Health and Safety Policy

You must have a health and safety policy.

If your business has five or more employees, the policy must be written down.

A lot of businesses make the common mistake of incorporating their health & safety policy statement into their company handbook, this is fine as long as the statement is also an integral part of the stand-alone health and safety policy and is not just part of the handbook.

A health & safety policy needs to be comprised of three essential elements.

The health & safety policy statement

This should be one page and has to be signed and dated by the most senior person in the business.  It should then be put on display at the business.

The statement states the business commitment to all matters health and safety for employees, contractors, visitors and members of the public where relevant.

The business should also acknowledge their legal duty to provide a safe working environment and workplace for all concerned and that they will provide safe equipment and safe working practices.

The organisation

This section is for the business to identify who has responsibilities for the full implementation of roles identified in the policy for maintaining the elements of the health and safety management programme.

It should identify who will undertake risk assessments, make inspections and ensure safety throughout the business.

The duties of the competent person should be mentioned here. Include the name of the first aiders, fire wardens and anyone else who has designated responsibilities for any health and safety issues.

Arrangements

This is where you will provide details of what you will do in practice and how you will eliminate or reduce risks caused by hazards.  Fire, First Aid, Accident reporting etc are examples of what should be included.

These will be identified in your risk assessments. You have to show you have assessed the risks and that you have also considered who might be affected by any risks. By introducing control measures you will show how you have dealt with all the obvious significant hazards.

To then ensure the effective implementation of the Health and Safety Policies – Employers and Directors should Check everything is happening as expected through Audit and Monitoring activities.  They should the Act on any concerns identified.

The Health and Safety Executive Guidance Document – Managing for health and Safety – or HSG65 for short.  Give more detail on how the Plan Do Check Act approach can be used to mange H&S across an organisation