In general, health and safety laws apply to all businesses. As an employer you are responsible for health and safety of your employees. Health and safety laws are there to protect you, your employees and the public from workplace dangers.
While there will undoubtedly be specific legal requirements for certain types of businesses, many requirements apply to all businesses. These might include:
- Compliance with the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
- A documented health and safety policy
- Health and safety training
- First Aid
- Risk assessments
- Fire
- Accident Report Log
Appointing a competent person
A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage health and safety. If you run a low-risk business, health and safety is something you can manage without needing to bring in an expert help. Here you could appoint yourself as a competent person or one or more of your workers. However, if you are not confident of your ability to manage all health and safety in-house, you may need some external help.
Health and safety policy
Describing how you will manage health and safety in your business will let your staff and others know about your commitment to health and safety. This will be your health and safety policy. It should clearly say who does what, when and how. A policy will only be effective if you and your staff follow it and review it regularly.
Controlling the risks in your business
As part of managing the health and safety of your business, you must control the risks in your workplace. To do this you need to think about what might cause harm to people and decide whether you are taking reasonable steps to prevent that harm. This is known as a risk assessment. You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will tell you whether you have covered all you need to.
As a professional health and safety consultancy, ISA Support can ensure that your health and safety management system meets and is maintained in accordance with the HSE’s management system HSG-65. ISA Support can also provide additional commitment towards workplace safety and maintain a Health and Safety Management System that will meet the requirements of the internationally recognised standard BS OHSAS 18001. Find out more about their health and safety management services here: https://www.isasupport.co.uk/services/health-safety-management