Article objective;
Provide an understanding of your Health and Safety obligations and some simple practical steps you can take to ensure your business complies with the law.
As Einstein recognised, everything is relative. The same holds true with Health and Safety legislation. Happily that's where the analogy ends because this topic is much simpler than Einstein’s general theory.
In this article I'll abbreviate Health and Safety to HSE, as per convention. The 'E' referring to the environment, although in most business the 'E' gets much less attention than the 'H' and the 'S'. HSe might be more appropriate. Although Heath gets less attention on the whole than Safety, ldue to the extent of legislation and enforcement on Safety as opposed to Health and Environment. Maybe hSe is most reflective. Anyway moving on.
If you want to know about a balanced ethics-based HSE policy see our Safety, Health & Environmental course. As you might expect we have a course covering most topics and we’ll point you there as we go on if you want to know more.
The one key phrase to keep in mind when thinking about your HSE it is 'AS LOW AS REASONABLY PRACTICABLE’.
This is the legal thresehold your company will be held to. You must as youself.
Has your business reduceed risks to employees to a level that is as low as reasonable practicable? If yes well done. Kepp it up.
Yes it’s a vague term first outlined in the HSE ACT of 1974. Various regulations have been released over the years to help businesses understand by what is required by this phrase in various situations.
What as low as reasonably practicable means in practice depends on the size of your organisation and the hazards your staff, contractors and customers are exposed to.
NOTE: In HSE speak - Risk is the ‘chance’ or ‘probability of an incident occurring. Hazard refers to the danger itself. Eg, Making coffee. Boiling water and electricity are the hazards. The chance of spilling boiling water is the risk.
If you can reduce the hazard. Eg limit the temeperature of the water. This isn’t reasonably practicable many still like a hot coffee. So next look at the risk. Eg put a lid on the cups. The water is still boiling so the hazards hasn’t changed but the chance of spillage is reduced.
You may ask if it is really necessary to take the time to ensure compliance with Health and Safety legislation as, on the surface, it might seem a lot of effort. To much of a burden and too expensive. I would ask is it right to ask a paid member of staff to undertake a task that exposes them to unnecessary risk?
Reducing risk often just requires a bit of thought. In businesses with less than 5 employees risk assessments don’t even need to be written down. Training staff to be aware of hazards can be done with just a little investment of time. Or accredited training courses, cost just a few pounds and take only a few minutes of your staffs time.
It is absolutely true that HSE can go over the top on occasion which can put people off even implementing small steps. I remember once climbing an office staircase, all the while being reminded by a voice from a loudspeaker to hold onto the handrail. In this instance, excessive HSE practice has been adopted. In another case I was helping a HSE training business that had a sign saying please hold onto the handrail. Next to it a sign saying ‘Wet Paint, don’t touch’, Incidients like this don’t mean we should ignore health and safety, we should work in a common sense, ethical way.
Usually however the barriers to a HSE system are laziness, negligence, apathy or costs. Not of which are traits that usually correlate with long term commercial success.
Consider where we were before the 1974 HSE Act. Below is a picture of the R101 Airship being constructed around 1928. Complete lack of fall restraint equipment. In those days, there were very limited legal obligations on companies to protect staff. Consequently, there were a lot more incidents. How fair is that from the point of view of the employee who may have no other choice but to undertake the risky task?
Another point is that if your organisation is cutting costs in order to gain a commercial advantage, for example by reducing training time or lack of investment in quality equipment, it is highly likely your commercial strategy needs reviewed. An effective HSE management system will have a positive commercial effect. Refine how you undertake training not whether you do training or not. If you had 100 staff who its been indentified need 3 hazard awareness training courses. We could provide an awareness on each hazard, assign the training & store training records for as little as £3,000
So, by putting in place reasonable steps to keep employees, contractors and customers safe, companies are operating within appropriate legal and ethical expectations. For low-risk businesses (e.g. many small service businesses such as offices, shops, cafes, etc.) this can be done relatively painlessly and with minimal effort. You will also likely find that there are commercial benefits in terms of improved reputation, greater efficiency, lower sickness and lower staff turnover to name a few.
So, here's how...