What this is
What is a pre-task risk assessment?
What is a pre-task risk assessment?
A short check at the point of work, immediately before the task, confirming that the conditions the written assessment assumed still hold and identifying anything different today. It concludes with a decision to proceed, proceed with additional controls, or stop.
How is it different from the written risk assessment?
The written assessment is prepared in advance and describes the task in general. The pre-task assessment is performed by the people doing the work, on the day, and addresses the specific conditions in front of them. One establishes the controls; the other confirms they still apply.
Scope
When is a pre-task risk assessment required?
A short check immediately before work, based on an existing written assessment. It is not a substitute for one.
Use this template when
- Immediately before a task covered by a written assessment, at the location
- Where conditions vary between occasions: outdoor work, shared sites, changing layouts
- When the crew, equipment or timing differs from the assumption in the written assessment
- After any interruption to the work where conditions may have changed
- As part of a permit process, confirming conditions at the point of issue
Do not use it for
- The written task risk assessment, which establishes the hazards and controls in advance
- Permit to work, which authorises a high-risk activity with its own gates and closure
- Toolbox talk, which is a briefing rather than an assessment of today's conditions
- Plant and equipment pre-use inspection, which checks the equipment rather than the conditions
- Method statement, which describes how the work will be performed
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 45001 cl.8.1 requirements does this satisfy?
Pre-task assessment sits within operational control rather than in a standard of its own.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Operational planning and control, with criteria for processes and control according to those criteria | Header |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.2 | Hierarchy of controls applied, with additional controls where conditions differ | Today's controls |
| ISO 45001 cl.5.4 | Consultation and participation of workers, which this operationalises at the point of work | What is different today |
| ISO 45001 cl.7.3 | Awareness including the ability to remove oneself from situations of imminent danger | Decision |
| OSHA 1926 Subpart P | Competent person inspection before each shift and after rain, an example of a mandated pre-task check | What is different today |
| OSHA 1910.132(d) | Hazard assessment determining PPE, which the pre-task check confirms remains appropriate | Today's controls |
| HSE Management Regs reg.3 | Assessment kept under review, with review triggered when it may no longer be valid | Decision |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4 | Coordination with contractors where more than one party works in the same area | What is different today |
What it does not cover
- The written task risk assessment, which establishes the hazards and controls and must exist first.
- Permit to work, which authorises specified high-risk activities with formal gates and closure.
- Method statement, describing the sequence and method rather than assessing conditions.
- Pre-use equipment inspection, which examines the plant rather than the environment.
- Toolbox talk, which communicates rather than assesses.
How to complete it
How to complete a pre-task risk assessment, step by step
Three questions, honestly answered, in about two minutes.
Weather and ground condition, access and egress, adjacent work and who else is in the area, crew composition and experience, equipment available versus equipment assumed, and time pressure. Each is observable at the location and none can be answered from the office.
Standing where the work will happen, immediately before starting. A pre-task assessment completed in a vehicle, at a depot, or at the start of a shift for work happening later has assessed conditions that may no longer exist and, more importantly, has not looked at them.
The decision field should offer proceed, proceed with additional controls, or stop and escalate. Where the form only records proceeding, the crew learns that the assessment has one permitted outcome. Recording the occasions when work was stopped or modified is the evidence the process functions.
If the same difference appears week after week, it is not a variation. Access always blocked, equipment always unavailable, crew always one short. That is a gap in the written assessment or in the planning, and the pre-task record is where it becomes visible if anyone reads the accumulation.
What auditors find
Most common pre-task risk assessment findings
Findings here concern whether the check is real.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-task form duplicates the written assessment's hazard list. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Ask what is different from the assumption; duplication guarantees disengagement. |
| Completed away from the location or before the day of work. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Perform at the point of work immediately before starting. |
| No outcome other than proceed available on the form. | ISO 45001 cl.7.3 | Include stop and escalate; a single-outcome assessment is not a decision. |
| Same difference recorded repeatedly with no change to the written assessment. | HSE Management Regs reg.3 | Repeated variation is a gap in the underlying assessment, not a daily condition. |
| Adjacent work and other parties not considered on shared sites. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4 | Include who else is working nearby; interface hazards belong to nobody by default. |
| Signed by a supervisor rather than the crew performing the work. | ISO 45001 cl.5.4 | The crew performs it; a supervisory signature records approval rather than assessment. |
| No written assessment exists behind the pre-task check. | ISO 45001 cl.6.1.2 | The pre-task check confirms an assessment; it cannot substitute for one. |
| Work resumed after a long interruption without rechecking. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Recheck after interruptions; conditions and adjacent activity change while work is paused. |
| Additional controls identified but not implemented before starting. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1.2 | Implement before proceeding; identifying a control and starting anyway is worse than not identifying it. |
| Records never reviewed in aggregate. | ISO 45001 cl.9.1 | Read the accumulation; the pattern of differences is the useful output. |
Case in point
Case in point: the form completed in the van
A maintenance contractor introduced a pre-task assessment card for every job. It listed the hazards from the written assessment, the standard controls, and a signature line. Compliance was excellent: cards were completed for every job and filed.
A review of six months of cards found that the handwriting on most of them was uniform across the whole day, including for jobs at sites the crew reached hours apart. The cards were being completed at the start of the shift, in the van, before anyone had seen any of the locations.
