Health and Safety Policy

A Health and Safety Policy is required by law (Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 section 2(3)) if you have 5 or more employees. To achieve legal compliance your Health and Safety Policy should be a written document and must describe how you will manage health and safety in your business by setting out who in the organisation is responsible for doing what, when and how. A Health and Safety Policy is a definitive statement of your commitment to the health and safety of your employees and is key to reducing accidents, and cases of work related ill-health. The policy should form part of your Risk Management Strategy.

While the employer is ultimately responsible for the organisations Health and Safety Policy, the tasks involved in its implementation can be delegated to members of staff. Your Health and Safety Policy should therefore make it clear who has been assigned what task, such as first aid or reporting of accidents. Employers are also responsible under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, for assessing the risks associated with the work activities and recording anything significant.

• Statement of Intent - this describes how you plan to manage health and safety in your business, your safety principles and goals and how the health and safety policy will be communicated to employees.
• Delegated Responsibilities – this section in the policy explains who in the organisation has responsibility for what element of health and safety and can be done by means of an organisation chart.
• Arrangements – varies from organisation to organisation depending on the type of work completed. It describes the arrangements by which you manage each aspect of health and safety policy, how you manage risk associated with associated with that aspect e.g. working at height, and who in the company is responsible for making sure that the actions identified actually happen.
• Policy Communication - details how you will make sure that anyone in the business or outside the business (such as contractors, visitors etc) who may be affected by your activities is made aware of the Health and Safety Policy.
• Monitoring – any actions highlighted in the health and safety policy that should be performed periodically must be monitored. If the document calls for quarterly inspections but these are forgotten or inconsistent, then there will be repercussions if the HSE inspector asks for the monitoring reports in a scheduled visit, or in light of some sort of incident or reported accident.
• Review - Health and Safety Policy documents should be reviewed at least annually or in the light of any health and safety event or organisational change.

The documented policy does not have to be long or complicated but can be confusing for the employer to put together. Sentient’s Health and Safety Policy advisors develop a policy specifically for your organisation, help with the identification of your significant risks and the resulting need for documented risk assessments that need to be completed. We also provide an audit of your current policy and practises to make sure that nothing has been missed.

Our Health and Safety Policy consultants are available 24 hours a day to provide advice on anything from how to complete documents associated with fire risk assessment to how to deal with events ensuing from a major health and safety incident. Our health and safety policy consultants based in Leeds are here to ensure that the policies and procedures you set up are both effective and manageable. With their vast amount of experience they will be able to advise quickly what will work and what won’t work, saving your organisation time and money in the process.

Do you need a health and safety policy? It’s really important for businesses to have this policy in place and following health and safety guidance helps employers to remain legally compliant. We are ready to help you and take your call. You can contact us on 0345 445 006 or use our online contact form here.