Environmental risk assessment

What you need to know

The plain-English guidance that comes with this document.

• This is the small-business version — on purpose. Big firms run a full Environmental Management System with a separate assessment for emissions to air, contamination of land, and so on. A sole trader or micro-business doesn't need any of that. This one form captures the handful of impacts that actually apply to you, in plain language — and it's a far more honest starting point for a tender than a stack of assessments no one will read.
• The trade starter is a prompt, not the answer. The "typical impacts" list is pre-filled for your kind of business to get you going. Tick off what fits, cross out what doesn't, and add anything specific to how you work. The value is in your version being true.
• Pair it with your environmental policy. The policy says what you're committed to; this assessment is where you show you've actually looked at your impacts and set real actions. Together they're what a client's procurement questionnaire is really asking for.
• Actions with dates beat good intentions. "Reduce waste" achieves nothing; "switch to a recycling collection by September" does. Put a date against each further action, even a rough one, and check them off next time you review.
• Know your legal must-dos. Some items here aren't optional: the waste duty of care (only use registered carriers, keep transfer notes), separating recycling under Simpler Recycling (England: workplaces of 10+ since March 2025, under-10 from March 2027; Wales already, and stricter), and proper disposal of hazardous waste. Get those nailed first, then improve from there.
• Review it, and date it. An environmental assessment with an old date reads as forgotten. Look at it again when your work changes or once a year, and keep the signed copy handy for when it's asked for.
• Applies UK-wide, but the detail is devolved. Environmental and waste law genuinely differs across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — more than most business rules. The approach here works everywhere; check your nation's specific waste and recycling duties before relying on the detail.