Understanding Construction Risk Assessments on Building Sites in 2025

Understanding Construction Risk Assessments | Work Wallet explores how modern construction teams can use risk assessments and mandatory occurrence reporting systems to prevent incidents and stay compliant in 2025.

Understanding Construction Risk Assessments

In 2025, the construction industry continues to face significant safety challenges, with the latest HSE data reporting over 58,000 non-fatal injuries and 39 fatal incidents in the past year alone. Alarmingly, falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace deaths, a tragic reminder that adequate risk assessments and robust reporting systems are still not consistently implemented across the sector.

Every fatality represents a person who simply went to work and didn’t return home, and that’s unacceptable.

Risk Assessments Are More Than a Box-Ticking Exercise

At Work Wallet, we know that a risk assessment isn’t just a formality; it’s one of the most critical tools for preventing workplace incidents and protecting lives. Supported by digital platforms like ours, risk assessments can now be completed more quickly, accurately, and in real-time, ensuring that site managers, contractors, and workers are aware of potential dangers before work even begins.

It’s a legal duty under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 for employers to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, and it must account for the specific nature of the job, the environment, and the people involved.

The Five Steps to Risk Assessment Still Apply

Even with new technology, the fundamentals remain unchanged:

1. Identify hazards relevant to the specific job and environment
2. Determine who may be harmed and how
3. Evaluate the risk and decide on effective control measures
4. Record the findings and ensure controls are in place
5. Review and update the assessment regularly

Where many businesses fall short is failing to make these assessments site-specific. A generic template might look neat, but it won’t account for the difference between laying bricks on ground level and laying them atop a scaffolded roof in poor weather conditions.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

In one recent case, a construction firm was fined £260,000, plus costs, after a worker suffered life-changing injuries following a fall through an unprotected opening. A simple, well-executed risk assessment could have flagged this and prevented the incident.

That’s why Work Wallet exists: to provide teams with digital tools that make mandatory occurrence reporting and risk assessments quicker to complete, easier to share, and more effective in preventing harm.

Don’t Start Work Without It

Before work starts on site, ask:

• Where is the risk assessment?
• Is it suitable, sufficient, and site-specific?
• Has it been reviewed recently?

And crucially, has your team got a live, accessible reporting system in place for raising and acting on incidents?

Supporting Mandatory Occurrence Reporting

Work Wallet also helps construction teams operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system, as required under the Building Safety Act for higher-risk buildings. Our platform enables the prompt capture of incidents, streamlined communication between principal contractors and accountable persons, and real-time reporting to the Building Safety Regulator; all within a single app.

When lives are at stake, there’s no room for assumptions. With Work Wallet, you’re never left guessing about risk, and never left behind when it comes to compliance.

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