Health and Safety Policy

There is an absolute duty on employers with 5 or more employees to prepare and revise as necessary a written statement of policy. This should contan the details of the general policy and the particular organisation and arrangments for carrying it out.


There should be three components to the policy:

1. A brief statment tht expresses the organisation's commitment and approach to health and safety.
2. An organisational structure (a chart is useful here) to discharge the statement i.e. who does what.
3. Arrangements to identify and manage risk that protect the health and afety of the workforce and others.

The issues that are typically to be found in the arrangement section may include;

• Allocation of finance - financial proocedures & arrangements for Health & Safety
• Monitoring systems - Both passive and reactive monitoring systems
• Identification of main hazards - Chemical, biological electrical, manual handling etc.,  
• Risk Assessment arrangements
• H&S training 
• Fire and emergency arrangements 
• Occupational health 
• First Aid at work procedures, First Aiders
• Environmental arrangements
• Purchasing policy
• Accident/incident reporting and invest.
• Use of contractors - Appointment of Competent contractors (arrangements for vetting contractors)
• PPE arrangements
• Worker consultation arrangements - Health and Safety Committees/Employee Representatives

The list above is not intended to be exhaustive and a good health and safety policy and arrangements document will be bespoke for the company and company activities.


Everyone should be clear about their own duties and responsibilities.


The policy document may refer to other procedures or documents specific to certain hazards and arrangements e.g. manual handling or DSE work.


Who should write the health and safety policy (arrangements document)?


It should be someone who has adequate information about the business and activities and also the hazards associated with the business. The policy can be written by a competent person with the requisite knowledge within the company or with assistance from someone outside the company and the statement signed and dated, usually by someone with a senior position within the company. Companies should have access to competent advice.


As an employer, you must appoint someone competent to help you meet your health and safety duties. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage health and safety.


You could appoint (one or a combination of):

• yourself
• one or more of your workers
• someone from outside your business

You probably manage most aspects of your business yourself, or with help from your staff. But if you are not confident of your ability to manage all health and safety in-house, you may need some external help or advice.


There are a number of different sources of advice. These include:

• trade associations
• safety groups
• trade unions
• consultants registered on the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR)
• local councils
• health and safety training providers
• health and safety equipment suppliers

Deciding what help you need is very important. Unless you are clear about what you want, you probably won’t get the help you need.

Things to consider when using external help (from the HSE)

Make sure you clearly explain what you need and check that they understand you. Ask them to explain what they understand the work to be and what they will do, when they will do it and what they will charge you.

• Check for evidence of relevant training/knowledge, such as formal qualifications or practical experience of providing advice in your industry/area of work. Can they explain why they are competent to advise you on your particular problem? Are they a member of OSHCR? e.g. SBM Safety Solutions' consultants are on this register - click here
• Shop around to find the right help at the right price. If you were buying equipment or another service for your business, you wouldn’t always accept the first offer, so do the same with health and safety advice.
• Check that the person you choose is adequately insured.
• Consider whether you have received the help you needed. Do you have a practical, sensible solution to your problem? Or have you ended up with something completely ‘over the top’ or a mountain of useless paperwork? If you are not happy with the solution, ask for an explanation and whether there may be a simpler alternative.

Try to make sure that you get a good follow-up service and are able to get further advice on any issues that arise from implementing their recommendations.


The OSHCR provides an up-to-date list of general health and safety advisers who have a qualification recognised by the professional bodies participating in the scheme. If you require general external health and safety advice, you can search the register for a consultant by industry, topic, county or keyword(s).


HSE and a network of professional bodies and stakeholders have been working in partnership to develop this register. Together, this partnership has agreed that a minimum standard should be set for consultants to join the register. This will reassure employers that those consultants on the register have been assessed and meet the minimum standard set by the professional bodies they belong to.


This minimum standard has been set at a degree level qualification, at least two years’ experience and active engagement in a continuing professional development scheme. All consultants who join the register are bound by their professional body/ bodies code of conduct and are committed to providing sensible and proportionate advice. For further details, see:


The Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR)


Example Health and Safety Policy Template


The HSE have produced a very basic health and safety policy template. We would recommend that company's use it as an idea and for further information as to what needs to be included and then build on this. Additional documents and procedures are likely to be necessary.


 www.hse.gov.uk/business/policy-statement.pdf





Links
www.sbmsafetysolutions.co.uk
www.sound-survey.co.uk
www.healthandsafetyhelp.co.uk

An Introduction to Health and Safety Law - HASWA

The aim of the blog is to take the reader through the legal minefield that is Health and Safety Law and to offer some advice for complying with the various aspects of it.

Where do we start?

Although health and safety law was established in a piecemeal fashion well before 1974, it was in this year that for the first time that an integrated system for dealing with health and safety was established. I am of course talking about The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

This 'enabling' Act consists of four main parts:

Part 1

• Health and safety of people at work
• Protection of others against health and safety risk from work activities
• Control of danger from articles and substances used at work
• Controlling certain atmospheric emissions - but this provision was repealed when control of emissions was brought under a uniform scheme of legislation by the Environmental Protection Act 1990. In general, the other provisions about emissions in the original Act have subsequently been repealed.

Part 2

• Establishes the employment medical advisory service

Part 3

• Amends previous laws relating to safety aspects of building regulations

Part 4

• Contains a number of general and miscellaneous provisions

The Main Duties of Employers

Section 2 states that "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable (risk must be weighed against the money, time and trouble needed to control it), the health, safety and welfare at work of all his/her employees", and in particular that such a duty extends to:

• Provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health;
• Arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances;
• Provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of his employees;
• So far as is reasonably practicable as regards any place of work under the employer’s control, the maintenance of it in a condition that is safe and without risks to health and the provision and maintenance of means of access to and egress from it that are safe and without such risks;
• Provision and maintenance of a working environment for his employees that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe, without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work.

Duties of employees

Under section 7 all employees have a duty while at work to:

• Take reasonable care for the health and safety of him/herself and of other persons who may be affected by his/her acts or omissions at work; and
• Co-operate with employers or other persons so far as is necessary to enable them to perform their duties or requirements under the Act.

Duties of persons in general

Section 8 requires that "no person shall intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health, safety or welfare in pursuance of any of the relevant statutory provisions."

Other Duties

Other duties also exist for:

• Persons having control of premises
• Articles used at work (e.g. plant or components)
• Substances used at work

Most employers and many employees are now familiar with the duty to prepare a written statement of policy or "health and safety policy", where 5 or more person are employed. I will cover the health and safety policy in the next section.

Although the duty to document arrangements does not apply to businesses employing less than 5 persons the duty to manage health and safety still remains. This includes assessing and managing the risks associated with the company's activities...more of this later in the risk assessment section.




Links
www.sbmsafetysolutions.co.uk
www.sound-survey.co.uk
www.healthandsafetyhelp.co.uk