Health and Safety for smaller businesses in 2015

Health and Safety is important for all businesses and Health and Safety enforcement action is on the increase in the UK, with the HSE carrying out more visits in a targeted fashion. Further to this, most small firms do not comply with the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 (HSAWA74). Although some are willing to take shortcuts, many are aware of this failing and want to comply; but they are concerned that this may open a can of worms and lead to bigger issues. Many of these smaller businesses want help with their health and safety issues, but without it affecting the running of the core business.

To us, Safety Matters. We work will work with you in a sensible, practicable and common-sense manner to help you address your health and safety issues to your own timescales. Our process starts with a Health and Safety Compliance Audit that includes a Health and Safety Improvement Plan. We can assist with the planning and with some of the execution of this Health and Safety Improvement Plan.

Health and Safety for smaller businesses need not be complicated and Health and Safety for smaller businesses should never be ignored, shirked or avoided. We can also assist with issues such as the Fire Risk Assessment and with the provision of Health and Safety Training.

Health and Safety for smaller businesses – Competence

It is important to understand that within health and safety legislation, organisations of all sizes are required to nominate at least one competent person to help them meet their duty to control the risks posed by their work activities.

Larger organisations often appoint one or more members of the workforce to do this, while with smaller organisation (SMEs) the responsibility commonly rests with the owner/manager. Some organisations bring in specialist external consultants to help, and in other instances a professional body may be called upon to provide advice.

Legislative compliance should be regarded as the minimum acceptable standard. Truly effective health and safety management requires competency across every facet of an organisation and through each level of the workforce. The need is for health and safety training to place greater emphasis on coaching so that directors, line managers and workers alike are able to determine what is sensible and reasonable.  Competence is based on more than just “training”.

The essence of competence is relevance to the workplace. What matters is that there is a proper focus on both the risks that occur most often and those with serious consequences. Competence is the ability for every director, manager and worker to recognise the risks in operational activities and then apply the right measures to control and manage those risks.

Health and Safety for smaller businesses can be managed and we can help you to do it.

Contact us on 01509 550023 for a no obligation discussion on what we can do for you