Do I need a Health & Safety Policy

It is a legal requirement to have a Health & Safety Policy in place in you have more than 5 employees. Employees are defined as someone who you pay through the PAYE system, this does not include anyone who you use as a subcontractor.

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Often referred to as HASAW or HSW, this Act of Parliament is the main piece of UK health and safety legislation. It places a duty on all employers “to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work” of all their employees.

Less than 5 employees

There may also be a time when you have less than 5 employees and you are asked for a Health & Safety Policy. This can occur if you want to become a supplier to a large company who expect a policy no matter how many employees you have. If this is their policy they will expect it from every supplier with no exception, we can help you to develop a company policy at a reasonable price.

How to write the policy

A policy is a written statement which has three essential parts:

1) Health & Safety Policy

The health and safety policy details a statement of intent. The statement of intent details your aims and objectives, health and safety policy, processes and systems to prevent accidents, train your employees, supply PPE, etc. The policy is signed and dated by the most senior person, the managing director.

(2) Organisation of Health and Safety – Roles and Responsibilities

The organisation of health and safety is best done by developing an organisation chart, with the most senior person at the top, then detailing the people who are responsible for the day-to-day running of all matters concerning health and safety. An example is:

• Managing director
• Health and safety advisor
• Fire safety manager
• Health and safety training manager
• Risk assessments and method statements manager
• PPE manager
• Control of substances hazardous to health COSHH manager

In small businesses, one person may have many roles

3) Arrangements for health and safety – How are risks managed?

The arrangements for health and safety should detail how the organisation aims to achieve its aims. For example:

• Develop risk assessments
• Training of people
• Consulting with people
• Fire and emergency arrangements
• First aid arrangements
• Reporting of accidents, injuries and dangerous incidents
• Arrangements for working at height, manual handling, etc.

Please get in touch if you would like some free advise. Complete out contact form or call 0800 031 5404.

Health & Safety when you have 5 employees or more

As soon as you have 5 employees or more, you have a legal requirement to comply with all work-related health and safety legislation.

Your obligations are outlined in the Safety at Work Regulations 1974.

How this changes from less than five employees is you now need to ensure you have:

• Written Health and Safety Policy
• Written Health and Safety Policy Statement
• Written Risk Assessments
• COSHH assessments
• Toolbox talks
• A competent person either within your business or a consultant.

We act as competent people for over 800 companies. When we act as your competent person, we will complete all the documents you need to comply and keep the documents up to date as legislation changes. You also have access to over 1,000 documents including risk and method statements, COSHH data, toolbox talks, and more. We charge a small monthly fee. 

If you are not sure exactly what your business will require, you can find details on it by visiting the HSE website. Every business is different, and a competent person will be able to cover all aspects for you.

If you wish to employ your own competent person, they should be fully qualified in all aspects of Health & Safety; this can prove to be an expensive requirement if you employ them full-time. 

There are a number of resources on the HSE website that will be able to help you with any changes that may affect you as you continue to grow.

We are a friendly and professional team of people working to help and support like-minded people to get on with their work as we work in the background.

Complete the form on this page and we will arrange a call so you can learn more, call 0800 031 5404

 

The difference between Safety Advisor and Competent Person

The main difference between a safety advisor and a competent person within your business (eg someone who seems themselves as competent) is that the safety advisor needs to be qualified to at least NEBOSH or IOSH standards.

A competent person may be competent at running a construction site but not the health and safety management of the site, unless they have the above qualifications.

When a business has more than five employees, health and safety legislation states the company must employ a competent person who is competent in health and safety. A person who is competent in the health and safety management of the business. This person will hold health and safety qualifications such as NEBOSH or IOSH.

Ensuring you have the right level of support and advice for your Health & Safety is a bit of a mine field and can be defined simply by the number of employees you have.

Less than 5 employees = Safety Advisor

This service is where you are offered support and advice when needed, this tends to be a one of payment where you will be given a service agreement, certificate and a CV to show the qualifications of the person who is providing you with the advice. Paperwork such as off the shelf risk assessments and risk assessments and Method statements would be provided on an as and when basis should you need them.

More than 5 employees = Safety Competent Person

This service is where you pay a monthly retainer fee for continued support and advice should you need it. This service is where your consultant becomes part of your business and should be informed of anything that changes within the organisation. In this service you will be provided with a full Safety Management System including full Health & Safety Policy, Equal opportunities policy and Staff handbook. Your consultant will be on hand to be the link between you and the HSE should this ever be necessary.

Whilst not every company is black and white like this the rule of thumb tends to be the details above. You may be asked by a client to prove you have a dedicated support for Health & Safety resource as well as a policy with less than 5 employees if that is the case you would need fall outside of the rule.

If you are not sure about your personal circumstances please call 0800 031 5404 during working hours or complete the form using this link. We are happy to go through everything with you.

Complimentary Safety Advisor Service

Discover our Complimentary Safety Advisor Service that supports clients during their accreditation process and beyond.

