Risk-benefit assessment template

Woodland site

The standing assessment for the wood itself. Write it once, review it annually, walk it every session.

Free. Edit it, sign it and use it on your sessions.

This is the first of the three you need. It covers the place rather than the activity: the trees, the ground, the boundaries, the things that are true whether you are lighting a fire or sitting still. Activity assessments sit on top of it, and the daily check on arrival sits on top of them both.

Nothing in here is a reason not to go to the wood. A site assessment that concludes 'too risky' has misunderstood the job. The point is to know your ground well enough to say yes to it, and to notice on the morning when something has changed.

Benefits of the experience

Write yours before you write the hazards.

Real, unmanicured nature, which is the thing the whole approach depends on. A site sanitised until nothing can happen is a site where nothing does.
Children learn to read ground, weather and boundaries: a skill that transfers well beyond the wood.
Returning to the same place across a term is what makes it forest school rather than a trip.
A sense of belonging to a particular patch of ground, which children remember for years.

Hazards, controls and residual risk

Severity (S) and Likelihood (L) are each scored 1–3 and multiplied into a Risk Rating (RR). Low is 1–3, Medium 4–6, Significant 7–9. The final column is what is left after your controls, which is the number that matters.

Experience / activity	Hazards	Associated risks	S	L	RR	Control actions	Risk after controls
Being under trees	Falling limbs and deadwood Standing dead or diseased trees	Head injury Crush injury	3	1	3	Annual tree inspection by a competent person. Record it and keep the date. Walk the site before every session: new hangers, splits or leaning limbs, and the boundary moves away from them. Agree a wind limit in advance (many forest schools use gusts over 40 mph) so it is not a judgement call in the car park.	Low (1)
Moving around the site	Uneven ground, roots, slopes Holes, setts, ditches	Trips and falls Sprains Fractures	2	2	4	Boundary walked and shown to the children on the first session, and again whenever the group changes. Known holes and setts flagged, fenced or added to the walk-round. Footwear requirement communicated to parents in writing before the day, not on it.	Low (2)
Sharing the wood with the public	Public access Dogs Strangers	Distress Dog bite Unsupervised contact with an adult	3	1	3	Head count on arrival, at every boundary change, and before leaving. Recall signal taught and practised in the first session of every term, not just the first ever. Adults positioned between the group and the access path where the site allows.	Low (1)
Being in vegetation	Ticks Poisonous plants and fungi Stinging and thorny plants	Bite; in rare cases Lyme disease Ingestion or skin irritation Stings and scratches	3	1	3	Nothing goes in a mouth unless a leader has checked it. Taught every session, without exception, adults included. Long sleeves, trousers tucked into socks. Tick check taught to children and put in writing to parents. Tick removal tool in the first aid kit, and an adult who knows how to use it. Known hazards on site (yew, hogweed, ragwort) identified, mapped and either removed or fenced.	Low (1)
Weather	High wind Extreme heat or cold Lightning	Falling limbs Hypothermia or heat exhaustion Strike	3	1	3	Weather checked on the morning, and the go / modify / no-go call recorded with the reason. Wind limit agreed in advance and held to, even when it is inconvenient. Kit list to parents in writing. Spare clothes on site, always.	Low (1)

The scoring key

Severity (S)

3 Death or major injury
2 Permanent disability or serious injury
1 Minor injury

Likelihood (L)

3 Occurs repeatedly
2 Will or could occur
1 Unlikely, though conceivable

Risk Rating (RR = S × L)

7–9 Significant
4–6 Medium
1–3 Low

What this template cannot know

Risk assessments are site-specific. This one is a starting point, so don't copy it unchanged. Before you sign anything, work out the following for your wood and your group:

Which trees are on your site, their condition, and when they were last inspected.
Where your boundary actually runs, and what is immediately outside it (roads, water, livestock, public paths).
Which poisonous or invasive species grow on your ground. If you cannot identify what grows there, that is the first control to fix.
Your landowner's permissions and conditions, in writing.
The ground itself: slopes, ditches, setts, and how it changes when it is wet.

Then put your name on it, date it, and set a review date. The assessment belongs to the person who signs it, which is you.

The paperwork around it

The taught form has a header before the table: the activity, the group, who carried the assessment out, the date it was written, the review frequency (annually is typical), the date it was last reviewed, a signature, and any other assessments it refers to. Your site assessment sits under all of your activity assessments, so name it here.

An assessment nobody has signed or reviewed won't stand up if anyone asks. At the review, use the near-misses you logged during the term to make next year's version better.

Write it once. Stack it on every session.

Keep your assessments as a reusable library, stack the right ones onto each session (the session keeps a copy of the version you used), and log the calls you make on the day, offline. Free for practitioners, never per child.

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