In the UK it is an employer’s legal duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees and other people who might be affected by their business. Under the law, employers have an obligation to do whatever is reasonably practicable to achieve this.

Whether you have employees returning to work following months of working from home, or you’re one of the 665,000 people to start a new business in the last year, here are some simple ways you can ensure your workplace is health and safety compliant.

Appoint a H&S officer

Regardless of the number of people you have on your team, you should appoint a competent person to be your health and safety officer. They should have the skills, knowledge and experience – as well as temperament to deal with emergency situations, as well as continuously look and assess the workplace.

With over 600,000 accidents in the workplace each year, managing health and safety in the workplace is an important role.

Training

Even if you have all the procedures in place, you must ensure your employees understand how they play a role in being health and safety compliant. Whether they’re contractors or self-employed, full-time or part-time, everyone should be trained and assessed. There should be regular training programmes with refresher courses too.

Signage

Signs are the easiest way to warn and inform workers and the general public of any hazards. Warning signs like these ones should be installed at eye level and be visible from a distance. They should be placed at the entrance of a hazardous area and again once inside.

Every workplace must, by law, display the health and safety law poster or provide each worker with the equivalent health and safety law leaflet.

Report accidents

Whether it was a minor slip or a major accident, by law, you must report workplace injuries, near-misses and cases of work-related disease to HSE. Known as RIDDOR, it stands for Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.

If you have more than 10 employees, an accident book must be kept. Not only is this the law, but it will help you identify patterns of accidents or injuries.

Risk assessments

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, as an employer you’re required to protect your employees and others from harm. Under the act, you must identify anything that may cause injury or illness in your business, assess the risk that injury or illness could occur, and take action to eliminate the hazard.

HR Future Staff Writer