safe environment February 07

safe environment

February 16, 2007

Do It Yourself Health and SafetyIntroducing the Health and Safety Policy
The goal for 2007 is to promote simple and cost effective Health and Safety. That is why this year safetyadviser.co.uk will be promoting the “Health and Safety Starter Pack”.

The Health and Safety Executive have introduced a “starter pack”, which provides a comprehensive introduction to health and safety for new and small business. It is priced at £35 and can be purchased online. Go to (http://www.hse.gov.uk/flist/index.htm) for more details.
With this in mind safetyadviser.co.uk will be producing a newsletter each month detailing examples of safety documents with the intention of providing, for free, a set of working safety arrangements by December 07. If followed, each newsletter will provide a step by step approach to safety. Every “next step” will add a little more to the safety arrangements. February’s newsletter will explain what is required to provide a top notch Health and Safety Policy.

Why have a Health and Safety Policy?
If you have five or more employees you must, by law, have a formalised, written health and safety policy. If you do not have five employees it is still advisable to have a policy. This is because; it provides proof to those who request it such as prospective clients or (if you were in trouble) the HSE More importantly it is a statement of intent. Your company intends to manage Health and Safety as integral part of it’s business. The policy gives the direction and overall principals of the organisation.

What does a good Health and Safety Policy have within it?
The policy is split into two documents; the policy “statement” and the associated “arrangements”. We shall be looking at what the “statement” should contain. (The arrangements will be discussed in future news letters). The policy statement should:
be appropriate to the nature and scale of the organization’s hazards and risks;
include a commitment to continual improvement;
include a commitment to at least comply with current applicable legislation and with other requirements to which the organisation subscribes;
be documented, implemented and maintained;
be communicated to all employees with the intent that employees are made aware of their individual OH&S obligations;
be available to interested parties;
and be reviewed periodically to ensure that it remains relevant and appropriate to the organisation.
This policy needs to be produced and authorised by the organisations top management in conjunction with staff. It should be signed by the Managing Director or Owner. Remember it is the over arching aim of the organisation to manage health and safety and to prevent accidents. To this end success is defined as “no accidents.”
Remember a good health and safety policy can win you new
customers. More and more “blue chip” businesses are asking for
this information to be provided within there Pre Qualifying
Questionnaires. If you haven’t got one you could be loosing
business.

If you require help on putting together a Health and Safety Policy
contact Kevin Jones at kevin.jones@safetyadviser.co.uk or
telephone 07880 875003

Next month’s topic “Health and Safety Arrangements”

Health and Safety PolicyFree Policy Template

To get your free policy template go to

http://www.safetyadviser.co.uk/Examples/policy%20example.doc

Remember a good health and safety policy can win you new customers. More and more “blue chip” businesses are asking for this information to be provided within there Pre Qualifying Questionnaires. If you haven’t got one you could be loosing business.

If you require help on putting together a Health and Safety Policy contact Kevin Jones at kevin.jones@safetyadviser.co.uk

Blog For the most up to date changes

safetyadviser.co.uk have entered the Blog world. For the most up to date information on safety check out the blog

http://safetyadviser.blogspot.com/index.html

or visit the safetyadviser.co.uk website. www.safetyadviser.co.uk

Kevin Jones
kevin.jones@safetyadviser.co.uk
Taking the pain out of Health + Safety at www.safetyadviser.co.uk