[HASAW] 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act [MHSW] 1999 govern what is required by each and every business or organisation within the United Kingdom; in order for them to comply with the government legislation on health and safety within the workplace.

Some parts of the legislation are very specific about what you have to do, however some can appear to be very general. They give instruction requiring the company/organisation to do what is ‘reasonably practicable’ to ensure Health & Safety, unfortunately it is sometimes a grey area as to what is ‘reasonably practicable’.   The Wilkins Safety Group can give you guidance leaflets to assist you.

Health & Safety Policy

Your business must have a health and safety policy, and if you have five or more employees, that policy must be written down.

Most businesses set out their policy in three sections:

1. The statement of general policy on health and safety at work sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what you want to achieve.
2. The responsibility section sets out who is responsible for specific actions.
3. The arrangements section contains the detail of what you are going to do in practice to achieve the aims set out in your statement of health and safety policy.

The arrangements section should say how you will meet the commitments you have made in your statement of health and safety policy. Include information on how you are going to eliminate or reduce the risks of hazards in your workplace.

What do we mean by ‘hazard’ and ‘risk’?

A hazard is something in your business that could cause harm to people, such as chemicals, electricity and working at height.

Additional arrangements

The additional actions you take to manage health and safety should be set out in the arrangements section of your policy. They could include:

• staff training;
• using signs to highlight risks;
• improved safety equipment, such as guards or additional personal protective equipment, including goggles, safety boots or high-visibility clothing;
• replacing hazardous chemicals with less harmful alternatives;
• improved lighting;
• anti-slip flooring.

Focus your attention on the activities that could present a risk to people or cause serious harm.

Risk Assessments and Method Statements

A risk assessment is a systematic examination of a task, job or process that you carry out at work for the purpose of;

• Identifying the significant hazards that are present (a hazard is something that has the potential to cause someone harm or ill health).
• Deciding if what you have already done reduces the risk of someone being harmed to an acceptable level, and if not;
• Deciding what further control measures you must take to reduce the risk to an acceptable level.

Risk Assessments should also be carried out to satisfy the requirements of legislation but above all to ensure the Health & Safety of employees

Risk assessments should always be carried out by a person who is experienced and competent to do so, competence can be expressed as a combination of Knowledge, Awareness, training, and experience. If necessary consult a more experienced member of staff or external professional help to assist with the risk assessment.

A separate risk assessment should be carried out for all tasks or processes undertaken by your organisation, they should be carried out before the task starts, or in the case of existing or long running tasks, as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Risk Assessments should also be reviewed on a regular basis; monthly, annually, bi-annually, depending on risk, or if something changes i.e. a new worker, a change of process or substance etc.

Non Compliance

The penalties for failing to carry out risk assessments can be strict, The Health & Safety Executive can issue improvement or prohibition notices, this is likely to happen where an inspector find a situation with the potential to cause harm, for example an unguarded machine. If you are prosecuted and found guilty for more serious breeches i.e. one of your staff has been seriously injured, then in the magistrate court you can be fined up to £20,000 and imprisoned for up to 6 months, in Crown court fines are unlimited and prison sentences can be up to 2 years. The lack of suitable risk assessments will weigh heavily against you.

What About Method Statements?

A Safety Method Statement, sometimes called a “safe system of work” must be produced for all jobs or tasks that contain some measure of risk, contractors are more and more noticing that Method Statements are being requested by their clients, the request for a Method Statement can come at any time, Pre-Tender, Tender, Pre start of contract and sometimes after the contract has started, so it is best to be prepared. Contact The Wilkins Safety Group to find out how we can help with method statements.

Health & Safety Poster

You must display the current Health & Safety Law poster; appropriately completed or give out the HSE leaflet, also display a current insurance certificate as required by the ‘Employers’ liability [compulsory insurance] Act 1969 if they employ anyone. You must have procedures in place to notify on certain types of injury, occupational disease and provide information, instruction and training to eliminate the possibility of accidents or incidents.

Health & Safety Training

It is worth noting that every year about 600 people are killed at work and several hundred more are injured or suffer ill health.  Many of these accidents occur because of a lack of knowledge and understanding of good practice and safe working procedures.

Everyone who works for you needs to know how to work safely and without risks to health. You must provide clear instructions and information, and adequate training, for your employees.

Consider how much training is necessary. A proportionate approach is needed, for example a low-risk business would not need lengthy technical training. Providing simple information or instructions is likely to be sufficient.

Don’t forget contractors and self-employed people who may be working for you and make sure everyone has the right level of information on:

• hazards and risks they may face, if any ;
• measures in place to deal with those hazards and risks, if necessary;
• how to follow any emergency procedures.

When you provide training, ask your employees what they think about it to make sure it’s relevant and effective. Keeping training records will help you to identify when refresher training might be needed.

The information and training you provide should be in a form that is easy to understand. Everyone working for you should know what they are expected to do.

Health and safety training should take place during working hours and it must not be paid for by employees. There are many external trainers who will be able to help you with your training needs but effective training can often be done ‘in house’.