Remote hazard identification and risk assessment
The public record names physical, psychosocial and environmental risks, and calls for hazard identification, risk assessment and review of controls as circumstances change.
The consultation release says the draft offers practical guidance for home working, mobile roles, client sites and other remote locations, and that it includes practical examples, flowcharts and checklists for hazard identification, risk assessment and the ongoing review of controls as circumstances change.
It names the distinct challenges remote work can introduce: increased isolation, reduced access to supervision and support, and a broader range of physical, psychosocial and environmental risks. For a hazard identification process that means the workstation, the electrical supply, the environment, the journey, the lone-working situation and the boundary between work and rest all sit inside the scope.
A remote assessment cannot depend on a site walk. The practitioner summary names self-assessment questionnaires, photographs, video calls and checklists as ways to gather the information, and the public release's checklist framing is consistent with that. The assessment still has to weigh severity and likelihood, take account of existing controls and record who decided what.
The trigger list matters as much as the first assessment. A move of home, a return to the office, a new country, new equipment, a change in household circumstances or an incident can all change the risk. The public record's phrase, review as circumstances change, is the reason the management of change clause is central to a remote system.
What an auditor is likely to ask for
- Scope The remote population and locations, with the basis on which each is inside the system.
- Assessment The current assessment for each remote group, the method, the result and the review trigger.
- Control The control, who provides it, the record that it reached the worker and the check that it still works.
- Review The date and the evidence of the last review, and the change that will trigger the next one.
These are the records this site expects a reader to hold for the area. They are our reading of the public record and the current clause, not 45008 draft text.
Where it commonly fails today
- The remote population is not listed, so the assessment covers the site and misses the workers.
- The assessment is a one-off form with no trigger for a move, new equipment or a health change.
- The organization supplies a policy but not the equipment, the time or the support the policy promises.
- Reports from remote workers are not recorded, or are read as a performance problem.
- The manager is not trained to notice isolation, overload or withdrawal.
What to do now, while it is still a draft
Do not rebuild the system around a draft. Do the work that will be right under either instrument: name the remote population, assess the workplace and the work, supply the controls, record the check-in and the report, and put the legal position for each location on the register. If the published guidance differs, the process survives the wording change.
Source for this public record page: the ISO page 64363, the BSI project scope and the BSI consultation release, with the named practitioner summary where it is used. The draft requirement text is not public and is not reproduced. Every source.