The crew were not being negligent. The card asked questions they could answer from memory, because it duplicated a document they already knew, so completing it in advance cost nothing and saved time at each site.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
4 sections
- Reference
- SAF-059
- Archetype
- Assessment
- Record ID
- PTRA-2026-000
- Scoring
- Risk band
- Direction
- High is bad
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- ISO 45001 cl.8.1
- Links
- Links JSA, Job
- Tags
- Risk, Task, Leading
- Sections
- 4
- Fields
- 32
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 0
- Links out
- 3
Header
12 fieldsAssessment ID*
Auto sequence. Format PTRA-2026-0000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Crew Size*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Area*
The area within the site.
Exact Location
Drop a pin for anything hard to find.
Task*
Job ID*
Format JOB-000.
Links to FDN-004 Job Task ID
JSA ID
The standing assessment this task normally works to.
Links to SAF-058 JSA ID
Duration Minutes
This should take two or three minutes, done at the workface.
What is different today
10 fieldsThe Whole Point
The standing assessment covers the normal day. This covers today. Weather, people, equipment, adjacent work and time pressure are what change between shifts.
Different People Or Crew*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Different Equipment*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Different Location Or Layout*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Weather Or Environment Changed*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Adjacent Work Happening*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Time Pressure Today*
- None3 pts
- Some1 pt
- High0 pts
Anyone New To This Task*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Anyone Fatigued Or Unwell*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
What Changed Detail
Only complete where something is different.
Today's controls
5 fieldsStanding Controls Still Adequate*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Extra Controls Needed*
Extra Controls Detail
Everyone Understands The Plan*
- Pass2 pts
- Partial1 pt
- Fail0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Stop Work Trigger Agreed*
Agree in advance what would make you stop.
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Decision
5 fieldsSafe To Proceed*
- Yes3 pts
- No, escalated0 pts
Escalated To Supervisor
Case ID
Where work could not proceed safely, raise it so the standing assessment gets updated.
Thread key
Crew Lead*
Signature*
SAF-059 · record IDs look like PTRA-2026-000 · Links JSA, Job
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The check is two minutes at the point of work. What fails is the form that could be completed in a van and the pattern nobody read.
Presents the written assessment's assumptions and asks only what differs today, captured at the location on a device rather than on a card.
Reads the accumulation of recorded differences and surfaces repeated variations as gaps in the written assessment or in planning.
Covers shared sites where adjacent work creates interface hazards that neither party's own assessment addresses.
Connects equipment availability to the check, since equipment assumed and equipment present are frequently different.
This template lives in KnowSafe — safety and compliance. Incidents, hazards, permits, inspections and the critical controls behind them.
Meet KnowSafe→Glossary
Pre-Task Risk Assessment definitions and key terms
- Point of work
- The physical location where the task will be performed, and the only place a pre-task assessment can meaningfully be completed.
- Dynamic risk assessment
- Continuous reassessment during the task as conditions change, of which the pre-task check is the starting point.
- Go or no-go decision
- The explicit conclusion of the check: proceed, proceed with additional controls, or stop and escalate.
- Interface hazard
- Risk arising where two parties or activities meet, which neither party's own assessment covers.
- Written assessment
- The prepared task assessment establishing hazards and controls, which the pre-task check confirms remains valid.
- Escalation
- Referral upward where conditions differ enough that the crew cannot make the controls adequate on their own.
- Stop work authority
- The explicit right of any worker to halt an activity they believe is unsafe, without which the stop option is nominal.
- Repeated variation
- A difference recorded so often that it is a condition rather than a variation, indicating a gap in planning or assessment.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about pre-task risk assessment
What should the pre-task check actually ask?+
What is different from what the written assessment assumed: weather and ground, access and egress, who else is working nearby, crew composition and experience, equipment available against equipment expected, and time pressure. Those are observable at the location and cannot be answered from memory, which is what makes the check real.
Why not list the hazards again?+
Because the crew already knows them from the written assessment, so the form asks nothing and becomes a signature exercise. The commonest failure mode is a pre-task card that duplicates the underlying document, and it degrades within weeks into something completed in advance.
Who should complete it?+
The people performing the work, at the location, immediately before starting. A supervisor's signature records approval rather than assessment, and the point of the check is that the people exposed have looked at the conditions themselves and reached a decision about them.
What does a working process look like in the records?+
Some proportion of checks concluding in additional controls or in stopping. Where every card records proceed, either conditions never vary or the check is not being performed honestly, and the second is far more likely. Occasions when work was modified or halted are the evidence that the process functions.
What do we do with repeated differences?+
Feed them into the written assessment or the planning. Access always obstructed, equipment always missing, crew always short: these are conditions rather than variations, and the pre-task record is where they become visible in aggregate. Reading the accumulation is the step most organisations skip.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Critical Control and Fatal Risk
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Risk Assessment
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More in Risk Studies
Job Safety Analysis
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Task Risk Assessment
A fuller assessment of a task, its hazards and its controls, using the shared risk method
Hazard Identification Study
A structured search for hazards across an area, process or new installation
Bowtie Analysis
Maps a major hazard from its causes through to its consequences, and shows which barriers sit in between
What If Study
A guided team discussion asking what could go wrong at each stage of a process
Change Risk Review
Assesses the risk created by a proposed change before it goes ahead
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- ISO 45001:2018 clauses 8.1, 8.1.2, 8.1.4 and 7.3
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3 (GB)
- 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P, excavations, competent person inspection requirements, OSHA
- 29 CFR 1910.132(d), hazard assessment for personal protective equipment, OSHA
- HSE guidance on risk assessment and dynamic assessment at the point of work
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.