Getting Health & Safety Compliance right is a necessity for all business activities today and certainly in these strange and difficult times.
This is not just because Health & Safety law is a criminal law but also because it can bring essential benefits to your business. These benefits include: avoiding fines and legal costs of defence, enhancing productivity and process efficiency, improving employee morale, increasing your chances of securing contracts and developing a good business reputation. If you are new to Health and Safety, here are some essential Tips to help you on the road to compliance:
- Get Competent Advice: You are required to have ‘competent advice’ for Health and Safety – the level of which depends on the hazards you face in your business. If you have nobody suitable in-house or they need some support in their role, you should consider obtaining external Health & Safety expert advice. Safety Consulting Lancs can offer a contract service whereby I will act as your Health and Safety Competent Person carrying out all the necessary requirements to ensure that your business is legally compliant. Safety Consulting Lancs can also offer ad hoc project work for individual areas or aspects of immediate concern.
- Write a Health & Safety Policy: This should describe how you manage Health & Safety issues and which staff members are responsible for delivering it. The size and depth of the Policy will depend on your risks and why you need the Policy e.g. for tendering purposes.
- Controlling the Risks in Your Business: Risk Assess the hazards in your business that might actually cause harm to your employees or visitors and decide whether you are taking reasonable steps to prevent that harm. Follow through on any additional controls you identify.
- Consult Your Employees: Ask about Health and Safety issues/concerns and the work they do, how the situation may be improved and then communicate how significant risks are controlled within the business.
- Provide Training, Instruction & Information: Everyone who works for you needs to know how to work safely and without risks to health & safety. You must provide clear instructions and information and adequate training for your employees. This should be in a format they understand. This is especially important for workers who do not speak English as their main language.
- Provide Workplace Welfare Facilities: You must provide a suitable and safe workplace environment and facilities e.g. toilets, ventilation, lighting, seating, clean drinking water and a suitable clean area for the consumption of food at break times. This includes facilities for those with disabilities. If you are a ‘service provider’ you must also consider customers who use your facilities under equality laws.
- First Aid: You must have first-aid arrangements in your workplace and at a minimum; a suitably stocked first aid box, a designated person who takes charge of first aid arrangements and information for all employees giving details of first-aid arrangements.
- Awareness: If you employ anyone, you must display a Health and Safety Law Poster or provide each worker with a copy of the equivalent pocket card. You must display the poster where your workers can easily read it.
- Employers Liability Insurance: This covers you if an employee is injured or becomes ill as a result of the work they do for you, which leads to a compensation claim against you.
- Fire Safety: You must provide fire safety and evacuation plans for your business, along with fire safety equipment, drills and training. Have appointed at least one(depending on size of your undertaking) fire warden to oversee and control fire safety at your business. You must also have carried out an up to date fire risk assessment and acted upon any findings.