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1. Appoint a Competent Person
to Be Responsible for Health and Safety
Under the Management of Health
and Safety at Work Regulations 1992, it is necessary to
appoint a competent person who is responsible for health
and safety in your workplace. It is necessary for the
person in question to have knowledge, experience and to
receive suitable training in health and safety to undertake
these duties. Time must also be allocated to ensure the
maintenance of health, safety and welfare in the workplace.
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2. Prepare a
General Health and Safety Policy Statement
By
law (Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 section 2(3))
if you employ five or more people you must have a written
health and safety policy. This contains your statement
of general policy on health and safety at work, and the
organization and arrangements for putting that policy
into practice. The number of employees must include all
those who are part-time, trainees, or are employed within
different premises. The employer has responsibility for
imparting the health and safety information contained
in the policy to all staff.
Find out more about preparing
a General Health and Safety policy statement
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3. Discuss the
Hazards Associated With Your Business
General Requirements
Now that you have formally identified the structure of
your business, and the responsibilities of all employees
to ensure a safe working environment, it is necessary
to look at the arrangements which will be put in place
to ensure that the commitment to ensure health and safety
is realised.
Find out more about the assessing
the risks associated with hazards
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4. Assess the Risks Associated
With the Hazards
There are many systems which can be used to determine
the risk associated with a hazard within the workplace.
When determining the risk associated with any hazard,
the following issues must be borne in mind:
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How
close do workers get to the hazard? |
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How
often is the job in question done? |
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How
likely is it that something can go wrong? |
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How
many people would get hurt if things did go wrong? |
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Could
this include persons who do not work for you, e.g.
members of the public |
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5.
Document Details of Significant Hazards and Controls In
Place or Required
Having determined the hazards which are significant within
your workplace, it is necessary to document these and
give details of the controls in place, or further controls
which may be required to ensure that the workplace is
as safe as possible. Controls may vary greatly depending
on the hazard in question.
Consequently, by this stage you should have established:
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a)
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The
hazards which exist within your workplace |
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b)
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The
significance of those hazards |
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c)
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The
controls which are already in place to reduce the
risk of significant hazards being realised |
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d)
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The
controls which require to be implemented to improve
health and safety in the workplace |
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e)
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Regular
review |
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6. Develop a
Health and Safety Plan
Part of the risk assessment establishes further controls
which need to be implemented to ensure safety within the
workplace. As with anything, these controls may involve
financial outlays, and consequently may not be implemented
immediately. For this reason, it is necessary for you
to develop a health and safety plan to allow the new controls
to be implemented within realistic timescales.
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