Health and safety guidelines can easily be overlooked in a busy work environment, particularly for small businesses owners who are juggling multiple priorities at once. However, making sure that your workplace is a legally safe environment to work in will ensure the safety of your staff and your equipment, improve morale and guarantee that you comply with your insurance policy requirements.
Here are our top tips for implementing an effective health and safety policy at work.
Know what you need – for your business
The 1974 Health and Safety Act stipulates that it is the duty of an employer to “ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees”. It goes on to say that employers must provide and maintain safety equipment and safe systems. This includes any visitors to the premises, such as customers, suppliers and the general public.
Of course, every workplace is different. The safety processes that you would need on a dairy farm might include wearing durable footwear, and passing an additional driving test for a tractor. In a restaurant, regular safety checks on the cooking equipment would be needed, fire alarms would be essential and a policy for the storage of food and raw meats would need to be in place.
If your business uses cars, even if they aren’t your owned by the company, you have to ensure that the time your employees spend in them is as safe as possible. Eye tests are one way to help. Recent research from Specsavers Corporate Eyecare revealed that 44% of employers stated they were concerned that some employees may not have good enough eyesight for driving, but only a third insisted drivers have eye tests as part of their driver’s policy.
There’s no one-size-fits-all policy for businesses, but the requirements from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) can help you tailor yours accordingly.
Get the right help
Appointing one person to safeguard the business’s health and safety policy is a good idea – whether it’s one of your staff, an external person, or even yourself. Having one point of contact makes it easy for employees to know who to consult if there are any questions, and provides clarity as to who’s responsibility it is to enforce and update the policy if required.
External providers, such as trade associations, trade unions, local councils and health and safety training providers can all provide guidance while you are deciding on the parameters of a health and safety policy. The HSE website provides more information about how to use this kind of specialist help to your full advantage.
Make sure everyone knows the rules
Once there’s a policy in place, make sure that everyone in the company knows about it. Give everyone who joins a copy of the policy and make sure there are copies in visible places to remind existing staff, and signs to inform any visitors of the regulations in place. It’s also worth holding regular sessions with your employees to make sure they’re up to date with any changes.
Review
Whether or not you created a bespoke health and safety policy for your staff, inherited it, or were advised externally, it’s worth subjecting it to regular review. Discuss the policy with the team, make sure everyone understands what is being done to improve safety and what they should do if they come across a dangerous situation. The key here is that there is an ongoing dialogue that ensures the health and safety policy is as effective as it can be.
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