Risk assessment – bar work 

Although pulling pints isn’t the most dangerous activity in the world, there are risks associated with the work that should be identified and managed accordingly. Our risk assessment identifies what to look out for and what to do.

What’s covered?

To the untrained eye, working behind a bar and serving drinks may seem to be a low risk activity that wouldn’t need to be covered with a risk assessment. However, if you look a bit deeper, you will realise that there are potential risks that need to be recorded and appropriate control measures identified.

The significant hazards identified include:

• working at height
• manual handling
• sharps
• the threat of violence; and
• handling potentially hazardous substances.

Managing the risks

To help you identify the hazards associated with bar work and the appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment – Bar Work. It covers the generic hazards associated with this type of activity and suggests control measures to reduce risks to an acceptable level.

Make your instructions clear

Don’t include activities in your document that simply don’t need to be there. Work to the principle that if there is any chance of your staff being unaware of the safe way of doing something, then you will need to make it clear in your document. Finally, always ensure that any control measures you identify and follow are decided upon the principle of “so far as is reasonably practicable”.