Health and safety policies and their implementation

Health and safety, like any other system for managing the way your organisation works, must be
planned and implemented effectively. Effective management will ensure that health and safety is
fully integrated into the organisations overall operations - just as production, finance, personnel
and quality control are.
The aim is to create policies and procedures that:
recognise that accidents, ill-health and incidents result from management control deficiencies and
need not simply be the fault of individual employees
minimise financial losses due to avoidable unplanned events or legal action
identify that developing a culture supportive of health and safety is vital if adequate control of risks
is to be achieved
ensure a systematic approach to identifying risks and allocating resources to control them
support human resource development
sustain quality initiatives directed at continuous improvement.
encourage a safety culture throughout the organisation, and
assure compliance with the law.

Safety culture
An effective safety culture involves commitment to safety from top managers and line managers,
includes the workforce, and takes into account any special needs of those it affects. It is a culture
of working safer and smarter, not harder or with more difficulty. A good safety culture turns health
and safety into a living thing.
Safety culture must be developed to become an integral part of the normal daily operation
changing the environment rather than the individuals. It is not an optional add-on, which can be
ignored or short-cut when it suits. It is a pro-active culture and should not be proscriptive in its
application.
Developing a safety culture uses conventional management methods such as:
supplying relevant information, tools and equipment
providing adequate training, and
obtaining co-operation from the workforce (motivation and reward).
In short, talk to your staff, listen to them, and use the information they give you to develop and
grow the culture.
Training helps develop a health and safety culture in an organisation and is important at all levels
within a company, including top management. Training should be relevant to the health and safety
requirements of the work performed and it should be updated regularly.

Health and safety and safety management

There are three drivers for effective health and safety management:
legal obligations, including fear of prosecution or other legal action
moral duties doing the right thing
financial objectives to reduce avoidable losses, including lost opportunities.

Legal obligations
Employers, including the self-employed, and employees have general duties to comply with:
'Health and safety at work etc act 1974' (HSAW) to ensure the health, safety and welfare of those
affected by work activities
'Management of health and safety at work regulations 1999' (management regulations), to
manage the factors that adversely affect health and safety.
Failure to comply with these and a wide diversity of more specific regulations can result in action
by the regulators (the HSE or your local authority environmental health officer) and could lead to
prosecution and fines in the magistrates court or (in serious cases) the Crown Court.
In addition to the criminal law outlined above, employers have a common law duty of care to
those affected by their work activities. Actions for negligence (with resulting compensation) tend
to be more costly to employers than criminal prosecutions. The legal action is taken by the
individual affected, rather than by the HSE or local authority.
Failure to satisfy legal obligations may have these outcomes:
claims for compensation in the civil courts: claims can run into tens of thousands of pounds for
simple slips, trips and falls. The TUC notes that every year, 30 times as many civil proceedings
than criminal prosecutions are taken (the success rate for claimants in civil cases is around 95%).
Unions took on 54,655 new cases in 1999 and concluded 51,936 during the year, claiming a total
of 320million from employers and their insurers
legal costs arising from convictions in the criminal courts: the average fine for a case brought by
the HSE is 6,250 and by local authorities, 4,595 (1999/2000). The record health-and-safety fine
is 1.5million, made against Great Western Trains following the Southall crash. On average,
around 72% of HSE prosecutions were successful in 2000/01, although in previous years it has
been as high as 86%

Moral duties
Every good employer wants to keep his workforce, customers and local community healthy and
safe from any adverse consequences of his work activity. This implies all efforts will be made to
remove or reduce the risks of any property damage, pain and suffering that may occur from the
result of occupational accidents and diseases.
HSE research shows that the second most important driver on small business employers (after a
desire to obey the law) is fear of injury to someone at work. As well as the bonds of closer
personal relationships in small business, there is also the fact that individuals tend to play specific
roles, making their absence through sickness or injury more difficult for a small business to cover.

