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Writing an Effective Health & Safety Policy

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Writing an Effective Health & Safety Policy

A successful and effective health and safety policy must be clear and easy to understand, concise and detail the lines of responsibility for each aspect or arrangement.

The Scope

The scope of your policy will be individual to your business requirements. You may have a large policy overseeing the entire group or business, or you could have a policy specifically for each premises or location. If your policy is standalone, but your business is part of a larger group, you need to detail how decisions made by the group will be implemented and carried out in your business.

Some policies only cover health and safety considerations, while others are extensive and include environmental issues and quality control.

You can use an external consultant to help put your policy together, but you should ensure the final version is owned by your business. You should brand it so your employees can see it is part of the company literature, and understand its importance.

It should also be adaptable. As your company develops or evolves, your processes or working practices may change, so you must be able to edit your policy quickly, to reflect business changes or changes to your risk assessment.

The Intent

The statement of intent should show the organisation’s stance and commitment to the health and safety of its workers. It should be signed by the managing director and placed at the front of the policy, as well as being displayed where employees work.

The most effective statements of intent contain short, easily readable and positive statements. These should state:

  • The organisation’s risk management aims and objectives
  • The personal responsibility of the employees
  • A pledge to maintain health and safety, in line with the Health & Safety At Work Act
  • The creation of emergency procedures
  • A commitment to undertaking risk assessments
  • The frequency at which the policy and statement will be reviewed (at least annually)

The Organisation

A diagram of the organisation’s hierarchy in relation to decisions made about health and safety and policy amends should be included. This may differ from the usual management structure. For example, if a member of middle management has the appropriate training to properly identify risk and provide advice on technical aspects of safety management, they may appear on the health and safety hierarchy above a member of senior management. If a committee board is used make decisions about risk and safety, they should appear on the structure also.

All employees should have a competent person above them, to offer health and safety advice and management, and the person who makes the final decision on risk management issues should appear at the top. This person should also be the one to sign the statement of intent.

The Responsibility

All members of the management team who directly influence policy and procedural changes and decisions should be named within the policy, alongside their responsibilities to the organisation and the people they influence.

The Arrangements

The arrangements are essentially the details of how each safety topic will be managed and undertaken.

Each arrangement should be one paragraph explaining who is responsible for that aspect, what steps are taken to reduce or eliminate that risk, and how it will be risk assessed and when. If the risk is complex, it should have a separate operational procedure with greater detail and any necessary checklists or forms. The operational procedure should be referenced in the arrangement for that risk.

The arrangements should be simple to understand for both staff affected and staff responsible. To ensure this, each arrangement could be split into 2 parts; part one explaining how staff are affected, and part two explaining how the responsible person should perform their required duties.

Here at Health and Safety Training Ltd, we have years of experience helping organisations set up safe systems of work by providing the appropriate training for staff and managers. To find out more, or discuss your training requirements, simply get in touch with us today.     

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