No win, no fee claims, risk assessments and fitness for purpose

There is a very good reason why risk assessments don't come ready-made. Quite simply, what's good for one workplace, school, business or government department isn't necessarily good for another. No, with risk assessments, one size does most definitely not fit all, and any attempt to defy this truism has a very strong chance of ending in a no win, no fee claim.

For example, imagine for a moment that you are the owner and manager of a conference hall. You take bookings from all kinds of clients, all of them have different needs and all of them carry particular safety hazards.

Imagine it's being booked for a children's party. If there are going to be preschool aged children there, it is probable that you will want to cover up electricity sockets, remove all glass that might be within their reach and eliminate any potential hazard for finger amputation injuries, such as fold-up chairs.

For a gathering of older people, the focus of the risk assessment will be dramatically different. Gone will be the need to cover up power sockets, but other things will be of concern, such as the need to minimise the risk of slips and trips. It will also be vital to have both plentiful and suitable seating.

Again, the needs are going to be different if the conference is comprised of, say, a convention of primordial dwarfs. Given the relatively small stature of the clients, things like the risk of eye and head injuries occurring at a lower than usual height will need to be considered. Likewise, if the meeting were of members of the Tall Persons Club of Great Britain and Ireland, it would probably not be a good idea to remove any sharp, heavy or breakable low-hanging chandeliers.

Really, risk assessments are just about common sense, only common sense applied in detail to a large number of variables. And it is about more than avoiding no win, no fee claims; the priority is always going to be avoiding accident injury.

It's not for me to say, but I can't help but feel that the organisers of a recent Weight Watchers meeting in Sweden might have failed in their duty to provide a sufficient risk assessment.

What moves me to speculate is the fact that a number of media organisations carried the story of how the floor at the premises of the meeting collapsed, causing everyone's weight to plummet, only not in the way the organisers had intended.

"We suddenly heard a huge thud we almost thought it was an earthquake and everything flew up in the air. The floor collapsed in one corner of the room and along the walls, "one of those involved said.

Adding, "We are going to have to find a replacement premises."

Fortunately, nay, miraculously, no one was injured, so no win, no fee claims will follow.

Can I claim?