Quality Approach and Risk Management: How to Create Your DUERP?

You’re here because someone asked for your DUERP, or you realized your “we’ll do it later” approach to professional risk assessment has lasted… a bit too long. Good news: creating a DUERP (the Unique Risk Evaluation Document, or Document Unique d’Évaluation des Risques Professionnels) isn’t as scary as it sounds. It’s a structured, step-by-step way to look at your workplace, list risks, and plan real actions that protect your team.

Here’s the short answer to “How do I create my DUERP risk assessment document?”

Map the work situations.
Spot dangers and evaluate risks.
Prioritize what matters most.
Plan actions with deadlines and owners.
Keep the DUERP alive: consult, update, and follow up.

In this guide, you’ll get a quick tour of what DUERP is, the key concepts you must know, the five stages of a practical professional risk evaluation process, and what the DUERP should look like when you’re done. We’ll keep it simple, add examples, and point you to trusted resources you can use today.

What is DUERP?
Review of the fundamental concepts of DUERP
The 5 stages of the professional risk assessment process
The form of the DUERP

What is DUERP?

The DUERP is your company’s unique risk evaluation document. It brings together, in one place, all identified hazards, the results of your DUERP professional risk evaluation document, and the actions you plan to reduce those risks. In France, keeping a DUERP is a document unique obligation for every employer, regardless of size. It’s not a checkbox task: it’s a living document that guides daily prevention.

Fact Box: The DUERP must be updated at least once a year, after any major change in work conditions or organization, and after a serious incident or accident.

The point isn’t to look perfect on paper. It’s to protect real people, doing real work, in real conditions. The DUERP helps you focus resources, justify decisions, and show your prevention roadmap to staff, the CSE (if any), and occupational health services.

Review of the Fundamental Concepts of DUERP

Before you start writing, make sure these basics are clear.

Hazard VS. Risk

Hazard: a source of potential harm (e.g., chemical exposure, working at height, repetitive motions, shift work).
Risk: the chance that harm will occur, given exposure to the hazard and existing controls.

Quick Tip: When in doubt, phrase a hazard as “exposure to…” and a risk as “the likelihood of harm because…”.

The 5 Stages of The Professional Risk Assessment Process

Let’s keep it practical. Here’s a simple method that works for small teams and scales for larger ones.

Stage 1: Prepare and Map Your Work Situations

List your activities and break them into work situations. For each: who is involved, where, when, and what they do. Add temporary work, subcontractors, visitors, and specific times (night, weekend, peak season).

Danger Box: Skipping this step leads to blind spots. If you miss a work situation, you’ll miss its risks.

Example

Office & remote work
Workshop assembly zone
Warehouse loading dock
Client site installation team

Stage 2: Identify Hazards in Each Situation

Walk the floor, talk to people, and review incidents, near-misses, and sick-leave data. Think broader than accidents: include ergonomics, chemical agents, noise, psychosocial factors (workload, conflicting demands, lack of autonomy), and environmental conditions (heat/cold).

Warnings Box: Don’t rely only on checklists. They’re useful but can make you overlook real-life “work as done” vs. “work as imagined.”

Stage 3 : Evaluate and Prioritize the Risks

Score each risk with a simple grid (e.g., 1–4 for severity, probability, exposure). Then rank them. Anything high or severe gets attention first.

Table : Example Scoring Grid and Actions

Criterion	Scale (1–4)	What to consider	Example notes
Severity	1–4	Injury outcome: minor to critical	4 = life-threatening; 3 = serious lost time
Probability	1–4	How likely given current controls	3 = happens monthly; 2 = rarely
Exposure	1–4	How often/how long workers are exposed	4 = daily; 1 = exceptional
Priority	—	Focus on high totals and high severity	Address totals ≥8 first
Action type	—	Eliminate, reduce, protect (in that order)	Try engineering or organizational changes first

Quick Tip: When two risks tie, pick the one with higher severity first.

Stage 4 : Plan Concrete, Time-Bound Actions

For each priority risk, write who does what by when, plus the resources needed and how you’ll check it worked.

Success Box: A good action line reads like this:

“Install guarded platform on mezzanine (HS): HSE + Maintenance; quote by Oct 10; install by Nov 30; audit Dec 10.”
Short. Clear. Owned. Dated.

Stage 5 : Write, Publish, and Keep the DUERP Alive

Put your evaluation and plan into your DUERP risk assessment document and share it. Train managers on how to use it during onboarding and daily briefings. Schedule reviews—monthly for progress, yearly for the formal update, and immediately after any major change or serious incident.

Info Box: Link your DUERP to other prevention pillars: induction training, equipment checks, incident reporting, and occupational health advice. This avoids “paper-only” prevention.

The Form of the DUERP

Your DUERP doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to be clear, accessible, and traceable. Here’s a structure that covers the essentials and supports DUERP consultation.

Recommended Sections

Company info: legal info, sites, headcount, CSE existence, occupational health service.
Method: how you mapped work situations, who participated, and your scoring grid.
Work situations: list and short description.
Risk inventory: hazards and evaluated risks per situation.
Prioritization: how you ranked them; show your top priorities.
Action plan: actions, owners, deadlines, status, and KPIs.
Follow-up: review rhythm, indicators, training plan link, document versioning.
Consultation & communication: where the document is stored and how staff can view it.

Suggestion Box: Use simple IDs (WS-01, R-01, A-01). It speeds up updates and keeps conversations clear.

Conclusion

Creating your DUERP risk assessment document is about clarity and action, not paperwork. You map real work, identify hazards, rank the risks that matter, and assign specific actions with owners and dates. Then you keep it alive through short, regular follow-ups. That’s it—and it works.

Success Box: In short: define work situations → spot hazards → evaluate & prioritize → plan actions → publish and update. If your DUERP helps people make safer choices tomorrow morning, you’ve done it right.

FAQ's

What is a DUERP, and who must have it?

The DUERP (Document Unique d’Évaluation des Risques Professionnels) is a single document that lists workplace hazards, evaluates risks, and plans prevention actions. Every employer in France must have it, regardless of size.

How often should a DUERP be updated?

At least once a year, and after any major change in work organization, equipment, or premises, or after a serious incident/accident.

What’s the difference between a hazard and a risk?

A hazard is a source of potential harm (e.g., noise). A risk is the chance that harm will occur given exposure and current controls (e.g., hearing loss due to long-term exposure).

Learn More

Consult the OIRA tool for online risk assessment and DUERP editing for small businesses on the INRS website, developed by Health Insurance – Professional Risks (INRS, Carsat/Cramif/CGSS) in partnership with professional organizations.