16 March Approaching Your Health And Safety Policy Your health and safety policy offers huge potential to help you focus on improvements within your business. A health and safety policy in three parts There are three parts that comprise a policy: Policy Statement Organisation Arrangements Statement The Health and Safety Policy Statement is usually about a page long, outlining the company’s commitment to Health and Safety. This is the public facing section with which most people are familiar. Organisation The organisation section of your policy is all about identifying who is responsible for what. If you want people to take responsibility for different aspects, you need to communicate this and ensure they are aware of their responsibilities. The organisation in the policy does not have to be the same as your management organogram, but they are often structured similarly. Arrangements The final section of your Health and Safety Policy is where you outline the practical arrangements you have in place, demonstrating how you will achieve your policy’s aims. This could include sections that detail the things you need to do to run your business safely, such as: Risk Assessment Control of Contractors Fire Safety First Aid Provision Electrical Safety Warehouse Safety Office Safety Etc. These sections should detail the aspects that need to be managed by those identified in the Organisation section of your policy. For example, a Warehouse Manager is likely to be responsible for health and safety, which could include responsibility for: Restricting warehouse access to authorised persons Ensuring that warehouse staff are provided with suitable and sufficient PPE (such as safety footwear, hi-vis clothing, gloves) Providing suitable training to all warehouse workers Risk assessing warehouse activities, and ensuring appropriate control measures and introduced, monitored and maintained Ensuring racking is regularly checked, maintained in a safe condition, and organising formal inspections Etc. Meanwhile, other staff may take responsibility for other elements that influence the warehouse. For example, an Operations Manager could be responsible for Forklift Trucks which are used across several departments. This responsibility could include: Arranging FLT services, maintenance and repairs Provision of suitable lift trucks for the business’ operations Arranging LOLER inspections at appropriate intervals Liaising with the Warehouse Manager to ensure lift truck usage is restricted to trained, authorised users Organising and keeping a record of refresher lift truck driver training Etc. Health and Safety Policy in practice The Health and Safety Policy helps to divide important aspects of health and safety management between different members of the team. It enables members of the team know what they are responsible for and also who else is relying on them. How this helps avoid things falling between two places This approach helps avoid things falling between two places. For example, if we take the example outlined above, we have helped identify who is responsible for what. Without doing so, it would be possible for a potentially dangerous situation to exist, for example: The Warehouse Manager leaves servicing, maintenance, and inspection of the fork lift trucks to the Operations Manager The Operations Manager thinks the Warehouse Manager has this in hand By spelling out who each responsibility falls with, we can avoid such things happened. How your business will benefit from a sensible health and safety policy Even simple business operations can be improved through a sensible approach to health and safety. The more complex your business, the more benefit can be obtained from a well thought out Health and Safety Policy. Get in touch today to find out more about how we can help with policy generation and review.