Home Health & Safety Health & Safety in The Workplace – 5 Things to Consider

Health & Safety in The Workplace – 5 Things to Consider

SHARE

Health and safety in the workplace is as important as it’s ever been and business owners must ensure that they are fully compliant with the latest rules, regulations, and policies.  Thorough health and safety practices should run throughout the business and involve managers, workers, contractors, suppliers, and customers. Health and safety is much more than just a box-ticking exercise, it can actually be the difference between life or death.  It’s much more than just a legal obligation, it’s a moral obligation and research also shows that workers are much more productive in workplaces that are committed to health and safety.  Therefore, implementing key health and safety practices is a win-win for everyone!

Although there can be lots to consider when it comes to health and safety in the workplace, it’s good to start with the fundamentals and make sure you have your house in order to avoid legal pitfalls, improve productivity and protect the safety of employees.

If you’re just starting out on your health and safety journey, here are the main 5 things to consider…

Competent Person

Appointing a competent person within your business is an integral part of health and safety practices.  A competent person is someone that is appointed in-house who has sufficient training, experience, and knowledge that can take reasonable steps to help employees and stakeholders to avoid harm.  Every business that has one or more employees are legally obligated to appoint a competent person regardless of the size of the business or sector you are operating in.  As well as the option of appointing a competent person in-house, you can also appoint an outsourced trusted health and safety partner just like Business Safety Solutions.

Health & Safety Audits

Health and safety audits are beneficial for businesses regardless of the size of the business or sector.  A typical health and safety audit will help to ensure that your current health and safety practices are competent and comply with the latest regulations as set out by the HSE.  A health and safety audit should fundamentally evaluate the competence of the existing management team and the current system in place for reporting hazards.  Moreover, health and safety audits also cover current fire risk assessments and the frequency of safety checks. 

Policy Statements

A health and safety policy statement sets out how you manage health and safety within your workplace.  The policy statement should be accessible to all stakeholders including customers, employees, directors, and suppliers.  The statement should consist of your attitude towards health and safety overall, the systems that you have in place for reporting hazardous events, and should also outline all preventative steps that you have in place to comply with current health and safety legislation.

Fire Risk Assessments

One of the most important factors of health and safety is to ensure that you have everything in place to protect all stakeholders in the event of a fire outbreak.  Fire risk assessments that we undertake aims to achieve the following;-

  • Identify – The identification of potential fire risks throughout the property and where danger may be more prevalent in the outbreak of a fire.
  • Decide – Who could be harmed in the event of the fire? Also, who is the most at risk currently?
  • Reduce – Fire risk assessments also include reducing the risks to a level as low as possible to protect employees and everyone involved within the place of work.
  • Evaluate – The evaluation of safety precautions that need to be put in place and implemented.

Online Training

Another thing to consider when just starting out with health and safety is to consider online health and safety courses that cost a fraction of what in-person courses would cost.  Doing online courses helps to provide a great opportunity to learn key content as often as required without having to be physically there in person.  There are a number of online courses you can undertake regardless of the industry or sector you’re currently operating in.

Choose Business Safety Solutions

Business Safety Solutions provide a wide range of health and safety services for a multitude of sectors and industries.  We are able to provide all of the above and more.  Our aim is to support business leaders by offering a fully outsourced service so you can continue to focus on what you do best and grow your business to its full potential.  If you’re looking for a trusted health and safety partner, please get in touch with us today by calling 01244 455277.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here