> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cleverschool.systems/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Risk Assessment

> [card] [Getting Started](./getting-started)

> [card] [Tutorials](./tutorials)

> [card] [Workflows](./workflows)

## Introduction

The Risk Assessment module equips school leaders, safety coordinators, and teaching staff with a structured, auditable framework to create, evaluate, approve, and communicate risk assessments across the entire school estate and curriculum.

***

## Conceptual Architecture

The module structures risk assessment records into a transparent lifecycle that balances thorough hazard evaluation with ongoing operational accountability:

* **Assessment Dossier**: Each record captures an activity title, location, categorised risk area, assigned author/owner, designated approver, identified groups at risk (Students, Staff, Visitors, Other), and additional statutory or procedural notes.
* **Risk Areas & Taxonomies**: Risk assessments are organised into customisable thematic areas (e.g. *Science*, *PE & Sports*, *Off-site Educational Visits*, *Site & Premises*, *Design & Technology*, *General*), allowing schools to delegate oversight to department heads.
* **Hazard & Control Matrix**: Hazards are evaluated by combining residual *Likelihood* (Rare to Highly likely) and *Severity* (Slight harm to Extreme harm). The resulting score determines a colour-coded hazard level from *Very Low* (Acceptable) to *Very High* (Unacceptable). The highest hazard level defines the overall risk level for the entire assessment.
* **Action Delegation**: Follow-up tasks (e.g. staff briefings, equipment inspections, policy reviews) can be assigned to named staff members with specific due dates and automated email notifications.
* **Approval & Invalidation State Machine**: Designated approvers review assessments. Once approved, any subsequent edit made to hazards, controls, or metadata automatically resets the status to *Updated*, invalidating the approval and requiring re-evaluation. Assessments also expire after 12 months, triggering annual review alerts.
* **Mandatory Read Confirmations**: Once an assessment is approved, staff can record formal read confirmations. If an assessment is subsequently updated and re-approved, staff who previously confirmed it are notified to re-confirm their understanding of the amendments.
* **Confidentiality & Privacy**: Assessments containing sensitive personal, medical, or behavioural management information can be locked as *Confidential*, restricting visibility to administrators, the owner, the approver, and explicitly granted staff.
* **Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) Integration**: In multi-school trust environments, central risk assessments can be distributed to member schools for central policy synchronisation or cloned for local school adaptation.

***

## Roles & Permissions Matrix

The module employs role-based permissions to ensure clear segregation of duties between leadership governance, technical review, and operational authoring:

> [tab] Administrator
>
> **Tenant Administration & Global Oversight**
>
> * Enable and disable the Risk Assessment module in **Administration** > **Modules**.
> * Assign the `Risk Assessment Manager` role to senior leaders or safety officers.
> * Maintain full administrative access to view, edit, approve, and archive all risk assessments across the school.
> * Receive system-level alerts if the module is enabled without an assigned manager.

> [tab] Risk Assessment Manager
>
> **Module Leadership & Configuration**
>
> * Manage risk areas: create, rename, re-order, and delete categories in **Administration** > **Areas**.
> * Appoint and manage designated approvers in **Administration** > **Approvers**.
> * Perform bulk operations: reassign risk areas, owners, or approvers across multiple assessments simultaneously.
> * Re-approve batches of unchanged assessments and trigger bulk confirmation reminders to staff.
> * Manage central Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) assessments, including sharing and synchronisation.
> * Archive, restore, or permanently delete inactive or obsolete risk assessments.

> [tab] Risk Assessment Approver
>
> **Formal Review & Statutory Sign-Off**
>
> * Review submitted risk assessments against school safety standards and statutory guidance.
> * Formally approve or unapprove assessments via the assessment actions menu.
> * Re-evaluate and re-approve assessments that have been modified or have reached their 12-month review date.
> * Edit hazards, controls, and action items on assessments they are designated to approve.

> [tab] Risk Assessment Owner
>
> **Assessment Authoring & Hazard Management**
>
> * Create new risk assessments and populate activity details, locations, and groups at risk.
> * Add, edit, and re-order hazards, likelihood/severity ratings, and associated control measures.
> * Delegate action items with target deadlines to colleagues.
> * Submit assessments for formal approver review and respond to re-approval notices when changes occur.

