Introduction

It is important that all businesses have a structured and systematic approach to creating their health and safety management system, this helps the business and its Directors meet their legal obligations.

Most importantly, it provides a foundation for continually improving health and safety management within your business.

This guide will assist you not only in the creation of a system from scratch but will also help a business to check what they already have in place and will identify areas which may need implementing or improving.

A business faces many challenges when trying to stay compliant with health and safety legislation and this can be a daunting task, one which, without the right advice and guidance, can seem like an endless process.

By following our checklist and introducing the management tools to get policies and procedures in place, the task becomes less daunting.

The guidance within this website breaks the health and safety management programme down into bite size pieces which will help a business to address the more important aspects.

There are, of course, many more topics which a business will need to address depending on their industry type and these should be added to and reviewed within your management programme.

It is advisable to review your health and safety programme regularly and if you were to use a folder to hold printed copies of the evidence for each topic, this makes things a lot easier when trying to locate items such as certificates or policies etc. 

It is also acceptable to manage your system electronically and if you have a company intranet, this is an ideal place to hold your information.

However you decide to manage the information, it is crucial that you communicate the health and safety management within your business to keep your employees up to date with your programme.

By keeping all of your documents in one place, you will have these to hand if you need them for review or audit purposes.

You should set up reminders for when your policies and procedures need to be reviewed, for your health & safety policy, this needs to be annually, the risk assessments should also be annual but also after any change and especially after any accident in the workplace.

If you use the guidance in these pages, you will have a good, working knowledge of making your business safer for your employees and visitors.

Other pages in this guide will help ensure that Directors meet their obligations through the selection of competent support for safety matters, ensuring the business has the  correct Insurances in place and that their Health and Safety Policy is appropriate for the size of the business and the complexity of its operations.

For employers with responsibility for buildings we look at managing Asbestos, Fire Safety, the provision of adequate rest facilities and toilets and Contractor selection and management

Our guidance helps ensure employers inform workers in respect to health and safety ensuring workforce inclusion in Risk Assessments and COSHH Assessments, Manual Handling, Display Screen and Driving Controls.

We help with accident reporting, First Aid Provision and explain how you should manage portable electrical appliances.

Young workers and New or Expectant Mothers require specific inclusion in the risk assessment process.

The guides also look at the Provision and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and explain why this should be the last consideration for controlling workplace hazards.