Health & Safety Issues Common To Most Businesses
Healthand Safety Policy
Healthand Safety Policy
Health and Safety Policysets out how health and safety issues are managed within an organisation. AHealth and Safety Policy is a commitment to planning and managing health andsafety at work and is the key to achieving acceptable standards and preventingaccidents and instances of work-related ill health.
If you employ five or morepeople you must have a written health and safety policy statement and a recordof your health and safety arrangements. You need a written document so that youand your workforce are clear about who's responsible for what.
If your business employsless than five people you are not legally required to have a written health andsafety policy statement. However, you must still ensure that you work safely -a written policy can help you do this.
Why is Health & SafetyImportant to Small Businesses?
Your employees have rightsto work in safe conditions with a regard to personal health and it is thereforeimportant that you offer them this sort of working environment: failing to doso can result in personal injury, disease or general poor health. Suchoccurrences can result in legal action being taking against your business (oryou personally) which could damage the business financially and its reputation(including you as an employer).
Responsibilities of anEmployer
The Health & Safety atWork Act, 1974 states that it is your responsibility to protect the health,safety and welfare of yourself, your employees, and people that may be affectedby what you do. Such people include:
Visitors to your workplace
The public that use your product or service
Neighbours
In other words, Employersmust provide to its employees:
a safe place of work
a safe system of work
adequate plant and equipment.
Displayingyour Health and Safety Policy
The health and safetypolicy statement should be displayed in a prominent position at all worklocations and sites. A copy of a Companys health & safety policy with fulldetails of the organisation and arrangements for implementing the safety policyshould also be available at each work location and site.
The health and safetypolicy should be reviewed preferably on an annual basis and updated as eitherlegislation changes or working practices change.
Differencebetween Risk Assessment and Health and Safety Policy
A policy is different froma risk assessment.
Policy: general vision and arrangements for the whole business.
Risk assessment: a regular review of how you remove or control hazards, and whether you are doing enough, or if you require further controls.
LegalDuties and Obligations around Health and Safety Policies
The Health and Safety at Worketc. Act 1974
TheAct says that you must prepare a statement and bring it to the attention of allemployees. The policy should be reviewed and revised as often as necessary.
The Management of Health andSafety at Work Regulations 1999
Theseregulations place duties on employers to assess and manage risks to theiremployees and others arising from work activities. How this is carried outshould be included in the policy.
Involving your Employees
In practice, it can beuseful to involve your employees in preparing and implementing the healthandsafetypolicy. Where employees are involved in making safetyrules, or devising safe working methods, they may be more likely to adhere tothem, because they will understand the reasoning behind them. Also, the personwho is actually doing a job can be best placed to advise on whether theproposed safe working method will work.
Informing your Employees
There are various ways tobring the policy to the attention of employees. If it is short enough, you maydecide to give a copy to each employee.
If you are a largerorganisation or your policy is fairly lengthy, you could post copies on noticeboards or in appropriate places. Whatever you choose to do, you must make surethat you bring the policy to the attention of all employees.
Is it Important to giveHealth and Safety Training
You must provide trainingfor your employees to ensure that they:
know how to work safely and without risks to health
know about your
health and safety policy, how you implement it and the part they have to play
are aware of their health and safety responsibilities towards themselves, other employees and people visiting your premises.
Training is likely to beparticularly important in certain circumstances. For instance, when:
new people join your business - from employees to work-placement students
employees change jobs within the business
an existing risk increases - perhaps because of a greater volume of work
a new risk is identified - perhaps when new equipment is purchased
Remember that refreshertraining is particularly important so that complacency doesn't creep in.
Monitoring and Review
Monitoring that the policyis still effective is vital. There are many ways that this can be done, includingcarrying out spot checks or safety inspections using prepared checklists.
More formally, effectivemonitoring can be achieved through audits and by reviewing management reportsand accident investigations.
What should be in thePolicy?
A policy is a writtenstatement and should outline the following:
The responsibilities of those people using a certain area of the premises.
The Health & Safety risks that arise from the work activities and how they should be controlled
The name(s) of the employees representative(s) concerning Health & Safety
Who is responsible for providing safe equipment and maintaining its safety
The location of the Health & Safety poster
Who is responsible for informing and training employees for Health & Safety
Location of first aid equipment and the name of the person(s) who is responsible for recording accidents
Who is responsible for monitoring Health & Safety
Who is responsible for carrying out risk assessments and making sure that it is always valid and put into use
Is it Possible for Employerto Delegate Responsibility?
The organisation section ofyour policy should clearly say who is responsible for what. The overallresponsibility for safety rests on the employer, but day-to-day responsibilitycan be delegated to others within the business.
In smaller businesses, itmay be very easy to decide who needs to do what for the purposes of health andsafety.
As businesses get larger,the organisation section of the policy may need to set out the responsibilitiesof staff at different levels of the hierarchy within the business.
The organisation sectionmay include a diagram or chart showing the businessstructure and the responsibilities of:
the managing director
other managers
supervisors or team leaders
all employees
Construction SafetyPlans
Constructionsafetyrequires skill, experience, planning, and training. No matter what type ofconstruction you do, from putting up a building to installing a pipeline, youhave to know exactly what you're doing. The wrong materials or the wrongprocedures can make for tragic accidents, fines and negative publicity.
A construction safety plan can assist principal contractors to manage theirworkplace health and safety obligations.
A principal contractor mustprepare a construction safety plan before construction work starts.
The plan must state:
workplace address
name and address of the principal contractor
principal contractor's ABN
whether there is a WHS committee
whether there is a WHS Officer appointed
expected start date
estimated duration of the work
type of construction
plant provided for common use
site rules
the risks the principal contractor is obliged to manage
proposed control measures for the risks
how the controls will be implemented
arrangements for monitoring and reviewing controls
emergency procedures
public safety strategies
The plan must be written soit is easy to understand, signed and dated by the principal contractor. It mustbe available for the length of the project.
Legal Obligations to Provide Health andSafety Policy
The obligation to provide a health and safety policy originally arises undersection 2(3) of the HSWA. In cases of flagrant disregard, enforcement officersmay issue improvement notices which if contravened lead to the ultimatepotential sanctions of criminal penalties, including large fines andimprisonment.
Inspectors from the localauthority Environmental Health Department, or HSE are responsible for enforcinghealth and safety law, and organisations can be prosecuted for breaches. Allworkplaces must be registered with either of these two bodies. Employees canreport any breaches of the legislation or seek advice from them.
How should a WrittenPolicy look?
Awritten health and safety policy does not need to be complicated or time consuming.It tells staff and others about your commitment to health and safety, andsimply describes how you will implement and monitor your health and safetycontrols
NetLawmans health and safety templates includes following features:
All required information under the Approved HSE Code of Practise;
Details of the client / manager;
Description of the project;
Site location details;
Timescale for completion;
Design information including survey details;
Health and safety regards managing construction;
Health and safety details regards managing incoming / outgoing materials and people;
Methods and procedures for safe work;
Drawings and site sketches;
Lists of hazardous materials to be used on site;
Fire safety plan;
Site sketch including location of amenities, stores, materials, boundaries and the location of the structure;
Extensive notes to guide you.
Our health and safety templates havebeen drawn by expert Solicitor and Barrister who know what legislationisrelevant to your business and the best way to implement it. Net Lawmans
healthand safety policies are tailored to your companies needs.
by:Miriam Taylor
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