Risk assessment training online in the UK: where to train and what employers look for

What employers look for in an online risk assessment certificate

Your employer decides who carries out its risk assessments and what training they need. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees and others, and regulation 7 requires competent help to do it. When an employer checks a certificate, they usually look for:

• Content that follows the current regulations and HSE guidance. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in Great Britain, the 2000 Regulations in Northern Ireland, and the HSE's five steps.
• A clear, verifiable record. The course name, hours of learning and completion date, with a way to confirm the certificate.
• The essentials every assessor needs. Hazards and who might be harmed, rating likelihood and severity, the hierarchy of control, recording significant findings and reviewing after changes and incidents.
• A refresh date. Risk assessments must be reviewed when things change, and employers expect the people who write them to keep their knowledge current, so a refresh date matters.

Lift College's certificate does each of these. It records Risk Assessment Training, 2 hours of learning, your completion date and a recommended refresh date 3 years on, with a unique certificate number and a verification link. For complex or high hazard work your employer may also want assessors with a formal qualification such as the IOSH or NEBOSH courses. For most workplaces, an awareness course like this one plus knowledge of your own site is what they ask for.

What the Lift College course covers

There are 5 short modules, each with a knowledge check, then a multiple choice final test with an 80% pass mark and unlimited free retakes.

1. Why risk assessment matters. Hazards and risks, the legal duty on every employer, and what suitable and sufficient means in practice.
2. Steps 1 and 2: hazards and who might be harmed. Identifying hazards and who might be harmed, including people at particular risk such as new and young workers, new and expectant mothers and lone workers.
3. Step 3: evaluating the risk. Likelihood and severity, and choosing controls using the hierarchy from elimination and substitution down to personal protective equipment.
4. Step 4: recording. Recording the significant findings, writing an action plan and sharing it with the people affected.
5. Step 5: reviewing. Reviewing and updating after changes, incidents and near misses, and the specific assessments the regulations require such as COSHH, manual handling and display screen equipment.

By the end you can work through the five steps on a real task, rate a risk and choose a proportionate control, write up the significant findings so colleagues can use them, and know when an assessment must be reviewed.

The law and guidance it is written around

• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3 (Great Britain). Every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees and others, review it, and record the significant findings where there are five or more employees.
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 13 (Great Britain). Employers must consider employees' capabilities and give adequate health and safety training when they start and when risks change.
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 (Northern Ireland). The equivalent regulations, with the same duty to assess and record risk.
• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 (England, Wales and Scotland). The general duty on employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees, including the provision of information, instruction, training and supervision. Northern Ireland has the same duty in the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

How Lift College compares with other UK providers

Details below are as each provider shows them on its own course page, checked 23 October 2026. "Check provider" means the page did not state it.

With Lift College the £19.99 is the full price for one learner, with nothing added at checkout, and the refresher is free when your recommended refresh date arrives. Retakes of the final test are free and unlimited.

Who it suits

Risk Assessment Training is for anyone who writes, reviews or contributes to risk assessments in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is for you if:

• you manage or supervise a team and are responsible for its risk assessments
• you have been asked to help with or review risk assessments
• you run a small business and need to do your own
• you are a health and safety representative
• you want a clear refresh of the five steps

Risk assessment sits on top of general workplace safety: see our health and safety guide. The specific assessments the regulations require are covered in our COSHH guide and our lone working guide. See every course on the health and safety courses page or browse all Lift College CPD courses. Buying for a team? Ask about team enrolment.

Enrol on Risk Assessment Training for £19.99 and start module 1 the minute you pay. Ask within 14 days of paying and we refund you in full.