Know where your people are most at risk before something goes wrong
Under the preventative duty, employers are expected to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. A risk assessment is one of the clearest ways to show you have done that, and, more importantly, it tells you where to focus your effort. From October 2026, the duty extends to harassment by third parties such as customers, clients, suppliers and members of the public, which makes understanding your specific risks more important than ever.
For most small and medium sized employers, the challenge is not willingness. It is knowing where to start. That is what we help with.
Why a risk assessment matters
Waiting for a complaint is no longer enough. Regulators and tribunals will expect employers to have thought ahead: to have looked at their workplace, identified where harassment is most likely to occur, and taken sensible, proportionate steps to reduce or remove that risk. A documented risk assessment demonstrates that you have taken the duty seriously, and gives you a practical plan rather than a paper exercise.
Done well, it also protects your people. It surfaces the situations your staff already worry about, such as the difficult customer, the isolated shift, or the client dinner, and helps you put safeguards in place before harm occurs.
How we help
- Training on risk assessments: equip your managers and HR team to carry out and maintain harassment risk assessments themselves, so the capability stays in house.
- Consulting support: we work alongside you to assess your workplace, identify roles and situations of higher risk (including third party contact), and build a prioritised action plan.
- Gap analysis and reporting: a clear written report covering your current position, our methodology, the gaps we have found, and specific, prioritised areas for improvement.
What we look at
Every workplace is different, and this means a harassment risks assessment should be tailored to assess your sector and setup. Factors to consider include the physical environment and working patterns, power imbalances between staff, past history of incidents and reports, roles with high levels of public or client contact, lone or late shift working, workplace culture, travelling for work and overnight stays, consumption of alcohol, reporting confidence, existing policies and how well they are understood, and the specific third party risks that apply to your organisation. Some sectors, including hospitality, retail, healthcare and social care, carry particularly high third party harassment risk, and warrant particular attention.
Built for small and medium sized employers
Larger organisations have in house legal, HR and health and safety teams to handle this. Smaller and mid sized employers usually do not, yet the legal obligations are exactly the same. Our support gives you access to specialist employment law expertise without the cost or complexity that normally comes with it, scaled to the size of your organisation.
Ready to understand your risks?
Book a free exploratory call and we will talk through your workplace, your sector, and where your obligations sit, with no obligation and no jargon.
Book Your Free Discovery Call