FEATURE


KNOWING YOUR LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES


Here, H&S consultants, Arinite look at how businesses can comply with Health and Safety Regulations.


When it comes to legislation and policies, figuring out your own obligations can be tough. Health and safety laws are multi-layered and difficult to grasp – but can lead to enormous fines and unpleasant trouble if ignored.


Knowing your responsibilities and assuring working hazards are kept to a minimum and handled according to legal guidelines, can mitigate unnecessary stress on both the employee’s and the employer’s side.


Whilst an official and thorough risk assessment is the only way to make sure your company is compliant, having a look at the following areas can give you an idea on whether professional help is urgently needed.


https://www.arinite.co.uk/health-safety-check/


“HEALTH AND SAFETY LAWS ARE MULTI-


LAYERED AND DIFFICULT TO GRASP – BUT CAN LEAD TO ENORMOUS


FINES AND UNPLEASANT TROUBLE IF IGNORED.”


DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE A HEALTH AND SAFETY


POLICY DOCUMENT? A company needs to have a written health and safety policy, an accident reporting system, and a designated health and safety role or person. A well designed HSE plan is essential to making sure that everyone in the company is informed on how to comply with regulations.


A good step would be, for example, to have law posters displayed, so workers are frequently reminded of how to be safe and can look up any


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questions regarding safety quickly and easily.


Also, if an accident does happen nevertheless, evidence of effective health and safety procedures and a good record will mitigate consequences. The policy needs to be reviewed and updated every two years.


ARE ALL HAZARDS


IDENTIFIED? Some workplaces bear obvious threats, such as factories or construction sites, whilst other areas may be tougher to assess. An office, for example, might not seem like the most dangerous place to work, but has the company carried out a risk assessment for computer users?


How often is the electrical system inspected and checked? Or is there a procedure in place for managing the movement of vehicles and pedestrians in car parks?


WHEN DID ALL EMPLOYEES LAST RECEIVE HEALTH AND


SAFETY TRAINING? Having policies in place is not enough – workers need to actually know them and be part of a health and safety culture. To ensure that everyone is informed, employees need to take part in health and safety training regularly, especially if new machinery is introduced. If someone changes to a different apartment or simply starts working a new project in a new environment, potential hazards need to be explained before any work is carried out.


Employees with nominated health and safety duties must receive separate, in-depth training. For a safety advisor to know where hazards lie, professional audits and inspections of the working environment should be carried out about every six months, even if the workplace hasn’t been changed since then. Dangers can


http://www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/inspections.htm


be difficult to spot for the untrained eye and should therefore always be assessed by experts.


“IF AN ACCIDENT DOES HAPPEN EVIDENCE OF


EFFECTIVE HEALTH AND SAFETY PROCEDURES AND A GOOD


RECORD WILL MITIGATE CONSEQUENCES.”


http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/implications/3healthandsafetyrev3.shtml


ARE ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS RECORDED


AT WORK? Even small incidents, like a cut or a bruise, should be recorded and treated according to legal standards. An injury might not look critical at first, but if it worsens, the employer will be reliable.


If the employer can provide evidence of a decent incident record, the outcome will be better for all parties, creating a fairer and more efficient procedure. It also makes it easier to investigate with a view to preventing reoccurrence.


Dangers are indeed manifold and very difficult to prevent completely. Even if a risk assessment has identified practically every danger, safety precautions can still fail in the end.


This is why it’s so important to be prepared; on the employer’s side, to ensure a successful and thriving business, and on the employee’s side, to know how to handle hazards, how to avoid them, and how to feel happy in an environment that recognises the value of robust health and safety. In the end, a safe work environment profits everyone involved.


www.arinite.co.uk www.tomorrowshs.com


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