Kitchen risk assessment template: free printable UK template with a worked example

A kitchen risk assessment is a check of what in your kitchen could hurt staff or customers, how likely it is, and what you do to prevent it. Every UK employer must do one by law. If you have five or more employees, you must write down the significant findings. Our free template below is a blank form you can print straight from this page, plus a filled-in example for a small takeaway kitchen covering slips, burns, knives, gas, cleaning chemicals, manual handling, fire and allergens.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. In Great Britain, the HSE and your council enforce health and safety; in Northern Ireland it's HSENI and your council.

Is a kitchen risk assessment a legal requirement?

Yes. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require every employer to assess the risks to employees and anyone else affected by their work, such as customers and delivery drivers. HSE puts it simply: identify hazards, decide how likely and how serious harm could be, then remove the hazard or control the risk.

Do you have to write it down? If you have fewer than five employees, the law doesn't require you to write anything down, though it helps. With five or more, you must record the significant findings (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, reg. 3(6)). Either way, the assessment itself is required.

Kitchen risk assessment vs HACCP: they're different. A risk assessment protects people at work (burns, slips, cuts). Your HACCP plan or Safer Food, Better Business protects the food (bacteria, allergens, contamination). You need both.

How to do a kitchen risk assessment in 5 steps

1. Find the hazards. Walk the kitchen at a busy time. Ask staff what nearly went wrong recently. Look at your accident book.
2. Decide who could be harmed and how. Chefs, kitchen porters, front-of-house, cleaners, young workers, new or expectant mothers, contractors, customers.
3. Check what you already do and what else you need. Remove the hazard if you can, then reduce it, then protect people (equipment, training, PPE).
4. Record your findings (required with five or more employees) and tell your staff.
5. Review it when something changes (new fryer, new menu, new layout, an accident) and at set intervals, such as yearly.

HSE warns against copying an example word for word. Use ours as a starting point and change it to fit your kitchen.

Blank kitchen risk assessment template (print this page)

Print this section on A4 landscape (Ctrl+P on Windows, Cmd+P on a Mac), or copy the table into Word or Excel. It follows the HSE template columns, plus a "Done" column so you can show what you've fixed. Fill it in by hand on a walk round the kitchen, then use the worked example below for ideas.

Business name: ____________________ · Address: ____________________

Number of employees: ______ (5 or more: you must record the significant findings)

Assessed by: ____________________ · Date: ______ · Next review date: ______

Other assessments (tick when done):

• Fire risk assessment
• COSHH assessment for each cleaning chemical
• HACCP plan or Safer Food, Better Business
• Allergen procedure and allergen matrix
• Young workers (under 18) considered
• New and expectant mothers considered

Review log:

Signed: ______ (owner/manager) · Date: ______

Worked example: risk assessment for a small takeaway kitchen

Example only. Business: a takeaway with 6 staff, two fryers, a gas range, a pizza oven, a walk-in fridge and a pot wash.

Signed: ______ (owner/manager) · Date: ______ · Review date: ______

Other assessments a food business needs

Tips for a risk assessment that works

• Involve the team. The person on the pot wash knows where the floor gets slippery.
• Be specific. "Slips" is vague. "Water from the pot-wash tap pools by the walk-in" is useful.
• Fix the cheap things now. A new tap washer or a trolley costs less than one injury.
• Make it visible. Turn key controls into kitchen safety posters and add them to new-starter training.
• Build checks into the day. Put daily checks (floors, gas off, fridge temperatures) on your opening and closing checklists.
• Keep your accident book and review it when you review the assessment.
• Gas work is for Gas Safe engineers only. Ask to see their Gas Safe ID card.

Calmer service means a safer kitchen

Rushes cause accidents: tickets shouted across the pass, phones ringing, the fryer left unattended. Getting orders in clearly helps.

With Menuthere, customers order collection, delivery or at the table from your own ordering page, and orders arrive as kitchen tickets on your printer, dashboard and phone. You can use scheduled orders (Lite and above) to spread busy periods across time slots, and tag each dish's allergens and calories so customers see them before they order (every plan, including Free). There's 0% commission.

Thinking about screens on the pass? Read about.

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