Financial objectives
Management of costs is of prime importance to any organisation and can be significantly reduced
by improving health and safety performance costs obvious and hidden. These costs occur from:

 reputation: an organisations reputation can be damaged and contracts may be lost if you have a
poor health and safety record. Remember you will appear on the HSEs enforcement database if
you are successfully prosecuted, or are subject of an enforcement notice (see:
www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/index.htm)
lost production: down-time through accidents or shortage of staff due to illness come straight off
'the bottom line' (profit margins are drastically reduced). This includes staff retraining and
recruitment costs
insurance costs: insured costs cover injury, ill health and damage. Organisations with a poor
health and safety record may be refused employers liability insurance, forcing closure of the
business
accidents or ill health: losses to business and costs for healthcare (supported by taxpayers) due
to accidents and ill health runs into billions of pounds every year.
The HSE estimates that employers incur costs of around 2.5 billion a year from workplace
injuries and work-related ill health, and between 1.4 billion and 4.5 billion a year from avoidable
accidental events that do not lead to injury.
These costs represent around 4-8% of all UK industrial and commercial companies' gross trading
profits or between 143 and 297 per person employed.
Many of these costs are not insured. Case studies show that uninsured costs were eight to 36
times above the costs of insurance premiums paid. These costs include product and material
damage, plant and building damage, tool and equipment damage, legal costs, expenditure on
emergency supplies, clearing site, production delays, overtime working and temporary labour,
investigation time, supervisor's time diverted, clerical effort, fines, and loss of
expertise/experience.
Improving health and safety performance could, therefore, provide considerable economic gains
to individual employers as well as society at large.

Health and safety policy

The 'Health and safety at work etc act 1974' explicitly requires employers to provide a written
statement of general policy on health and safety (see section 2(3)) where they employ more than
four people.
Beyond the legal requirements, there are other benefits of effective health and safety policies:
saves money through better productivity and higher levels of staff motivation. It also conveys a
positive message to employees and customers alike, that you are serious in your commitment to
your business. Health and safety should be seen as of at least equal importance to production
and quality
a well-written and structured safety policy is a good indication to a prospective client that your
organisation is competent, professional and proactive. Conversely, if you are seeking tenders
from contractors you should seek evidence of their safety policies for the same reasons
regulatory inspectors look for evidence of the successful implementation of your policy. Absence
of a written statement will encourage the inspector to audit your activities in more detail
frequently required when tendering for contracts from public authorities and larger employers.
The policy will recognise that most accidents and case of ill-health at work are preventable by
good health and safety management.
The general statement of policy will be supplemented by a health and safety manual, containing
clear instructions and information on how to go about health and safety issues on a daily basis.
The policy statement has a number of component parts.

Format of the health and safety policy

The management regulations list the policy components under the following five headings.
general policy statement
organisation, including staff responsibilities
planning and implementing, including risk assessment and control, consultation, training and
supervision
measuring performance, including monitoring and auditing
review.
These points are dealt with in detail in the next section.

General policy statement

The first section of the policy, usually termed a 'statement of intent' or 'mission statement', only
need be a single A4 sheet to provide a short statement of the organisations:
overall aims for health and safety, taking in such objectives as control of risks through safe use of
plant, equipment and substances, consultation and competence of staff, sustenance of healthy
working conditions, and a commitment to continuing improvement
confirmation of senior management commitment to these objectives.
This follows the same principles as a quality system in that you 'say what you do' and 'do what
you say'. The statement must be signed by the most senior person in the organisation, senior
partner, MD, chairman to confirm they hold ultimate responsibility for health and safety
performance. The policy must be updated and signed at least once a year.
Limited companies and similar organisations
In the case of limited companies and other organisations with boards of directors or governors,
the HSE recommends the board:
accepts formally and publicly their collective role in providing health and safety leadership in their
organisation. Strong leadership is vital and everyone should know and believe that they are
committed to continuous improvement in health and safety performance
requires each member to accept their individual role in providing Health and safety leadership for
their part of the organisation. Actions and decisions must reinforce the messages in the boards
health and safety policy statement and not undermine the staff's belief in the board's intentions
should ensure all their decisions reflect their health and safety intentions, as articulated in the
health and safety policy statement (ie, the health and safety ramifications of investment in new
plant, premises, etc)
recognises its role in engaging the active participation of their staff in improving health and safety
(ie, consulting staff and encouraging them to become involved in all aspects of the health and
safety management system to support a positive health and safety culture)
ensures it is kept informed of, and alert to, relevant changes in health and safety law and practice.
The Health and Safety Commission recommends that boards appoint one of their number to be
the health and safety director to review health and safety performance, ensure that the policy

statement remains current and to be informed about any significant health and safety failures, etc.

Organising health and safety

This section identifies who will do what, and how it will be achieved.
It is useful to include an organisation chart to illustrate the lines of responsibility, delegation and
reporting.
Organisation can be categorised into four sections:
management control
co-operation within the workplace
communication with the workforce
competence of individuals and the organisation.

