Wright Safety Solutionsestablished 2006

providing Health and Safety for Coventry and Warwickshire medium/small businesses

Safety Policy

	Why is having a WRITTEN safety policy important? There are several reasons: as a company manager/owner/director, if you have really thought about health and safety and got some help to write out a safety policy, you can look at it and show it to others and say "safety is important here, it says so". In this way you show to your employees and visitors that you are serious about safety, you care for the welfare of your employees and of the public. it's the law! Yes, if you employ five or more people then the Health and Safety at Work Act requires that you prepare and display a written statement explaining your commitment to health and safety at work. if ever your company is officially inspected e.g. by a local authority, insurers or the Health & Safety Executive, your safety policy may be the first thing they will look for. If you haven't got a safety policy up on your noticeboard then you've fallen at the first hurdle. So, what should be in a safety policy? Well, your written safety policy might just be two paragraphs on an A4 sheet. Not a lot, but you need to have put a little bit of thought into it, the policy needs to be specific to your company, it's no good copying someone else's. The policy has to explain how your company is organised, how SAFETY at work is organised, and the arrangements you have put in place to make the policy effective. In your safety policy what you say has to be what you do. You could think about your safety policy for hours, but this is where Wright Safety Solutions can help. I can guide you through the main requirements in minutes and we could have it written up in an hour.

	If you get Wright Safety Solutions to help with your policy, it will be specific to your company. The detail will depend on what business you are in, but briefly as I guide you through the main points of your safety policy you will need to think about these things: as a company manager/owner/director you are responsible for the welfare and safety of your employees while thay are at work on your premises or doing contracts elsewhere. You are also responsible for the safety of visitors and contractors while they are on your premises. So in your policy you are making the commitment in writing for all to see. if you are commited to safety then your aim must be to have a safe workplace, provide safe equipment, a clean place of work, a warm place of work. Say so in the policy. you are not going to manage all this on your own. Everyone in your company is accountable and has a responsibilty for safety so get them to show it, get them involved, starting with the safety policy. In the policy you should explain how your company is organised and who has been given management accountability for the arrangements that are in place. You might have a maintenance supervisor, a foreman, a planner, a buyer - they all have responsibilities and should each have particular duties to perform which will ensure the safety policy is adhered to. The policy should say who does what with a chain of command to cover all aspects of health and safety. so, we know who's doing what, but the safety policy should also say a little bit about how you're doing it. Not in any great detail at this point, but your policy can mention that you have procedures for dealing with new staff, safety information, training, chemicals, accidents etc etc. Your policy should tell visitors and remind employees about a few important matters relevant to your premises - signing in and out for people entering and leaving the site is good policy, and also describe your effective emergency procedures. Maybe you have separate walkways and routes for traffic, maybe you have an area where hard hats should be worn, or safety glasses. A few basic rules that everyone has to respect - put them in the written policy. If you see someone breaking those rules it takes just a few seconds to show them the policy, and then maybe show them the door! oh, and targets. You need to set targets. It's no good saying our target is zero accidents this year if you've had about 10 accidents a year since whenever. We need to sit down together and set achievable targets based on previous performance and with steps taken to achieve them. Writing your safety policy need not be difficult. With a little help from Wright Safety Solutions it'll be written in no time, I'll type it up for you, make the document official and very visible on your notice board. Eh, you do have a safety noticeboard don't you? If not, I'll sort out one for you!

Contact Wright Safety Solutions :

	Wright Safety Solutions John A. B. Wright B.Sc. (Chem), TechIOSH safety qualification: NEBOSH (Gen.Cert.) Tel: (024) 76618235 Mobile: 0779 3880597 safety@jabw.co.uk http://www.wrightsafety.co.uk

References:

• 1. Health & Safety at Work Act (1974)
• 2. Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations (1999)
• 3. Health & Safety Executive

this page first published 12 January 2007
last updated 6 March 2020

Health and Safety for Coventry and Warwickshire medium/small businesses