Diabetes risk assessment for work: a UK guide and template
If a member of your team has diabetes, a short risk assessment is one of the most useful things you can do. It shows you've thought about their safety, it gives your managers a clear plan, and it gives you a paper trail if anything is ever questioned.
It doesn't need to be complicated. Here's what to cover, with a simple template you can copy.
Do you have to do one?
Health and safety law already requires you to assess the risks to your staff, and to think about anyone who may be at particular risk. For someone with diabetes, that usually means a short individual risk assessment on top of your normal ones.
It's also closely linked to reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act. The risk assessment often shows you which adjustments are needed. There's more on the law in Type 2 diabetes at work: the law in the UK.
When to do it
- When an employee tells you they have diabetes
- When they change job, hours or duties
- When their treatment changes, for example if they start insulin
- After a hypo or other incident at work
- At a set review date, usually once a year
Do it with the employee
The person with diabetes knows far more about their condition than anyone else in the room. Sit down with them and fill it in together. It's much more accurate, and it stops it feeling like something being done to them.
You don't need their full medical history. What matters is how their diabetes might affect their work and their safety.
What to cover
1. Treatment. Is their diabetes managed by food and activity, tablets or insulin? The key question is whether their treatment can cause hypos. Insulin and some tablets, like gliclazide, can.
2. Hypos. A hypo is when blood sugar drops too low. Signs include shaking, sweating, going pale, confusion and being irritable or not making sense. Agree what their signs are, what they carry to treat a hypo, where spare supplies are kept and who knows what to do.
The usual treatment is fast-acting sugar, like glucose tablets or a small glass of fruit juice or non-diet fizzy drink, then checking again after 10 to 15 minutes. Never leave someone alone during a hypo. If they become unconscious, put them in the recovery position, call 999 and don't give them anything by mouth.
3. High blood sugar. This can cause tiredness, thirst and needing the toilet more. It's rarely an emergency at work, but it can affect concentration.
4. The job itself. Think about driving, working at heights, using machinery, lone working, working in heat or heavy PPE, and working at remote sites. If they drive for work, check the DVLA rules on gov.uk. They're stricter for people on insulin and for anyone driving lorries or buses.
5. Hours and breaks. Can they eat at regular times? Do they work shifts or nights? Night work brings its own risks, which I've covered in Night shifts and diabetes.
6. Facilities. Somewhere private and clean to test blood sugar or inject (not a toilet), somewhere to store insulin if needed, and a sharps bin if they use needles.
7. Emergency plan. Who are your first aiders? Do they know about hypos? Is there a simple poster in staff areas?
8. Records and review. Write down what you agreed and set a date to review it.
A simple template
Copy this into a document and fill in one row for each risk.
| Hazard | Who could be harmed and how | What's already in place | What else is needed | Who and by when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hypo while driving a company van | Employee and public, crash | Employee tests before driving | Agree no driving if under 5 mmol/L, glucose tablets kept in van | Line manager, this week |
| Hypo while lone working | Employee, no one to help | Mobile phone | Check-in call every 2 hours, hypo kit on person | Supervisor, from Monday |
| Missed meals on long shifts | Employee, low blood sugar | Standard breaks | Fixed meal break times, snacks allowed at workstation | HR, next rota |
| Nowhere private to test or inject | Employee, infection and dignity | Uses toilets | Use of first aid room | Office manager, this week |
Common mistakes
- Using a generic form that doesn't fit the actual job
- Doing it without the employee
- Writing it once and never looking at it again
- Recording far more medical detail than you need
- Not telling the people who need to know, like the first aider or supervisor
Keep the finished assessment private. Health details are special category data under UK GDPR, so only share it with people who need it.
Get it done properly
The Diabetes at Work Kit includes a diabetes risk assessment form, an emergency procedure for hypos and the rest of the 42 documents you need, all ready to edit and put your logo on.
If someone has only just told you, start with my free 7-day plan, which walks you through the first week. And for the adjustments that often come out of a risk assessment, see Reasonable adjustments for diabetes.
This is general information, not legal advice. For a specific case, speak to a health and safety adviser or employment lawyer.
The Diabetes at Work Kit
42 documents you can edit and put your logo on: policies, procedures, forms and guides for managers, colleagues and first aiders. One-off payment of £495.
Just had a disclosure? Start with the free 7-day plan.
Send me the free plan
Questions people ask
Do I need a risk assessment for an employee with diabetes?
The law requires you to assess risks to your staff and think about anyone at particular risk. For someone with diabetes, a short individual risk assessment is the sensible way to do that, especially if their job involves driving, machinery, heights or lone working.
Who should carry out a diabetes risk assessment?
Usually the line manager or HR, working with the employee. If you have occupational health or a health and safety adviser, involve them too.
How often should a diabetes risk assessment be reviewed?
At least once a year, and whenever the employee's job, hours or treatment changes, or after an incident at work.
Keep reading
Auriel isn't a doctor or a lawyer. This is general information from her own experience and UK guidance. Always follow your GP and diabetes team.