> [tab] School Staff / Reader
>
> **Operational Visibility & Read Confirmation**
>
> * Search, filter, and view all non-confidential approved risk assessments across the school.
> * Record formal digital read confirmations indicating they have read and understood safety measures.
> * Receive automated notifications when confirmed assessments are updated and require re-confirmation.
> * View and complete assigned action items before designated deadlines.
> * Create new draft risk assessments for their own departmental activities.

***

## User Interface & Screen Tour

### 1. Master Risk Assessments Dashboard

Accessible from the main navigation sidebar, the dashboard displays a filterable table of all risk assessments:

* **Live Search**: Rapidly locate assessments by activity title, location, or risk area.
* **Multi-Dimensional Filters**: Filter records by **Area**, **Owner**, **Approver**, **Groups at Risk** (*Students*, *Staff*, *Visitors*, *Other*), and **Status** (*Approved*, *Unapproved*, *Due for review*, *Overdue*, *Changed*).
* **Confirmations Toggle**: Click the tick icon in the table header to filter exclusively to assessments you have confirmed or have been requested to confirm.
* **Archived & Orphaned Views**: Toggle to inspect archived assessments, or filter for orphaned records where the owner or approver has left the school.
* **Colour-Coded Risk Indicators**: Visual left-hand border indicators convey overall risk level at a glance (*Grey* = Not set / No hazards, *Green* = Very low / Low, *Yellow* = Medium, *Orange* = High, *Red* = Very high).
* **Bulk Actions & PDF Export**: Select multiple assessments to generate combined PDF dossiers, change risk areas, reassign owners or approvers, or trigger email reminders.

### 2. Risk Assessment Detailed View

Clicking any assessment opens its full operational workspace:

* **Header & Metadata Panel**: Displays activity name, area, location, owner, approver, assessment date, approved date, groups at risk, and additional methodology notes.
* **Hazards & Controls List**: Detailed breakdown of every identified hazard with individual likelihood and severity ratings, calculated risk scores, and expandable lists of preventive controls.
* **Drag-and-Drop Reordering**: Use handle icons to intuitively reorder hazards and control measures.
* **Action Items Panel**: Lists all delegated tasks, assigned staff members, completion deadlines, and status indicators.
* **Top-Right Action Menu**: Provides quick options to **Edit Details**, **Copy Assessment**, **Approve** / **Unapprove**, toggle **Confidentiality**, view **History**, manage **Confirmations**, or **Print PDF**.
* **Comments Thread**: Engage in collaborative staff discussions directly on the assessment record.

### 3. Confirmations Management Screen

Accessible via **Confirmations** in the assessment menu:

* View a complete breakdown of staff who have confirmed reading the assessment (*Confirmed*, *Unconfirmed*, *Previously confirmed*).
* Toggle between assigned readers and all school staff to add or remove individual staff or groups in bulk.
* Dispatch manual confirmation reminder emails to staff with outstanding confirmations.

### 4. History & Audit Trail

Accessible via **History** in the assessment menu:

* Comprehensive chronological log documenting every modification made to the assessment.
* Tracks exact changes to activities, locations, owners, approvers, hazards, likelihoods, severities, controls, actions, approvals, and confidentiality toggles, timestamped with the acting user's name.

### 5. Administration Screens (`/riskassess/admin`)

Restricted to `Risk Assessment Manager` and `Administrator` roles:

* **Risk Areas (`/admin/areas`)**: Create new departmental areas, rename categories, and adjust display ordering.
* **Approvers (`/admin/approvers`)**: Appoint staff members with formal approval authority and review inherited approver permissions.

***

## Deep-Dive Workflows

> [card] [Operational Workflows](./workflows)
>
> Explore step-by-step lifecycles for hazard scoring, action tracking, change invalidation, and MAT synchronisation.

> [card] [Getting Started Guide](./getting-started)
>
> Step-by-step setup instructions for administrators and safety coordinators.


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