DUERP: Workplace Risk Assessment Guide

The DUERP (document unique d’évaluation des risques professionnels, France’s single workplace risk assessment document) is one of the least understood HR documents, even though it concerns every company with at least one employee. It lists occupational risks by work unit and forms the basis of the prevention policy. This guide covers what the DUERP contains, who must draft it, how often it needs updating, and the penalties for non-compliance.

What is the single workplace risk assessment document

The single workplace risk assessment document, better known by its French acronym DUERP, is the exhaustive inventory of occupational risks identified in a company, work unit by work unit. Introduced by the decree of November 5, 2001 and codified under article R. 4121-1 of the Labor Code, it embodies the general safety obligation that rests on the employer.

The DUERP is not limited to obvious physical risks (falls, machinery, chemical products): it also covers psychosocial risks, exposure to musculoskeletal disorders, and risks linked to work organization. Each identified risk is scored by severity and frequency, which allows prevention measures to be prioritized rather than addressed in no particular order.

Is the DUERP mandatory for every company

Yes. The obligation applies from the moment the first employee is hired, regardless of company size, industry, or contract type (permanent, fixed-term, apprenticeship, internship). A company with no employees, including one that only uses interns or temporary workers supplied by an agency, is in principle not subject to this obligation as a direct employer.

Just like the prior hiring declaration (DPAE), the DUERP is a formality the employer cannot postpone: it must exist from the very first signed employment contract, not be produced after an inspection or a workplace accident. A modest headcount never justifies the absence of a DUERP: only the implementation details vary with company size, not the obligation itself.

Who must draft the DUERP and which stakeholders are involved

Drafting the DUERP is the employer’s exclusive responsibility, which cannot be legally delegated even when the actual work is handed to a health-and-safety officer, an external consultant, or an occupational health service. Several stakeholders contribute to the process without replacing the employer:

• the CSE (works council), consulted on the DUERP and its updates in companies where one exists;
• the CSSCT (health, safety and working conditions committee), where it exists, which prepares the works council’s deliberations on prevention topics;
• the occupational health and prevention service, which provides methodological and medical support;
• INRS (the French national institute for research and safety), which provides free tools and industry-specific assessment grids.

In companies without staff representatives, the employer remains solely responsible for the process but has every interest in involving employees themselves, who best understand the reality of their own jobs.

How to build a DUERP step by step

The assessment process follows a logical sequence, regardless of industry:

1. Preparation: define the work units (roles, departments, workshops) that will serve as the reading grid for the entire assessment.
2. Hazard identification: list, work unit by work unit, the situations likely to harm employees’ health or safety.
3. Assessment and scoring: rate each risk by potential severity and frequency of exposure, to obtain an objective ranking rather than a raw list.
4. Building the action plan: turn the assessment results into concrete prevention measures, each with an owner and a deadline.
5. Formalization and distribution: record everything in the single document, in whatever format and medium is chosen (paper or digital), then make it accessible to authorized people.

This process is never final: it is fed by feedback from the field, workplace accidents, and organizational changes, which is why updating the document matters just as much as drafting it in the first place.

A common mistake is to hand the entire process to a single person disconnected from the field, who reconstructs risks from memory or from a generic template. A DUERP built without direct input from the teams involved regularly misses real risks, particularly those linked to work organization or isolated working situations, which rarely show up in standard grids.

What content must appear in the single document

The DUERP must include an inventory of the risks identified in each work unit, along with their scoring. The additional requirements then vary by headcount:

In every case, the document must remain readable and usable: a list of risks without an associated action plan has no operational value and exposes the employer during an inspection or a dispute.

When and how to update the DUERP

The DUERP is not a document written once and left untouched. Updating it is mandatory at least once a year in companies with 11 or more employees, and whenever one of the following events occurs:

• a major change affecting health and safety conditions (new premises, new machinery, reorganization);
• a workplace accident or the detection of an occupational illness;
• any new information relevant to assessing a risk in a work unit.

In companies with fewer than 11 employees, updates are not subject to a strict annual schedule but must happen whenever a change justifies it. Each updated version must be dated, which makes it possible to trace the full history of successive assessments when needed.

Storage, traceability and availability of the DUERP

The employer must keep all successive versions of the DUERP, to allow traceability of employee exposure over time, including after they leave the company. This long-term storage responds to public health concerns: some occupational illnesses, particularly those linked to chemical exposure, only appear years after the exposure occurred.

The document must be made available to employees, works council members, the occupational physician, the labor inspectorate, and social security agents. A binder no one can access is not enough: the employer must guarantee effective access, which a digital tool centralizing successive versions and the HR reporting tied to prevention actions makes considerably easier than paper records scattered across several sites.

What are the penalties for a missing or non-compliant DUERP

A missing DUERP, or a failure to update it, is a 5th-class criminal offense: the employer risks a fine of up to 1,500 euros, doubled to 3,000 euros in case of repeat offense within a year. Beyond the criminal penalty, the absence of a DUERP deprives the employer of an essential line of defense in the event of a workplace accident or a claim of inexcusable fault: without a document demonstrating a genuine prevention effort, it becomes harder for the employer to avoid liability before the courts.

The labor inspectorate can request the DUERP at any time. Its absence, or an obviously incomplete version, can also be raised in an employment tribunal dispute, making it an issue that goes well beyond administrative compliance alone.

An existing but clearly outdated DUERP, for example one never updated after a move or the purchase of new equipment, is treated by the courts with the same severity as a complete absence: the mere formal existence of the document is not enough to demonstrate a genuine prevention effort if its content no longer reflects how work is actually organized.

How HR software makes managing the DUERP easier

The real difficulty with the DUERP is not writing it the first time but keeping it current over the years: multiplying work units, sites and paper versions eventually makes tracking unmanageable. Part of the HR digitalization seen in recent years is precisely about moving risk prevention away from this ad hoc way of working.

An HRIS or a dedicated health-and-safety module can centralize work units, timestamp every update, automatically link a reported workplace accident to the relevant work unit, and generate reminders ahead of the annual review. This centralization also benefits the works council, which accesses an always up-to-date version instead of a file emailed around at each revision, and the employer, who has dated, complete proof available during an inspection.

Frequently asked questions