Your business must have a health and safety policy, and if you have more than five employees, it must be written down.

 

The policy should include a general statement outlining your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and how you wish to achieve responsibilities and arrangements. We can help you write a policy specific to your organisation.

This applies to all businesses, no matter how small, to the employed and self-employed.

The primary responsibility for Health & Safety rests with the employer.

 

But employees also have a duty for their own health and safety, as well as the Health & Safety of others.

As an employer, you have a general duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of your employees. Anyone else who might be affected by your work must also be protected.

 

Under the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act (HSWA) 1974 and the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations (MHSWR) 1999, you must:

• As long as reasonably practicable, ensure the health, safety, and welfare of your employees, as well as anyone else affected by your work.
• Carry out a risk assessment of the Health & Safety risks to employees and others
• Effectively plan, organise, control, monitor and review your Health & Safety measures.
• Appoint someone ‘competent’ to ensure you comply with Health & Safety law. They must have ‘sufficient training and experience or knowledge or other qualities.’
• Provide employees with clear Health & Safety information and training, including the risks and steps you’ve taken to control them.
• Prepare (if there are five or more employees) a written Health & Safety policy. It must describe your arrangements and be regularly reviewed. You must bring it to the attention of employees

HSWA says employees must take reasonable care:

• For their own Health & Safety
• Not to put others at risk by what they do or don’t do at work.

 

Workers must also:

• Not deliberately interfere with or misuse safety provisions
• Co-operate to help meet the Health & Safety obligations of their employer

 

Employees have further duties, notably under the MHSWR, including:

• Use of equipment or substances in accordance with training or instruction is given
• Alerting employers of grave or imminent danger
• Reporting shortcomings in their employer’s Health & Safety arrangements

Inspectors usually enforce it from local authorities or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), depending on the type of business operated:

• Environmental health officers deal with offices, shops, hotels, catering, and leisure activities
• HSE inspectors cover activities such as factories, farms and building sites

 

Employees must be given the name and address of the enforcement authority for their workplace.

 

Under the Health & Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989, every employer must also display a poster or distribute a leaflet setting out basic Health & Safety information.

This depends on the seriousness of the offence and whether you’ve previously been told about matters.

 

You may be served with an improvement notice requiring that the Health & Safety failing to be sorted out or you can be taken to court.

 

The 2016 sentencing guidelines increased the level of fines for all businesses and are based on turnover, NOT profit.

• Large (turnover £50m+) – fines from £10k to £10 million
• Medium (turnover £10m – £50m) – fines from £3k to £4 million
• Small (turnover £2m – 10m) – fines from £700 – £1.6 million
• Micro (turnover <£2m) – fines from £200 to £450k

Unfortunately, there is no hard or fast answer to this. The frequency of inspections depends on many factors, including but not limited to:

• Level of risk
• Number, size, and potential risk of different work operations or equipment
• Number of shifts
• Introduction of new processes, equipment, or workers
• Past incident/near-miss records
• Client requirements

The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require employers to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities, and personnel to ensure their employees receive immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill at work.

 

What is “adequate and appropriate” will depend on the circumstances in the workplace, and each employer should undertake an assessment to determine this. We can support you by interpreting the guidance in relation to your business.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order states that employers must appoint one or more competent persons to assist them in undertaking preventative and protective measures.

 

How many fire wardens or marshals depend on several factors and will be outlined in your fire risk assessment? We can undertake a fire risk assessment of your premises.

The HSE defines competence as “the combination of training, skills, experience and knowledge that a person has, and their ability to apply them safely to perform a task safely”. Other factors, such as attitude, can also affect someone’s competence.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, state that. Every employer shall make and give effect to such arrangements as appropriate, based on the nature of his activities and the size of his undertaking, for effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of preventive and protective measures. Where the employer employs five or more employees, he shall record the arrangements. So, in other words, yes, you need procedures, and if you have five or more staff, they need to be documented.

The cost depends on the following factors:

• Level of risk
• Number, size, and potential risk of different work operations or equipment
• Types of processes, equipment, or workers
• Past incident/near-miss records
• Client requirements

 

We would be happy to provide a non-obligation quote following the initial meeting and site visit. Please rest assured, we tailor our quotes and associated scope of work to your business, and pride ourselves on our business morals and ethics.

Unfortunately, there is no hard or fast answer to this. The frequency of inspections depends on many factors, including but not limited to:

• Level of risk
• Number, size, and potential risk of different work operations or equipment
• Number of shifts
• Introduction of new processes, equipment, or workers
• Past incident/near-miss records
• Client requirements

Most of our courses can be adapted for online delivery via Microsoft Teams. This means delegates can dial in from anywhere in the world and from multiple sites. This is particularly beneficial during pandemic situations, such as COVID-19, as it reduces the need for travel and reduces costs while still benefiting from virtual face-to-face tutoring/delegate interaction.

Traditional e-learning is where the course delegates interact with a computer. However, our remote training is delivered live by a course tutor with the other delegates present, allowing us to create an authentic virtual classroom environment.

Yes, although we offer public courses, we can also provide quotes for in-house delivery of all our courses at your premises. This will work out to be the most cost-effective and offer the opportunity to tailor our courses to our client’s individual needs.

The simple answer is anywhere. Many of our existing clients operate nationwide, and we have consultants and trainers with international experience.

The maximum numbers vary. Regulated courses often have a maximum delegate number imposed by the awarding body.

We can undertake an initial remote audit, which will include a document review of your records and policies via a secure web-based platform. We will also schedule interviews with key personnel and stakeholders via Microsoft Teams and or telephone. This can then be followed up with a site inspection later. This is an effective way for organisations to demonstrate that they monitor their health, safety, and environmental performance, particularly under pandemic conditions when site attendance and travel may be restricted.

You do not have to commit to a fixed contract period to use our services. We will work with you to agree on a plan or service package that meets your needs.

We can undertake an initial remote audit, which will include a document review of your records and policies via a secure web-based platform. We will also schedule interviews with key personnel and stakeholders via Microsoft Teams and or telephone. This can then be followed up with a site inspection at a later date. This is an effective way for organisations to demonstrate that they monitor their health, safety, and environmental performance, particularly under pandemic conditions when site attendance and travel may be restricted.

We can provide remote audits to avoid the need to visit the site during times of crisis. We can also offer remote training for your staff and those who may be furloughed, as they are permitted by law to undertake training and development. We can also support your pandemic risk assessments, procedures, and arrangements.

We can provide remote audits to avoid the need to visit the site during times of crisis. We can also offer remote training for your staff and those who may be furloughed, as they are permitted by law to undertake training and development. We can also support your pandemic risk assessments, procedures, and arrangements. Post COVID-19, we can help you review how you responded to the crisis and give advice to ensure that your plans are even more robust in the event of a second wave or future pandemic, your plans are even more robust.

Yes, we can support you in undertaking a risk assessment, developing and implementing plans to make your buildings more secure, and responding to potential terrorism scenarios.