From Lawpack's Health & Safety at Work Essentials.
Often small business owners find it difficult to formulate and document their policy so here's some guidance on what to include. Depending on the type of business, the policy statement can have up to 11 different sections. It's up to you to select which ones are appropriate to your business. Once you've written it, remember to sign it!
- A general statement of intent
Describe in broad terms your company's health and safety philosophy. Include a statement saying that you will provide adequate consultation with your employees and ensure the prevention of accidents and work-related ill-health, the safe handling of toxic substances and the maintenance of safe plant machinery. Also, state that you will review and revise your policy as necessary, particularly as the business changes in nature and size. This section should be signed and dated. - Organisation
List four areas of responsibility:- Put your name first as you have overall responsibility for health and safety as the owner of the business.
- Appoint an employee who is responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the policy.
- Name the members of a health and safety committee, if necessary. There may be instances where different people have different specific areas of responsibility for ensuring that health and safety standards are maintained. These people could meet regularly (e.g. quarterly) to review health and safety procedures and make policy decisions.
- State that 'all employees have a duty to take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions and to co-operate with their employer, so far as is reasonably necessary, to ensure compliance with the related statutory requirements'.
- Health and safety risks arising from workplace activities
Document those responsible for assessing the risks in the workplace. Note down the person undertaking the risk assessment, to whom the results will be reported and those responsible for any action that needs to be taken. Attach the actual risk assessments and include a period of time when assessments will be reviewed. - Consultation with employees
Even if you don't have a trade union, you must still consult your employees. If this happens through a nominated representative, document his name here. If you have a union, you must consult it. - Safe plant and equipment
Identify all the plant machinery that you possess and the people responsible for its maintenance. List who is responsible for identifying when maintenance is needed, who draws up the maintenance procedures, who to report problems to and who purchases new equipment. A maintenance logbook is recommended. Don't forget simple tasks such as the routine inspection of plugs and cables for loose connections and faults. It should be stated that under no circumstances must an unqualified member of staff attempt any electrical repair or maintenance. - Safe handling and use of substances
Identify any type of hazardous substances used (e.g. photocopying toner, Tippex, thinners, bleach, etc.), and assess the special risks to health. Name the person who identifies the hazards and is responsible for the detailed assesment. Also, list the assessment review period and the names of others who are involved in the implementation of the detailed assessments. - Display safety information
All business premises must display the health and safety law poster. Document here where it is displayed, along with details of where the employee health and safety information is kept. - Job training/induction/advice and consultancy
All new employees need to be given a comprehensive health and safety induction programme and the person responsible for this training should be included here. Training new personnel in tasks specific to their jobs is also important and those workers responsible for this should be named. Training records should be kept and their whereabouts noted. If any outside agencies are used to assist with health and safety advice and training, list them here.
- First aid/accident procedure/work-related ill-health
Document here where the first aid box(es) and equipment are stored, who the people responsible for administering first aid are, who keeps the records and, in the event of a serious accident, the person responsible for reporting to the enforcing authority what has happened. All accidents at work should be recorded and kept in an accident record book. The location of the book should be noted here. - Safe working practices
Nominate an employee whose job it is to monitor and check regularly your safe working practices. This employee should also be responsible for investigating accidents and work-related sickness. Investigating the reasons why accidents have occurred is a useful exercise that enables you to tighten procedure and hopefully prevent a recurrence. Descriptions of specific safe practices should be listed here, for example, the safe use of photocopiers, manual handling of heavy loads, the use of VDUs, etc.
- Emergency procedures: fire and evacuation
Regularly checking fire and emergency exits, escape routes and fire alarms. Appoint a responsible person to carry out this procedure and name them. Put in specific dates/times when alarms, escape routes and fire extinguishers will be tested, along with the emergency evacuation procedures. There should also be random testing of the emergency evacuation procedures. Talk with your local fire service to get further guidance on your obligations.
Law stated as at 1 September, 2006