Management control of health and safety

An effective management structure will enable:
management control within the organisation to be established and maintained via a system of
clear accountability. A senior person should be given the overall responsibility for co-ordinating
and monitoring policy implementation including the risk assessment process. Try to be specific
and use individuals names, or job titles
key responsibilities for day-to-day management allocated to line managers
co-operation between individuals, safety representatives and groups to be promoted so that
health and safety becomes a joint effort
necessary information is communicated throughout the organisation and to third parties, such as
contractors and visitors
employee competence to be promoted through training and personal development
In addition to the human resource aspects of control of health and safety risks, there are a
number of supporting resources.
The health and safety responsibilities of all personnel should be defined and included in their job
descriptions and contracts of employment. Individual performance in health and safety activities
should be rewarded via performance review and appraisal measures. In addition, there should be
documented procedures for acting upon health and safety failures by employees (including
managers).
Recording health and safety
Records provide documentary evidence in the event of an audit, inspection, investigation or legal
action; they can be stored in any medium as long as they are easily retrievable. They should
include:
risk assessments of significant hazards
health and safety audits

 training records
inspection reports
accident reports, including the first-aiders report
occupational ill-health, including health surveillance records
suppliers data sheets for hazardous substances
user manuals and specifications for application and use affecting materials, plant and machinery
minutes of health and safety committee meetings.
How long should we keep health and safety records?
There is no straightforward answer to this, however there are some rules of thumb!
Many records related to employee health must be retained for a statutory minimum period of time
generally forty years. This applies where there has been exposure to hazardous substances
which required health surveillance of the workers concerned (eg, lead, asbestos, isocyanates,
carcinogens, etc), or to noise, vibration and radiation (the latter has a 50 year minimum record
retention requirement).
Where an organisation holding health records is wound-up, the records should be passed to the
local office of the Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS).
Other types of records should generally be held for (say) six years. This period coincides with the
limitation of period that a case can be brought in the civil courts claimants may require you to
disclose your records, and (in any event) you must disclose relevant records when denying
liability for a claim.
Written safety schemes
Written schemes are required for a variety of statutory inspections of hazardous plant and
equipment, notably pressure systems, lifts and lifting gear, laser equipment, etc.
These schemes are prepared by engineers and other experts in the systems concerned, and you
should follow them implicitly.
Building layout and site plans
These may be required for contractors or emergency services. They may include:
underground services: gas, water, electricity, etc
building construction plans
electrical wiring plans
plant and equipment layouts
escape routes
boundaries of common or shared areas
chemical process workflows.

Co-operation in the workplace

Co-operation is an important factor with any management system. Without co-operation, the
system - however well intentioned and well constructed - will be doomed to failure if staff do not
take ownership of it, and contractors ignore it.
Consultation with employees
Where employees are represented by recognised trade unions, they have a statutory right to
appoint their own safety representatives. These safety representatives will act as a focus of
communication between employers and employees. They have specific functions and rights, and
employers have legal obligations towards them in allowing time to carry out their functions to
provide relevant information on health and safety issues within the workplace. Safety
representatives must be given paid time off to both carry out their duties and undertake
appropriate training. They must also be given adequate resources to carry out their functions.
Employers must set up a health and safety committee, if requested by safety representatives.
Safety committees should comprise representatives from management, recognised unions and
other employee reps.
Where there are employees who are not represented by trade unions, employers still have a duty
to consult with them on health and safety issues. Non-union representatives must be given paid
time off to conduct their duties, undertake appropriate training and be given resources to carry out
their functions.
Co-ordination with other employers
Arrangements must be made for co-operation and co-ordination between any employers who
share a workplace, for example a multi-occupied building, so far as is necessary to enable them
to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon them by or under the relevant
statutory provisions and by Part II of the 'Fire precautions (workplace) regulations 1997'. This
applies whether the arrangement is temporary or permanent.
There is a similar requirement for employers who take on others to carry out work on their behalf eg, sub-contractors - to provide information on health and safety issues for anyone working in a
host employer's or self-employed person's undertaking
Employers (and the self-employed) must make sure that employers of workers from another
undertaking who are working in his undertaking are given clear information on the:
risks to the employees' health and safety
steps taken to ensure compliance with relevant health and safety legislation

Communication in the workplace

Communication is the means of getting the message across. Beyond the legal requirements to
consult the workforce using formal measures, there are informal techniques that can be employed
to great benefit:
safety tours
team meetings and toolbox talks
posters, notice boards, handouts, newsletters, etc.
There are more general communication issues to consider, for example, information from
customers and suppliers. They can supply information that can affect your policies and
procedures dealing with changes in:
technical developments, for example less hazardous substitutes for dangerous chemicals

 processes and practices, especially by leading organisations or your competitors.

legal requirements on health and safety information are described below.

