking a Risk Assessment yet (for drafting). However, leaders should link an RA before using/publishing the activity. Activities with no linked RA will show “Not linked yet”.

How to use this site

  1. Pick an activity.
  2. Check the At a glance box (time, difficulty, supervision).
  3. Open the linked Risk Assessment and follow the controls.
  4. Use the external tutorial links if needed.
  5. Use badge links only as references (requirements change).

Editorial / Quality notes

  • Keep activities short and scannable.
  • Avoid copying badge requirement text; link to official sources instead.
  • Risk Assessments should be reviewed regularly (see review dates).