At Some Point, a Risk Assessment Isn't the Answer

I once had to do a risk assessment for someone working in a sewer, two metres underground, in a tsunami zone, after an earthquake, during a global pandemic.

At some point, surely, the question stops being:

“What other controls can we add?”

And becomes: “Should we even be doing this right now?”

That’s the bit risk assessments sometimes miss.

We decide the job is happening, then keep piling controls onto it until the paperwork says we’re comfortable.

But a risk assessment isn’t permission to continue. It’s there to help make a decision.

Sometimes that decision needs to be: Nah. Not today.

Conditions change. Plans should be allowed to change with them and sometimes the smartest control isn’t another line on the form.

It’s a full stop.