Dynamic Risk Assessment

Situations can change quickly.

You may enter an environment that initially feels perfectly safe, only for something to change a few minutes later.

A person may begin behaving differently.

A location may become quieter.

Your route may become blocked.

You may simply notice something you hadn’t noticed before.

A dynamic risk assessment is the process of continually noticing what is happening, considering your options and changing what you are doing when necessary.

For personal safety, we can keep this simple:

NOTICE → THINK → ACT

NOTICE

Start with what is happening now.

Ask yourself:

What is happening?

What has changed?

What doesn’t look or feel right?

You might notice a change in someone’s behaviour, your surroundings or your own reaction to the situation.

For example, you may notice:

• someone repeatedly moving closer

• a person continuing to follow your movements

• a conversation becoming more aggressive

• fewer people around than before

• an exit becoming difficult to reach

• someone ignoring a boundary

• your own level of discomfort increasing

Do not immediately assume the worst.

Notice what is actually happening.

THINK

Once something has attracted your attention, consider your options.

Ask yourself:

What could happen next?

What options do I have?

Do I need to act?

Think about your environment as well as the person or behaviour that concerns you.

Where are the exits?

Where are other people?

Is there an open business nearby?

Could you change position?

Could you leave?

Could you get help?

The aim is not to predict exactly what will happen.

It is to identify the options available to you before you need them.

ACT

If you decide something needs to change, act.

Your response should be appropriate to the situation.

You might:

• change position

• create distance

• move towards other people

• change your route

• enter an open business

• end a conversation

• leave

• get help

Sometimes your decision will simply be to remain aware and continue monitoring the situation.

That is still a decision.

Keep reassessing

A dynamic risk assessment does not happen once.

Imagine you think somebody may be following you.

You change direction.

What happens?

If they continue straight ahead, your concern may reduce.

If they change direction with you, you now have new information.

You move towards a busy shop.

What happens next?

Each action can change the situation and give you more information.

The process continues:

NOTICE → THINK → ACT → NOTICE AGAIN

Don’t wait until you have run out of options

People sometimes delay acting because they are unsure whether a situation is genuinely dangerous.

They may think:

“I’m probably imagining it.”

“I don’t want to overreact.”

“Maybe they’re just going the same way.”

You do not have to decide whether somebody is dangerous before making a sensible change.

Crossing the road, changing seats, moving towards other people or leaving an area are all things you can do without confronting or accusing anybody.

Early actions are often the simplest actions.

Think beyond your destination

When travelling somewhere, we often concentrate on one question:

Where am I going?

For personal safety, there is another useful question:

Where could I go?

If something changed right now, where could you move to?

It might be:

• a shop

• a café

• a hotel

• a staffed station

• a security desk

• a busy road

• a group of people

• another well-lit public place

Having an alternative gives you another option.

Don’t just know where you’re going. Know where you could go.

Putting it into practice

Imagine you are walking somewhere unfamiliar in the evening.

You notice the same person has been behind you for several turns.

NOTICE

They have remained behind you even though you have changed direction.

THINK

You don’t know whether they are following you.

There is a busy convenience store ahead.

You could continue towards your destination, cross the road or enter the shop.

ACT

You enter the shop and remain somewhere other people are present.

You haven’t accused or confronted anyone.

You have simply changed the situation in a way that gives you more options.

A simple habit

Dynamic risk assessment should not make you frightened of your surroundings.

It is simply a way of thinking.

NOTICE

What is happening?

What has changed?

What doesn’t look or feel right?

THINK

What could happen next?

What options do I have?

Do I need to act?

ACT

Change position.

Create distance.

Move towards people.

Leave.

Get help.

Then notice what happens next.

The earlier you notice something, the more options you have.