Practical services to help you mitigate risk
Health and Safety Consultancy Services ….the simplest and most cost effective way to ensure your business is complying with Health and Safety Law.
For any business to grow and succeed, the health and safety of employees should remain a top priority. Whether you’re running a relatively low risk business, or one whose team is dealing with dangerous tasks on a daily basis, health and safety measures must be in place to keep staff out of harm’s way and to maintain the reputation of your organisation overall.
Nobody wants to work with businesses that compromise the safety of their employees. Making safety a priority shows that you care about the wellbeing of your staff and are a good employer. When you put your employees first, staff feel valued too, leading to an increase in productivity and quality. Valued staff work harder and will remain loyal to your business. Have a read of our Importance of Workplace Safety blog for more information.
What responsibility do employers have under health and safety law?
Under health and safety law, employers are responsible for the safety of their employees and workers. They must also ensure the health and safety of people who don’t work for them, such as visitors, contractors, or members of the public.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
The primary legislation covering occupational health and safety in Britain is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which makes employers responsible for the management of health and safety. It sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and employees have to themselves and to each other.
The Act places duties on employers to produce a written policy that explains how they intend to manage health and safety, and consult with staff or their union representatives on this process.
Various regulations sit beneath the Act. These regulations impose more explicit duties around specific hazards, processes or groups of workers. Regulations are supplemented by Approved Codes of Practice (ACOPs) and guidance, which give practical advice on how to comply with the law.
Regulations cover a range of issues, including the use of computers, working with chemicals, work equipment, lifting operations, manual handling, radiation, personal protective equipment (PPE), and the working environment.
Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is the cornerstone of an employer’s management of health and safety. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must make a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of risks to health and safety.
Risk assessments must be done following consultation with employees or union safety reps. This will ensure that any measures will work in practice and won’t introduce new hazards.
Employers need to tell staff about the risks identified by the assessment and the measures that have been introduced to control them.
Every business with five or more employees is obliged by law to have a written health and safety policy. And that’s just one aspect of your business’s many health and safety responsibilities.
The simplest, most cost-effective way to ensure that your business is complying with the law is to have expert help whenever needed. This is what Ardent Safety’s Workplace Safety Consultancy Services offer.
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