All businesses in the UK that employ staff in an office, warehouse or production line need to have the correct health and safety procedures in place for a wide range of reasons.
Ultimately it comes down to making sure your staff are working in a safe environment and the risk of injury is low. Secondly health and safety is a key part of company law and by making sure your business is compliant with the current legislation will definitely help you avoid any legal issues down the road.
What Are Your Areas of Responsibilities?
As business owners you are responsible for making sure the workplace health and safety of your working environment is completely safe and meets the relevant legal regulations. Another aspect of being a business owner is you need to make sure you are fully responsible for everyone that is affected by your business which includes the following areas:
– Employees that are working in your premises, people who work for you from home and also employees who are working at another site you run.
– Anyone who is visiting your premises such as sales reps, clients or contractors.
– Other people who are visiting your place of work and this can include temporary places of work such as a building site or housing development site.
– All people who are directly affected by the product or service you produce or supply fall under your responsibility as well.
It is important to remember that as a business, you need to have a health and safety policy in place, furthermore if you employ more than 5 people then this health and safety policy needs to be in writing for your staff members to read.
Some Legal Requirements
Businesses in the UK need to do certain things in their health and safety agenda to meet the legal requirements that are set out for them.
– They must record and report any accidents that happen in the workplace.
– It is important that they consult their employees on health and safety issues.
– Business owners need to make sure their employees understand and follow the health and safety rules in place.
– They should appoint a responsible person to be the health and safety representative of the working environment.
– There should be a health and safety law poster visible in the workplace.
– Health and safety training should be provided to staff free of charge.
Final Word
There are many more legal requirements that your business may need to adhere to depending on the type of workplace your business is situated in. To make sure you have fully covered all your bases in terms of being compliant with health and safety regulations and workplace safety, it is always a good idea to hire a health and safety consultant, as they will be able to give you all the necessary up to date advice and information.
Jon works on behalf of Veritas Consulting who specialise in health and safety services for businesses all over the UK.