In safety what is risk assessment ?

RISK ASSESSMENT is a careful examination of anything in your workplace that could cause people to suffer injury or ill health while they are at work.

a risk assessment is a careful examination of what, in our work, could cause harm to people, so that we can weigh up whether  we have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm

A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork , but rather about identifying sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace.

Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/controlling-risks.htm

Risk assessment is the first step of the Risk Management Process. It is a proactive method that is based on different approaches (observational surveys, interviews, data analysis and trending, etc...) to identify different types of hazards (physical, biological, chemical, pyschosocial, sound..).

Risk assessment should be followed by risk analysis, risk communication and risk management.

 employers and those who have a duty to do so to carry out risk assessments and to prepare a safety statement and safety work

The risk assessment is an open subject matter when talking about safety, it has difference from one bussiness to another, also it difference in the nature of the business/firm/company, which basically depends in the the company tasks and activities, also risk assessment (RA) is not only paper works.

RA can't be concluded in one comment, however it is primary task that should be implemented before carrying any job or tasks, also it gives the finding about the hazard that may happened or may arise during carrying that activities.

Furthermore, as HSE agreed it is " A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork , but rather about identifying sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace."

Also, as HSE agreed " When thinking about your risk assessment, remember:

• a hazard is anything that may cause harm, such as chemicals, electricity, working from ladders, an open drawer etc
• the risk is the chance, high or low, that somebody could be harmed by these and other hazards, together with an indication of how serious the harm could be. "

It is studies the safety situation of worker, equipment and environment for corrective and preventative action  

it is an activity to recognize the probability of potential failure/losses by considering (1) the present of the hazards (2) occurrence or likely hood in the area being accessed and (3)  the  present of the protection system to prevent the incident or to minimize the risk    

 A  process of  analyzing,calculating and identifying the Risk associated with any occupation

OR

A careful examination of your work place to keep you and your work force safe from all the hazards linked directly or indirectly associated with that task.it is an proactive approach

A risk assessment is a thorough look at your workplace to identify those things, situations, processes, etc that may cause harm, particularly to people. After identification is made, you evaluate how likely and severe the risk is, and then decide what measures should be in place to effectively prevent or control the harm from happening.