Working with risk assessment versions
Risk assessments now support drafts, version history, and publishing with version notes and optional dates. Instead of a single publish step, you can create a draft, make changes, and publish a new version when ready—keeping a full record of every revision for audit trails.
Before You Start
You need the Manager role (or higher) for the Risks module to create, edit, and publish draft versions. If you don't see the draft or publish options, ask your site administrator to update your permissions in Settings > User Management > Edit Access.
How to Create a Draft Version
Open the risk assessment you want to update
Click Create Draft Version
Make your changes in the draft
The draft is saved but does not replace the current published version. Only users with the appropriate Risks permissions can see and edit the draft.
How to Publish a Draft Version
Open the risk assessment that has the draft
Click Publish Draft
Select the version type
Enter a Change Description (publish note) that explains what changed
Optionally, add an Effective Date or Expiry Date to control when the version applies
Click Publish
If the risk assessment has an approval workflow, the draft may be sent to approvers before it goes live. See Set up approvals and review policies for risk assessments to choose the approval template and review policy for the assessment, and Approving Content for details on how approval works for risk assessments.
How to Review Version History
Open the risk assessment
Open the Version History section
Review past versions with their version numbers, dates, and change descriptions
Click any version to view that revision. This is useful for understanding how the assessment evolved or retrieving previous risk items and controls.
How risk items work across versions
Each hazard in a risk assessment has a stable link that resolves across republished versions. You can share or bookmark a risk item URL, and it remains valid after the assessment is updated and published again. The link automatically opens the hazard in the current published version.
When you switch to a different version on the assessment, the item detail page shows that version’s content. Editable drafts allow inline edits; published and historical versions are read-only.
People & Groups in versions
When you create a draft from an existing assessment, or duplicate an assessment, all participant entries are copied into the new version. Hazard-level participants are remapped to the matching cloned hazards. If a hazard is not included in the copy, its participants are not copied.
Published and historical versions are read-only, so you cannot add or remove participants on those versions. You can only edit participants on an editable draft or active assessment.
When a hazard is missing from a version
If you open a risk item link for a version where the hazard was not yet added, the page shows Not in This Version instead of a generic not-found error. The message explains that the hazard may have been added in a later version. Comments and follows on the hazard are still available in the sidebar.
Your options are:
Back to Assessment — return to the assessment page for the selected version
View Earliest Version — open the earliest version that contains this hazard
Common Questions
What do the effective and expiry dates do?
The Effective Date sets when the version becomes active. The Expiry Date sets when it stops being the current version. If you leave these blank, the version applies from the moment it is published and remains current until a newer version is published.
Can I delete a draft?
Yes. You can delete a draft without publishing it, and the current published version stays unchanged.
Can I delete a published version?
No. Version history is kept for audit trails. If you published by mistake, create a new draft with the correct content and publish again.
Can I have more than one draft at a time?
No. You can only have one draft at a time. Publish or delete the existing draft before creating a new one.
What happens to the old version when I publish a new one?
Nothing is deleted. The previous version remains in the version history. Users see the current published version by default, but you can always access past versions.
See Add people and groups to a risk assessment for more about managing participants and roles.