Health and Safety

Few doubt the need or the importance of having Health and Safety legislation. Getting a thorough understanding of the legislation that you must comply with as an employer can be more difficult.

For businesses with established Health and Safety policies in place

If you have a specific question, need a competitive quote for a new risk assessment, need health and safety training then press the contact button at the bottom of the page to get in touch. We have trained qualified experts who can help you with your problem

If you want the official line on a matter then go to the Health and Safety Executive internet site

A Basic guide to Health and Safety Requirements

This is primarily for those starting up in business or as a starter for those who are taking on responsibility for health and safety matters. This is not intended, and cannot be complete coverage for such a complex area. You should seek expert advice before instituting company policy and procedures. If you get it wrong by omission or commission then someone may be injured or killed. Other consequences can be an unlimited fine, a prison sentence, immediate closure of the business or failure of the business because of a successful prosecution against the company.

Whatever the type of organisations, whatever the premises : If you employ more than 5 people then you have STATUTORY duties under the Health and Safety legislation.

Taking reasonable safety precautions is of course something that applies in your personal and business life and even if you are the only employee. When you employ 5 or more the law requires evidence in writing that you have considered various Health and Safety issues in detail. The following applies to companies employing 5 or more:

Written health and safety policy statement

The policy statement will list management responsibilities and also delegated officers for such duties as first aid, fire officers and similar.

Poster display and record keeping

The law requires an official Health and Safety poster to be displayed with the two boxes completed. You must keep an accident book which uses the statutory forms BI 510. Also you must keep a separate record Reporting Injuries, Deceases and Dangerous Occurrences (Known as RIDDOR). These events are to be recorded on forms F2508 and F2058A.

Risk and Hazard Assessments

The law requires that you carry out risk assessments and hazard assessments for ALL operations your business carries out. These must be evidenced in writing and every practical step to remove hazards and eliminate or reduce risks MUST be carried out.

Safe environment

The legislation requires the environment to be safe. At its most basic this means premises that are clean, ventilated and well maintained with any hazards clearly indicated. Any especially hazardous areas probably require to have access restricted to suitably trained and qualified personnel. A Safe System of Work document should detail procedures in the case of accidents or emergencies.

Training and information

It is a requirement that all staff are informed of the company safety policies and procedures. It is also a requirement that staff be trained in all aspects of their job to ensure safety and to avoid stress caused by not knowing how to handle the equipment or procedures correctly.

Employees responsibilities

Employees do have a responsibility of due care both for their own and colleagues safety. BUT if management know that safety rules are being ignored and fail to act in order to remedy this situation then management WILL still be prosecuted.

Computers and VDUs

Regular users of computers, defined as those using a computer for more than 2 hours per day need special attention. Key requirements are to teach correct posture and provide suitable furniture to enable this. Secondly to provide frequent breaks for users. Thirdly to provide training on BOTH hardware and software in order to reduce stress. (You may have heard of the case where an employer was forced to pay £25,000 for not teaching an employee how to use a computer mouse. This is a true, if extreme example).

Hazardous Substances

Many substances used for simple operations in businesses may in some way be hazardous to health. All substances need to be assessed and where appropriate the substances may need to be kept in a locked, restricted area, may need employee training before they use them, may need protective clothing to be used. Problem substances can be natural substances and may be raw materials. It should not be thought this only applies to chemicals.

Conclusion

The purpose of this leaflet is to give a brief - lay man - approach to a complex subject. It makes no claim to be complete. There are other rules and regulations not covered here. If anything you have read raises concerns then seek professional advice. Often problems, even current complete non-compliance can be corrected quickly and at modest cost.

Beware the Health and Safety manual and Internet content providers

There are many organisations who provide businesses with Health and safety manuals. Traditionally they are of a ring binder type and part of the service is that the publisher will send out new pages to reflect legislative changes. More recently this idea has been updated with specialist subscriber only Health and Safety Internet sites providing the same type of information and emailing with any changes.

The quality and price of these services vary enormously! There are long established, honest companies who provide a good reasonably priced service of this type : and there are many who are not so honest and who greatly over-charge. Be very sure what it is you are buying and read the contracts very carefully. If any provider suggests that the manual provides all the guidance and expertise you need then in most cases they are not telling the truth!

If your business lacks anyone with good experience in the field of health and safety you will probably be cheaper and get a better service from finding a local independent expert who you can call up at any time for the advice you need.