Free template · risk assessment
Risk assessment template for NDIS participants.
A risk assessment done with the person, the way the Practice Standards describe it: each risk in words — what could happen, what's already in place, what else will be done and by whom — plus how much they rely on your supports, the home, how they show they're unwell, emergencies, and a review that asks whether it's working.
Who it is for: Support coordinators, team leaders and registered providers assessing risk with a participant. What it finds goes into the support plan.
No email, no sign-up. Checked against the rules on 15 October 2026.
What's in it
8 sections, built on the rules.
- 01About this assessmentParticipant name · NDIS number · Date of this assessment, and the next review · Done with · Completed by (name and role) · Why now
- 02What the person wantsWhat matters to them, and the risks they choose to take · How they want to be supported when something feels unsafe
- 03Risks, in wordsRisks
- 04Relying on our supportsWhich daily living needs depend on our supports · If our supports were disrupted
- 05The home and other places supports happenLooked at with the person · What workers need to know to work safely there
- 06Communication and healthHow the person communicates, and shows they're unwell or in pain · Plans this assessment relies on
- 07EmergenciesIn a medical emergency · Escalation when their health is urgent · In a fire, flood, power cut or other disaster
- 08Review and sign-offReviews · Participant or representative: name, signature, date · Completed by: name, role, signature, date
Done with the person, written down, reviewed
Registered providers assess risks with each participant regularly, write them into the support plan with a strategy for each known risk, and review with the participant from time to time whether the strategies are working.
NDIS (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, section 20 — legislation.gov.auHow much they rely on you
A risk assessment considers how far the participant depends on the provider's supports for their daily living needs, and how their health and safety would be affected if those supports were disrupted.
NDIS (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, section 20(2A) — legislation.gov.auA safe environment, the home included
Providers work with the participant and others to make every place supports happen safe — their home included — make clear how the person communicates and shows emerging health concerns, keep a protocol for each person's medical emergencies with workers trained to follow it, and have a way to escalate urgent health situations.
NDIS (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, section 24 — legislation.gov.auSupports that carry on through an emergency
Registered providers plan so that the supports critical to each participant's health, safety and wellbeing continue before, during and after an emergency or disaster — including how changes are made and told to workers, participants and their networks.
NDIS (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, section 18A — legislation.gov.auDignity of risk
Dignity of risk is a person's right to choose to take some risk in their life. Supports a participant needs can't be withdrawn or denied solely because of a dignity of risk choice they've made.
NDIS (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, section 19(3) — legislation.gov.auPart of the provider's own risk system
Each participant's assessment sits inside the provider's documented risk management system, which identifies and treats risks to participants, to workers' health and safety, and to the organisation, in proportion to its size and the supports it provides.
NDIS (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, section 12 — legislation.gov.auThe template
Use it here, or take it with you.
Print it, save it as a PDF, or download the Word file and put your own name and logo on it.
Risk assessment
Organisation: ______________________________
01 About this assessment
Participant name
NDIS number
Date of this assessment, and the next review
Done withThe participant, and anyone they chose to involve — family, a carer, an advocate.
Completed by (name and role)
Why now
- New participant
- Scheduled review
- Something changed
- After an incident
02 What the person wants
Start here. People have the right to choose to take some risk in living their lives.
What matters to them, and the risks they choose to takeIn their own words where you can.
How they want to be supported when something feels unsafe
03 Risks, in words
One row per risk, described in words a worker can act on.
Risks
| What could happen, and when | What's in place now | What else will be done, by whom, by when | How we'll know it's working |
|---|---|---|---|
04 Relying on our supports
Which daily living needs depend on our supportsPersonal care, meals, medication support, getting up and to bed — whatever the person can't go without.
If our supports were disruptedWhat it would mean for their health and safety, how soon, and the back-up: another worker, family, another provider.
05 The home and other places supports happen
Looked at with the person
- Getting in and out
- Trip hazards
- Bathroom
- Kitchen
- Pets
- Smoke alarms
- Equipment and its servicing
What workers need to know to work safely thereFor example: parking after dark, a dog to secure, a hoist that needs two workers.
06 Communication and health
Health and behaviour risks are managed in the plans practitioners write — list them here rather than rewriting them.
How the person communicates, and shows they're unwell or in pain
Plans this assessment relies onBehaviour support, mealtime, medication, health care — who wrote each one, and where it's kept.
07 Emergencies
In a medical emergencyThe person's own protocol: what workers do, and who they call, in what order.
Escalation when their health is urgentWho to tell, how fast, and how to reach them after hours.
In a fire, flood, power cut or other disasterThe supports that must carry on, where the person goes, and who lets their network know.
08 Review and sign-off
Review it on the date above, and sooner when something changes or after an incident.
Reviews
| Date | What changed | Are the strategies working? | Reviewed with |
|---|---|---|---|
Participant or representative: name, signature, date
Completed by: name, role, signature, date
A free template to adapt — not an official form, and not legal or compliance advice. Corella is not affiliated with the NDIA or the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. The rules behind it change, so check the current guidance and your own obligations before you rely on it. A free template from Corella — corellacare.com.au/templates/ndis-risk-assessment/
Filling it in
What makes it a good record.
Start with what they want
Ask what matters to the person and which risks they choose to take before listing hazards. An assessment that removes every risk removes their choices with it.
Words a worker can act on
Describe what could happen, when, and what helps. The standards ask for risks to be assessed with the person, written down with strategies and reviewed — a clear description is what a worker reads at the start of a shift.
One owner for every action
Each thing that will be done has a name and a date beside it. An action nobody owns doesn't happen.
Review when life changes
A hospital stay, a new home, a new worker, an incident or a change in health is a reason to look again — not only the review date.
Keep it beside the support plan
The standards put risk assessments in the support plan. Keep the two together, and give workers both to read before their first shift.
A free template to adapt — not an official form, and not legal or compliance advice. Corella is not affiliated with the NDIA or the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. The rules behind it change, so check the current guidance and your own obligations before you rely on it.
In Corella
The same record, kept for you.
In Corella, risk assessments come in five kinds — general, environmental, transport, personal emergency planning and provider impact — kept against the person or a program, and each one generates as a branded PDF on the file. The support plan, incidents and progress notes sit on the same record.
Fair questions
Before you use it.
Sources
Is there an official NDIS risk assessment template?
How often should a risk assessment be reviewed?
Does a risk assessment replace a behaviour support plan?
What about risks to workers in a participant's home?
Can a participant choose to take a risk?
Keep this record in one system.
See how Corella keeps the same record on the shift it belongs to — book a walkthrough, or try a live demo with a time-boxed pass.