Getting Health & Safety basics right from the start

Posted on September 27, 2024

Type ‘the importance of the basics’ into Google and the first hit refers to scholarly articles on the subject. And let me tell you – there are hundreds of them.

I found this quote:

“Basics are ultimately the foundation for disciplines and initiatives. Without the basics, how could we hope to do anything which requires greater attention and energy?”

The basics or fundamentals are the foundations to success. The foundations are the first part of any construction, ie: something on which everything is built. The foundations are key to anything’s durability and stability, whether that’s a building or baking a cake; creating a successful business or having a good golf swing – and I should know!

Getting the basics right is also the first step in creating your company’s health and safety plan.

So, Health and Safety basics for your business will be covered in more than one blog. Let’s start with:

Preparing a H&S policy

According to the Health and Safety at Work Act etc, every business must have a policy for managing health and safety setting out a general approach to health and safety. This therefore is a legal requirement and explains how you, as an employer, will manage health and safety in your business.

If you have more than five employees this has to be a written document to be shared with everyone in the business. It also should clearly state who does what, when and how.

The policy should cover three elements. Firstly, The Statement of Intent which is your general policy and your commitment to managing it, regularly reviewed and signed by the most senior person in the company. Secondly, it should identify those who have a specific responsibility for health and safety in the company; and thirdly, it should contain the details of the practical arrangements that you have put in place, showing how you will achieve your health and safety policy aims, eg: staff training, communication, risk assessments.

Managing risks and risk assessments at work

If you’re an employer, you’re legally bound to protect your employees and others from harm. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the minimum you must do is:

• identify what could cause injury or illness in your business (hazards)
• decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (the risk)
• take action to eliminate the hazard, or if this isn’t possible, control the risk

As we have discussed before in these pages, risk management is a step-by-step process for controlling health and safety risks caused by hazards in the workplace.

Firstly, identify hazards and think about how equipment is used or how the office or work site is laid out. It also includes analysing safe and unsafe work practices and the general state of the work area.

Ask yourself if there are any hazards to health, eg: chemical use, manual handling, workstation set up, even that which may cause work-related stress. Then apply these to how your employees and visitors or member of the public might be harmed.

Once you have identified the hazards, assess the level of risk. Who might be harmed, what control measures are already in place and what further action you need to take to control the risks, eg: remove the hazard, who needs to do it and by when and then put the measures in place.

You’re not expected to eliminate all risks but measures need to be “reasonably practicable’ to protect people from harm. As the HSE says: “This means balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control the real risk in terms of money, time or trouble.”

If you employ five or more people, you must record your significant findings and it’s good practice to review the controls to ensure they are working, are effective and when there are changes in the workplace.

Consult your workers

Involving your staff is good practice because they have ideas and actual on the job experience and may also need further information and training. The policy is theirs as well. A policy that is co- designed is more likely to be adhered to.

Consultation is also a two-way street, allowing employees to raise concerns and influence decisions on managing health and safety. Involving them in making decisions shows that their health and safety is taken seriously. If you’re a small business, you might choose to consult your workers directly; while larger businesses may consult through a health and safety representative, like Courtley Health and Safety, so give us a call today, if you need advice and help.

Next time: Providing information and training; reporting accidents and illness; first aid in work.