Assessing Risk in Your Workplace

A key requirement of the Worker Protection Act is that employers take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work. But what’s considered “reasonable” will depend entirely on your organisation’s specific risks.

According to Sarah Valentine, the first step employers should take if they’re unsure about their compliance with the Act is to start with a thorough review of their risk landscape.

This kind of assessment is the foundation of compliance. You can’t mitigate risks you haven’t identified, and those risks will vary significantly depending on your working environment, your people, and how your business operates day to day.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but a well-executed risk assessment will help you pinpoint the environments, situations and behaviours that may increase the likelihood of harassment. This in turn, enables you to take focused, effective steps to prevent it.

Conduct a risk assessment to determine the level of risk, considering the following factors suggested by ACAS: your sector, the type of work, ways of working, different roles in your organisation, meeting clients or service users alone, environments where alcohol is consumed, work-related social events, power imbalances between staff, travelling for work including overnight stays, younger staff, people with learning difficulties.

If any high-risk factors are identified, steps should be taken to address them.”

How to Carry Out an Effective Risk Assessment

To ensure your risk assessment is meaningful and comprehensive, it helps to follow a structured process. The goal is to identify where risks exist, assess how well they’re currently managed, and decide where further action is needed. The following four-step framework can guide your approach:

1. Map the Work Environments

Begin by listing all the settings where work takes place – including offices, remote setups, home working, travel, client visits, and work-related social events.

2. Identify Risk Factors

Review each environment to identify the specific factors that could heighten the risk of harassment or inappropriate behaviour. These may include lone working, customer interaction, late-night working, alcohol, social situations, or power imbalances between staff.

3. Review Existing Protections

Assess the strength and suitability of your current protections. What policies, training, reporting systems and leadership behaviours are currently in place? Are they being followed? Are they effective?

4. Spot the Gaps and Prioritise

Focus on areas where risks are high but safeguards are weak. For example, remote workers without clear reporting channels, or junior staff working alone with clients. Use staff feedback and previous incident data to guide your priorities.

The 15 Key Risk Factors

As part of your risk assessment, it’s important to understand the broader factors that could contribute to unsafe or uncomfortable working environments.

To support this, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has identified 15 key risk factors that can increase the likelihood of harassment or inappropriate behaviour, which should be reviewed in the context of your own organisation.

Not all of these will apply to every business, but many are more common than employers realise:

power imbalances
job insecurity, for example, use of zero hours contracts, agency staff or contractors
lone working and night working
out of hours working
the presence of alcohol
customer-facing duties
particular events that raise tensions locally or nationally
lack of diversity in the workforce, especially at a senior level
workers being placed on secondment
travel to different work locations
working from home
attendance at events outside of the usual working environment, for example, training, conferences or work-related social events
socialising outside work
social media contact between workers
the workforce demographic, for example, the risk of sexual harassment may be higher in a predominantly male workforce

Special Considerations for Vulnerable Workers

There are also some employees who may face a greater risk of harassment due to their role, circumstances, or perceived vulnerability. These groups often need additional support or tailored interventions to ensure they’re protected. As part of your risk assessment, consider whether the following groups require extra attention:

Younger Staff: Less workplace experience, and so may be unclear about appropriate boundaries or how to respond to inappropriate behaviour.
Staff with Learning Difficulties: May be more vulnerable to exploitation and require additional support and clear guidance.
Temporary and Contract Workers: Often feel less able to report concerns due to job insecurity and may be unclear about available support.
Lone Workers: Face increased vulnerability when working alone, particularly in client-facing roles or during evening/weekend hours.