Glasgow Business . 35 www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com


Assessing risks in the workplace will keep employees and your business protected T


he Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) website of media releases last year makes for some grim reading. In Scotland alone during 2015, there were


details of court cases involving the deaths of 16 employees at work, as well as 27 serious injuries that have led to fines totalling £3.8 million for organisations that had not lived up to their health and safety obligations. While the number of lapses in safety have


reduced over the years, there have still been some tragic results for the employees and their families. Tere are also serious repercussions for the organisations: a significant fine (and imprisonment of a business owner in one case); loss of reputation, particularly from customers; plus the loss of valuable skills while people recover from their injuries. Te Government’s health and safety


legislation is all about protecting employees at work and this can only be achieved by identifying the risks involved in the many tasks carried out by people within the workplace. Developing a robust H&S policy helps to promote a safe culture where everyone has a


right to return home safely every day and also has a duty to take care of themselves and those around them. Health and safety legislation is not just for high-risk industries such as mining, forestry or manufacturing, it’s an imperative for all organisations, large and small, to help protect people during their working day. And this principle is also applicable to self-employed sole traders and those working from home. HSE states that risk assessment is a legal requirement, and that if you employ five or more people you must record the significant findings of the assessment to provide the basis for a H&S policy. HSE has recently produced a new leaflet,


Health and safety legislation is not just for high-risk industries... it’s imperative for all organisations, large and small, to help protect


‘Health and Safety Made Simple’, which will be helpful to new and smaller companies, giving them basic information on what they must do to make sure their businesses comply with health and safety law. HSE insists that developing a H&S policy


is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork but rather about identifying sensible measures to control risk in the workplace – the leaflet provides a helpful H&S policy template to get started. A useful section describes how to assess risks


in the workplace. It suggests that business owners and employees simply walk around the premises to try to identify all the potential hazards – to think about how accidents could happen and who might be harmed. Potential risks could come from simple slips


and trips to potential manual handling and falls from height issues, as well as safety around using equipment. Once the risks have been identified, the next


step is to put appropriate measures in place to Continues on next page>


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SAFETY FIRST


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