Here at Seguro we pride ourselves on adding value to our services. When we help our clients to achieve an accreditation we also provide them with a Safety Advisory service.

This is where we remain as their contact throughout the year of their accreditation to help them to:

• Implement the new documentation into their business
• Provide support ongoing should they need it.
• Provide off the shelf risk assessments and method statements should they be needed (bespoke ones are chargeable)
• Enable our clients to name us should they need to on PQQ documentation

The following accreditations are eligible (less than 5 employees)

• CHAS
• Safe Contractor
• Constructionline
• Exor
• Altius
• Avetta
• Builders Profile

If you are looking for any help in acquiring an accreditation and would like to take advantage of our complimentary service please get in touch on 0800 031 5404 or contact us

What is SSIP Deem to Satisfy?

Deem to satisfy allows you to obtain an SSIP certificate from a supplier other than the supplier from which you obtained your SSIP certificate.

For example, you can apply for a Constructionline certificate without going through a new accreditation process if you have a CHAS certificate.

You can save money using deem to satisfy; for example, if you have a CHAS and wish to renew, you can renew with a more economical supplier and still get your CHAS certificate through the deem to satisfy system.

All member schemes listed on the SSIP forum adhere to the SSIP Core Criteria, backed by the Health and Safety Executive.

By mutually recognising each other’s schemes, suppliers benefit from only needing to complete one assessment, while buyers enjoy more efficient procurement processes. This approach reduces costs and has saved over £68 million since 2016.

Registered Members

Two-Way Deem to Satisfy between SSIP Registered Members

Approval with a Registered Member can only be used to Deem to Satisfy with another Registered Member; it cannot be used to gain a Deem to Satisfy with a Certification Body Member.

Below is the list of registered members you can use for deem to satisfy:

3Core2 Certification Limited Trading As SafeArb SafeArb

Achilles Information Ltd Building Confidence

Alcumus SafeContractor Ltd Alcumus Safecontractor

Altius VA Limited CDMComply

Arboricultural Association ARB Approved Contractor

Association for Project Safety APS Corporate Practice Membership

Avetta Avetta Assessed

CHAS 2013 Ltd Contractors Health & Safety Scheme

Construction Safety Solutions PASS

CQMS Ltd CQMS Safety-Scheme

D W Health & Safety DW Health & Safety Contractor Competency Scheme

Fall Arrest Safety Equipment Training Ltd FASET Membership Audit

Fortius Ltd Acclaim Accreditation

Greenlight Safety Assessment Scheme Ltd Greenlight Safety Assessment Scheme

Hire Association Europe Ltd SafeHire Certification Scheme

International Powered Access Federation [IPAF] IPAF SSIP

MSL Property Care Services Ltd MSL Safepartner

National Access & Scaffolding Confederation Ltd NASC SSIP Audit

National Federation of Demolition Contractors NFDC Membership

PQS Pre-Qualification Scheme PQS Health & Safety Approved

Salus Certification Salus Certification

Safe-T-Cert [NI] {Construction Employers Federation} Safe-T-Cert

Safe-T-Cert [ROI] {Construction Industry Federation} Safe-T-Cert

Safety Management Advisory Services Ltd SMAS Worksafe

SSG Training and Consultancy Ltd SSG Assessed

William Martin Compliance Limited Prosure 360

We can support you if you are not sure what to do.

Do you need a Fire Risk Assessment?

1. Who’s responsible

If you’re an landlord, business owner, occupier, or other non-domestic premises, you’ll be the person responsible for fire safety. You’re known as the ‘responsible person’. The Fire Safety Order also applies if you run a bed and breakfast, guesthouse or let a self-catering property as you have paying guests.

Responsibilities

As the responsible person you must:

• carry out a fire risk assessment of the premises and review it regularly
• tell staff or their representatives about the risks you’ve identified
• put in place, and maintain, appropriate fire safety measures
• plan for an emergency
• provide staff information, fire safety instruction and training

Non-domestic premises

Non-domestic premises are:

• all workplaces and commercial premises
• all premises the public have access to
• the common areas of multi-occupied residential buildings

2. Fire risk assessments

As the responsible person you must carry out and regularly review a fire risk assessment of the premises. This will identify what you need to do to prevent fire and keep people safe.

You’ll need to consider:

• emergency routes and exits
• fire detection and warning systems
• fire fighting equipment
• the removal or safe storage of dangerous substances
• an emergency fire evacuation plan
• the needs of vulnerable people, eg the elderly, young children or those with disabilities
• providing information to employees and other people on the premises
• staff fire safety training

Help with the assessment

You can do the fire risk assessment yourself with the help of standard fire safety advice documents.

You’ll need to appoint a ‘competent person’ to help, eg a professional risk assessor, if you don’t have the expertise or time to do the fire risk assessment yourself.

Your local fire and rescue authority might be able to give you advice if you’re not sure your risk assessment’s been carried out properly. However, they can’t carry out risk assessments for you.