My COVID-19 Risk Assessment

Activity/Process/Operation

Taking photographs of people on locations during COVID-19 pandemic, in light of increased risk of virus infection.

Identify the hazards (anything that can cause harm)

Transmission of the virus in:

1. Person to person contact,
2. Person to object/material contact.

Who might be harmed and how?

1. Member of the public or the client could be at risk of contracting COVID-19, putting them at serious risk of illness.
2. Photographer could be at risk of contracting COVID-19, being exposed in an environment out of his control.

Estimated risk level now – medium.

What measures are in place to reduce the risk?

1. Photographer has referred closely to government guidance including but not exhaustively:

• Closing certain businesses and venues in England,
• Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19),
• Managing risks and risk assessment at work,
• Guidance to local authorities, approved premises and places of worship on marriages and civil partnerships: coronavirus (Welsh Government),
• Operational risk assessment considerations wedding venues and those hosting wedding events (Welsh Government)

2. Photographer to maintain a high level of personal hygiene:

• Photographer to wash hands frequently following government guidelines,
• Photographer to wear a face mask whilst inside, following government guidelines
• Hand sanitizer used where washing hands are not possible,
• No handshaking,
• Being alert of possible hygiene issues.

3. Photographer to daily clean of areas that are receiving high traffic usage or are frequent contact surfaces:

• Personal belongings (such as mobile phone, car keys, etc),
• Assets (such as a car and it’s interior),
• Business equipment (such as a camera body, lenses, light stands, etc).

4. Photographer to avoid:

• Wearing jewellery, etc,
• Handling cash (use contactless payment where possible).

5. Photographer and Client to maintain social distancing according to government guidance.
6. Client to maintain personal responsibility for their own hygiene practices inline with government “stay alert” guidance:

• Washing hands when arriving on location and when leaving,
• Washing hands as frequently as needed and using hand sanitizer if needed.
• Client to wear a face mask whilst inside, following government guidelines, unless exempt (photographer will not challenge)
• Avoiding touching their faces.
• Avoiding cross contamination with the photographer (by touching the photographer’s equipment, such as cameras, light stands, bags, etc).

Estimated risk level now – low.

What further action is needed to reduce the risk? (State actions.)

Please note that although the photographer has put safeguards in place to minimize the risk of a client contracting COVID-19, it is not possible to eradicate the risk completely. Therefor the client takes responsibility for their own personal health and safety and must make a personal risk assessment in order to identify whether they deem the residual risk too high.

In this risk assessment the client should take into account their own individual vulnerabilities, including whether they’re within one of the “at risk” categories as identified in government guidance.

Specific changes to working practices in regards to Covid-19

• Client meetings by Zoom/Skype/Facebook video only
• Adhere to Government advice on safe working
• Keep a safe distance of 2 metres and 1+ metres only if 2m is not viable
• On arrival and departure at a location, wash hands or use sanitiser gel
• No hand shaking and to avoid all personal contact
• Verbal posing
• I ask people not to touch the camera, or any of the equipment
• Avoid touching surfaces or any items, unless absolutely necessary
• Use PPE when required to do so
• Wear mask on shoots with people indoors 
• Stop work and self-isolate immediately if any symptoms appear
• Currently not possible to shoot within occupied domestic properties
• Covid-19 Risk Assessment & Method Statement required
• Adhere to the site Health & Safety Policy
• Report Covid-19 incidents to HSE
• Make people involved in the shoot aware of all the above