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Written by
on 01 June 2009

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Directors and Managers can be held personally responsible for failures to control health and safety.

Ask yourself this: Can you afford such failures?

 

Do you really manage health and safety?

 

If not – why not?

After all, you manage all the other areas of your business successfully, so what is different about health and safety? The answer is nothing! Begin by thinking about how health and safety fits in with other important management systems for controlling finance, production and sales. Don’t try to complicate things – most small businesses have simple management structures.

REMEMBER: Organisation and Planning are essential.

 

Five steps to successful health and safety

 

Step 1: Set Your Policy
Prepare a safety policy, keep it simple and relevant to your business, after all it is your safety policy.

Step 2: Get Organised The 4 C’s are important

CONTROL:
Think of all your managers, supervisors, and employees.
Decide who is responsible for which safety duties, make sure that there are no overlaps or gaps, and that everyone knows their own responsibilities.

COMPETENCE:
Train yourself and train your staff as everyone needs to have knowledge, skills and experience to be able to work in a safe and healthy manner.

CO-OPERATION:
Involve all employees at all levels through regular meetings and briefings. Listen to what your staff have to say.

COMMUNICATION:
Both written and verbal communication is essential to the success of any management system. To coin a well known phrase “It’s good to talk”.

Step 3: Planning
Think about your business, your premises, your staff and your equipment. Ask yourself what exists that can cause harm and what is the chance, great or small, that someone will be harmed. Weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Set standards against which performance can be measured. These must be both realistic and achievable

For example:
-Maintaining work room temperatures within a specific range
-Methods and frequency for checking guards on machines
-Methods and frequency for checking fire safety equipment

DRAW UP A SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PLAN IF NECESSARY

Step 4: Measuring Performance
You need to know if you are being successful. Draw up simple check lists and inspection forms to ensure your standards are being implemented.

For example, a ladder defect check – which should include details such as location, date of check, frequency of check, action taken if a defect is discovered and the signature of the person undertaking the check. If things go wrong, learn from your mistakes. Carry out thorough accident investigations and use the information to make policy or procedural changes if necessary.

Step 5: Audit and Review
Everything deteriorates and changes over time, therefore you must continuously monitor your policy, organisation and systems to ensure that you continue to achieve the right results. Management is a dynamic process – it is essential to review the effectiveness of your health and safety policy. Don’t set a policy, write it down and leave it on the shelf to collect dust – use it!

REMEMBER
You cannot be a quality organisation unless you apply sound management principles to health and safety. If you think there is room for improvement act today – don’t react to an accident tomorrow.

 

Why not give us a ring? 0121 249 1281 Ring now to arrange a FREE consultation to find how Veritas Consulting Safety Services can help you or contact us through our website here – Health and Safety Consultants

 

About 

A chartered (fellow) safety and risk management practitioner with 20+ years of experience. David provides a healthy dose of how-to articles, advice and guidance to make compliance easier for construction professionals, Architects and the built environment. Get social with David on Twitter and Linkedin.

A chartered (fellow) safety and risk management practitioner with 20+ years of experience. David provides a healthy dose of how-to articles, advice and guidance to make compliance easier for construction professionals, Architects and the built environment. Get social with David on Twitter and Linkedin.

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