Health & Safety Policy
What should be included in a Health and Safety Policy?
A Health and Safety policy sets out an organisation’s general Health & Safety approach.
It explains how you will manage Health & Safety in your business. It should clearly say who does what, when and how. There are three main areas of the policy:
1. Health & Safety Policy Statement
A statement of intent outlines your duty under Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to fulfil obligations to your employees and others who may be affected by your work activities.
At this stage, it is common to have several other policy statements, including not but not limited to:
- Environmental and Sustainability Policy Statement
- Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy Statement
- Smoke-Free Policy Statement
- Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy Statement
- Harassment Policy Statement
As you can see, many of these are not strictly Health and Safety related, but they are often requested.
The statement(s) of intent is signed and should be displayed so all employees can view it.
2. Organisation of Health & Safety
This section is critical as it outlines who is responsible for what areas of health and safety within your organisation. The responsibilities section includes:
- Who has overall responsibility for health and safety? Typically, the Owner, CEO or Managing Director?
- Who is responsible for standards to be implemented and ensuring they are met?
- Who ensures employees are aware of their responsibilities?
- Who ensures that staff are knowledgeable and trained?
The policy also outlines employee duties and Havio’s responsibilities in our appointment with you.
3. Arrangements for Health & Safety
The arrangements section of a policy will detail how you will meet the commitments you have made in the Health & Safety policy statement. It will include how hazards are identified in the workplace, and they are controlled.
This section is specifically tailored to your business and outlines areas discussed in section 2 of the policy in greater detail.
Arrangement areas include:
- Accidents, Incidents and Near Misses
- Asbestos
- Competence
- Construction Design Management (as “client”)
- Confined Spaces
- Consulting and Communicating with Employees
- Coronavirus
- Display Screen Equipment
- Driving
- Drugs and Alcohol
- Electrical Equipment and Installations
- Fire Safety
- First Aid
- Food Safety
- Hand Arm Vibration
- Hazardous Substances
- Homeworking
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment
- Lone Working
- Managing Contractors
- Managing Risk
- Manual Handling
- Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Monitoring
- New and Expectant Mothers
- Noise
- Permits to Work
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Pressure Systems
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment
- Safe Systems of Work (Method Statements)
- Safety Signs, Signals and Notices
- Statutory Examinations
- Stress
- Training and Information
- Travel
- Violence and Aggression
- Visiting and Working in Other Employers’ Environments
- Visitors
- Waste Disposal
- Water Management (Legionella and Legionnaires’)
- Work at Height
- Working Time
- Workplace Facilities
- Workplace Transport
- Young Persons
- Construction Specific
- Construction Design Management as Principal Contractor
- Construction Design Management as Principal Designer
- Construction Design Management as Contractor
- Construction Design Management as Designer
- Access and Boundaries
- Cranes
- Demolition, Dismantling and Structural Alteration
- Emergency Procedures on Site
- Excavations
- Fire on site
- Good Order, Storage Areas and Waste Materials
- Hoists
- Lighting
- Monitoring and Reviewing on Site
- Occupational Health Risks
- Prevention of Drowning
- Powered Access Equipment
- Roof Work
- Scaffolds
- Site Management and Supervision
- Site Rules
- Site Traffic and Mobile Plant
- Site Welfare Facilities
- Slips and Trips
- Temporary Works
- Tools and Machinery
- Work Affecting the Public
Why Choose Havio?
- We get the time to get to know your business so that the policy accurately reflects your activities
- Understanding what significant hazards your workforce experience and how you aim to control these are essential
- The document is bespoke to your organisation, not a template with your logo added to it
- We have extensive experience working across multiple industries, so we know what is required
- We don’t believe in drowning you in paperwork to try and justify our engagement: Our policies are, on average, 45 pages long which is nearly 50% shorter than your average Health & Safety Policy Manual
- We are very reactive; we aim to have your policy completed within 3-5 days from initial information gathering
H&S Policy FAQs
Is it a legal requirement to have a Health and Safety Policy?
“Yes – under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the law states that every business must have a policy for managing health and safety. This policy must be prepared, maintained and available to all employees. The Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 states that if you have five employees or more, this policy must be recorded in a readily available format.”
I heard that if you employ under five people, you don't need a Health and Safety Policy
If you have fewer than five people, you do not need to write down your Health and Safety Policy. Be warned, though, a good number of companies will not accept this, and even if you have under five employees, they will want to see evidence of your H&S policy. There are many other technicalities, such as those organisations with only a few people on the books and everyone else self-employed (despite these people working most of the time for the company). In such instances, we recommend you treat such persons as employees from a health and safety perspective.
Does your Health and Safety Policy include specific procedures?
Our standard Health and Safety Policy does not include specific procedures. These aren’t strictly required under HASAWA but are good practice so long as they are specific and proportionate to your business. Havio can develop bespoke procedures to supplement your Health and Safety Policy, so please let us know if this is a service you need.
How often should I review my Health and Safety Policy?
It is prudent to update your policy annually. However, it may need to be reviewed more often to include any changes in company personnel/persons responsible for health and safety, company operations and any health and safety legislation updates.
OUR PROCESS
- We will determine if you need a new H&S policy or whether to review an existing document you have in place. Often it is easier and cheaper to start from scratch, but this isn't always appropriate.
- We will meet with you to discuss your business and understand what you do and how you work. This can be either done in person or remotely.
- Taking the information we have gathered, we will draft the initial policy and send this to you for review
- We will update the document with any revisions as required
- We then issue the completed H&S policy in PDF format for signature and communication.
- Throughout the year, if there are significant legislative changes, we can make additions to your policy, or this can be completed at the annual review stage.
It doesn’t end at a document…
It’s worth saying plainly: your Health & Safety Policy is a commitment.
Whatever’s written in your policy, you need to be living it. These documents matter – especially if the shit and the fan collide.
If your policy says you’ve got robust systems in place for something like temporary works, and everyone’s trained… but in reality, nothing’s been done, then you could have a lot to answer for.
Say what you actually do – then make sure you’re doing it, not what sounds good on paper.
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