Health and Safety for your small business (with a handy checklist)

All businesses need to recognise, review and actively manage their Health and Safety requirements. No excuses or exceptions! You may think it is boring, but it is a completely essential part of your business and responsibilities. Having had responsibility for H&S previously in a diverse work environment, which included, I have had to consider H&S from a number of angles. Here we will look at key areas of responsibility and provide some guidance and structure for what you need to implement and consider further in your business.

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. These Regulations apply to all workplaces including those with less than five employees and to the self-employed. This includes displaying clearly the H&S Law regulations poster of the employer and employee responsibilities, where it is easy to read, or providing the pocket card to all employees along with relevant safety signage for your business.

The level of input required depends on whether you are a low or high-risk business and how many employees you have. There are different requirements for different levels and what is ‘adequate and appropriate’ will depend on the circumstances in the workplace. This includes whether trained first-aiders are needed, what should be included in a first-aid box and if a first-aid room is required. You must also provide health and safety training, and clear information and guidance relevant to your business.

The necessity for H&S management is obvious, however, it seems easy to overlook and push to the bottom of the pile. Other things creep up the to-do list, until something happens and then, in all seriousness, what will you do? Failure to provide first aid in the event of injury or sudden illness could result in a casualty’s death.

At work, it is your responsibility to ensure that an employee who is injured or taken ill at work receives immediate attention and the HSE will prosecute in cases where there is a significant risk, a disregard for established standards or persistent poor compliance with the law.

Here are 3 key areas to consider:

Once you have reached 5 employees, you need to ensure your policy is written down.

This needs to detail the employer’s duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees, and also that the employees have a duty to take care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by their actions at work. The policy must also identify the appointed person who is to take responsibility for carrying out and updating risk assessments, reporting accidents, calling the emergency services or medical help when required and updating and reviewing processes and potential hazards regularly.

You also need to identify who takes responsibility for providing safety equipment and how that is monitored and maintained and a full stocked and managed first aid kit is also a must. Although first aid training, while strongly recommended, depends on the number of staff before it becomes a requirement.

This is one critical area you don't want to be back tracking on after an issue or accident has occurred, it is your responsibility to get your requirements in line now. This doesn't have to be time consuming, put the straightforward documents in place and create an easy to use and review system, which is efficient and active.

If you don’t have a typical office environment or only have remote workers, does this apply to you?

Yes! There are many different requirements depending on the industry and environment you are in; construction, distribution, hairdressers, warehouse, printing etc. You must ensure you are aware of your hazards so you can monitor and manage them safely, documenting your risk assessments and the actions you do, or don’t, take.

Keep a record of training provided and information given, from the induction process through to formal classroom delivery or e-learning. Ensure that you regularly review when refresher training is due. Also discuss updates and changes to H&S with your employees, consult and ensure it is a two-way process. They are on the front line and understand the realities of the risks they are facing.

Additional policies are necessary which may only apply to your business so take the time to ensure you have these in place, such as:

Company Cars and Driving
Lone workers
Working at heights
Manual Handling

Check out the full list at the hse.gov.uk website.

Looking beyond the law.

To really look after your employees, you need to take responsibility for their health and safety. And to create a great place to work? This also means a company which embraces a focus on well-being and providing a positive, inclusive and supportive environment. When that is done in a genuine way, you get that investment back in attendance and results.

Going beyond the essential training, for areas such as manual handling, DSE and fire safety, and providing proactive training and guidance on growing areas of concern in business, such as stress at work, mental health, conflict management and even customer service and team building, can go a long way to not only minimising absence and maximising productivity but ensuring long term sustainability of performance by doing so with the employees’ health and wellbeing at the centre of the business.

Finally

There is no point having the assessments and policies if you do not effectively communicate them to ensure they are used and understood. In an emergency, you need your workers to know what to do.

Accidents can happen, but by ensuring you have provided all the necessary training, information and guidance to employees and carried out your duties as a preventative and cautionary measure, including implementing the essential employer’s liability insurance, you can help protect yourself and your business in the event of an incident or claim and carry out your duties as a responsible and safe employer.

For further guidance refer to www.hse.gov.uk for everything you need to know about providing a healthy and safe working environment.

Please note; this article does not constitute legal advice and is not an exhaustive list, for specific and relevant requirements to your business please refer to the HSE website or a H&S expert.

For further advice and guidance please contact Mesh HR.

Consultancy. Outsourced support. Training. Coaching.

Handy H&S Checklist

Clearly display the H&S Law regulations poster of the employer and employee responsibilities, where it is easy to read, or providing the pocket card to all employees.
Clearly display relevant safety signage for your business – this will be based on your industry, equipment/machinery/hazards etc, and will be clear through your risk assessments, for guidance check the hse.gov.uk website.
Control your risks. Complete relevant risk assessments, regularly. This will give you the information you need to take the actions relevant to your business. You will need to keep the documentation for your records.
Provide a first-aid kit. What is required in the first-aid box depends on the numbers you employ and whether you need to ensure trained first-aiders are needed, and if a first-aid room is required.
Provide the right workplace facilities for your staff. This includes facilities which cover basic requirements for; Welfare (toilets, hand basins, soap, dryers, drinking water, a place to store clothing and to change if a uniform is required); Health issues (good ventilation, reasonable working temperature, lighting, enough space and room and seating, clean workplaces); Safety issues (properly maintained premises and work equipment, floors and traffic routes free from obstructions, windows which open and can be cleaned). The HSE has a H&S toolbox for more information on controlling risks.
You must provide health and safety training, and clear information and guidance relevant to your business. You can include this in your induction/on-boarding process.Tip: ensure your new employees sign to confirm they have received and understood the training, where they can access help and further information and when a refresher is due.
Once you have reached 5 employees, you need to ensure your policy is written down, all relevant points are clearly documented, communicated, recorded and accessible. As well as regularly reviewed and updated in line with business changes.
Ensure you have additional policies in place relevant to your industry and that cover the health and safety requirements of the tasks and duties that your employees have to carry out. Check with your industry regulation or any specifics identified in your business insurance.
Complete risk assessments on supporting the mental health and general wellbeing of your staff, to support stress in the workplaces for managers and employees, conflict resolution, mediation etc.
Ensure you have the correct business insurance in place for your industry and type of work.
Put in place a simple system to record and keep track of dates for training and evaluations. Complete, review, update and communicate!

You cannot prevent accidents completely, but you can take steps and actions to protect your staff and your business which can limit dangers and risks. This is your responsibility and obligation as an employer.

Please note; this article does not constitute legal advice and is not an exhaustive list, for specific and relevant requirements to your business please refer to the HSE website or a H&S expert.

For further advice and guidance please contact us today.

Consultancy. Outsourced support. Training. Coaching.