Do Sole Traders Need a Risk Assessment?

If you work for yourself, it's tempting to assume that health and safety law is aimed at employers with large workforces — not a one-person operation. The reality is more nuanced, and getting it wrong can leave you exposed. Here's what the law actually says and what it means in practice.

The Legal Position

The core duty to carry out a risk assessment comes from Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR). That regulation applies to both employers and self-employed persons.

So yes — as a sole trader, you are in scope.

However, there is a limited exemption. If you are self-employed and your work activity poses no risk to the health and safety of other people (not other workers, not members of the public, not clients), you fall outside some of the MHSWR duties. In practice, very few trades qualify for this exemption. If you work on someone else's premises, use tools or materials, drive to jobs, or work anywhere near other people, the exemption almost certainly does not apply to you.

The "Five or More Employees" Rule — Cleared Up

You may have heard that you only need to write down your risk assessment if you employ five or more people. That rule is correct, but it relates to recording, not to whether a risk assessment is needed in the first place. As a sole trader with no employees, you are not legally required to produce a written risk assessment under MHSWR — but you are still required to carry out the assessment itself.

More importantly, even if no written record is legally required under MHSWR, several other factors will push you towards documenting it properly:

• Principal contractors and clients routinely require a written risk assessment (often as part of a RAMS) before they will let you on site.
• CDM 2015 imposes its own duties on contractors — including sole traders — working on construction projects.
• COSHH 2002 requires a written assessment when you use hazardous substances, regardless of workforce size.
• Work at Height Regulations 2005 require you to plan and manage work at height, and that planning needs to be demonstrable.
• Your insurance may be invalid if you cannot show you assessed the risks.

In short: the legal minimum and the practical minimum are not the same thing.

What a Risk Assessment Actually Involves

A risk assessment is not a form-filling exercise. It is a structured look at what could cause harm in your work, how likely that is, who could be affected, and what you are doing about it.

The hierarchy of controls is the correct framework to apply:

1. Eliminate the hazard entirely if possible
2. Substitute with something less hazardous
3. Engineering controls — guards, LEV, edge protection
4. Administrative controls — safe systems of work, training, sequencing
5. PPE — the last resort, not the first

A sole trader carrying out, say, first-fix carpentry might assess hazards including manual handling, wood dust (a COSHH substance — hardwood dust is a known carcinogen), circular saw kickback, noise, and working from steps or a podium. Each hazard needs a realistic control measure, not just "wear PPE".

When You Also Need a Method Statement

A RAMS (Risk Assessment + Method Statement) is what most sites ask for. The method statement is the sequenced, step-by-step description of how you will carry out the work safely. It is not a separate legal document — it is a practical communication tool that links your risk assessment to how the job is actually done.

If a principal contractor asks for your RAMS, they need both parts. A risk assessment alone is not enough in that context.

Practical Steps for Sole Traders

• Carry out a task-based risk assessment for each type of work you do regularly. You do not need a separate document for every individual job — a general risk assessment for, say, "installation of ceiling lights in domestic properties" can cover routine work, with site-specific additions where needed.
• Write it down, even if you are not strictly required to. A documented assessment is evidence you thought about it.
• Review it when the work changes, after an incident, or when new information comes to light.
• Keep a COSHH assessment for any hazardous substances you use — solvents, adhesives, cement, wood dust, and many other common materials all trigger COSHH 2002 duties.
• Check CDM 2015 applies to you if you are working on any construction project. As a contractor under CDM, you have duties to plan, manage, and monitor your own work for health and safety, regardless of project size.

The Bottom Line

Sole traders are not exempt from health and safety law. The duty to assess risk under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 applies to you. The written record requirement under MHSWR is lighter for those without employees, but in practice — for insurance, for site access, and for managing genuine risk — a clear, documented risk assessment is the professional standard. If your work involves hazardous substances, height, or falls within CDM, additional specific duties apply on top.

Knowing what the law actually requires is the first step to meeting it.