Being serious for a minute though, the Welsh Self Assessment is NOT a risk assessment; it's a checklist that enables you to show that you're complying with the various bits of guidance:
This self assessment form will assist all keepers of poultry and other captive birds to provide assurance they are compliant with the required measures that apply within the zone. The required risk mitigation measures should be considered as the minimum expected. All keepers are encouraged where possible to exceed these.
The problem is, the questions are then worded in a very specific and prescriptive way, for example:
"A3) What robust (written) records do you have in place relating to movements of people, vehicles and equipment into or out of your bird area?"Now, a
risk assessment for a smallholder might be "this is my private house, so the only vehicles, people or equipment in the area shared with poultry are mine or me. Because these vehicles are not visiting other farms or poultry production areas, the risk of introducing infection via this route is considered low".
Naturally, as a responsible keeper, I will do everything reasonably practicable to comply with the guidance and minimise the risk. However, edicts like this are really unhelpful for the likes of us. For example, the only true answer to question A3 is "no records are kept", which then opens me up to the accusation that I have not done the "minimum expected".
Repeat for the other twenty questions and you can see where the difficulty lies for smallholders.