Information for employees poster

This covers information required by legislation (for example, the HSE display poster 'Health and
safety law - what you should know') and specific information relevant to health and safety risks in
your workplace. Risk assessments will help to identify what information is necessary.
It should be displayed in locations where all employees can see it.
The health and safety law poster contains four sections to be completed:
employee representative - the person that has been appointed/elected by the employees, either
under the 'Safety representatives and safety committee regulations 1977' ( if the work place has a
trade union) or the 'Consultation with employee regulations 1996', (if there is no union
represented). This box is left blank where no one has been appointed/elected
management representative(s) - the person appointed by the management - the health and safety
officer
enforcing authority - who this is depends on the type of business you conduct. It will either be the
local authority environmental health officer, or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS) contact details (generally at your local HSE
office).

Statutory information for all employees

The health and safety policy should be communicated to all employees, as should ideas for
improvement. All employees must be provided with clear and relevant information on:
risks to their health and safety
control measures
emergency procedures
procedures for serious and imminent danger and for danger areas and the steps referred to in the
'Fire precautions (workplace) regulations 1997'
identity of competent people who will implement emergency procedures and manage dangerous
situations (eg, fire marshals, trained first-aiders, etc)
identity of safety representatives
preventive/protective measures in place
any relevant risks notified to them by others
procedures for measuring performance, as well as performance reports
lessons learnt from accidents and other incidents.

Information can be provided in whatever form is most suitable for your circumstances. For
example, it can be provided as:
posters or notices displayed in the workplace
written information supplied to employees
video or audio tapes
verbally.

Monitoring new developments

Managers, specialists and other competent persons must monitor legal and technical
developments affecting health and safety management of the organisation.
This can be done via technical and professional journals, as well as subscribing to this Barbour
Index service.

Information and employees' duties

Employees must follow instructions and training given to them by their employers. In particular,
this requirement applies in relation to use of:
dangerous substances
machinery and equipment
means of production
safety devices
transport equipment.
Employees should inform their employers or anyone with specific responsibilities for their health
and safety, of any work situation that they believe represents a serious and immediate danger to
health and safety. They should also notify if they believe the employer's arrangements for
safeguarding health and safety are inadequate. A hazard-reporting system should be introduced,
as should a safety-suggestion scheme.
Dont forget to encourage making records in the accident book, and to record and follow-up any
complaints made about health and safety issues.

Information for temporary workers

Employers contracting a person on a fixed-term contract of employment must provide that person
with information on:
any special qualifications or skills required to carry out their work safely and without risk to health
and safety
any health surveillance required.
This information must be provided prior to the person starting work with the employer and also be
provided to employment businesses.
The most important thing is that it should be understood and remembered by the employees
concerned. It is very important to recognise that some of employees may have little or no
understanding of English, may not be able to read, or may be visually or orally impaired. Special

arrangements should be made to overcome these problems. This could include provision of
translations, use of interpreters, or substitution of symbols or diagrams for written information.
The requirement for provision of information applies to all employees, including trainees and
those on fixed-duration contracts. For young persons under school-leaving age on work
experience, basic health and safety information must also be made available to their parents
before they take up work. This information must include details of the risk assessment of the work
in which the child will be involved.

Planning and implementation

This is the point where you put the policy into practice
To be successful in health and safety management, it is necessary to draw-up plans and set
performance standards, with the overall aim of eliminating or controlling risks. These will define
what standards of health and safety the organisation is aiming to achieve, how they will be
accomplished, and the timescales for achievement. This is a case of asking yourself:
where are we now?
where do we want to be?
how do we get there?
This may require prioritisation into short-term or long-term aims. The planning and implementation
process will result in operating and maintaining systems which:
identify objectives and targets for their achievement within a specified period
set performance standards for management actions
set performance standards for the control of risks to employees and others affected by work
activities
establish appropriate methods for hazard identification, which should be followed by appointed
staff
set methods for assessing the risks posed by the hazards, which should be followed by appointed
staff
establish methods for evaluating the risks, which should be adhered to by appointed staff
establish priorities for provision and maintenance of control measures
ensure adequate supporting documents for all performance standards.
Help in complying with the law
Planning also needs to address who will perform some of these tasks and what the required
competence levels should be. In the case of risk assessments (dealt with as a separate subject in
this series) the competence levels of staff, managers, supervisors, etc may already be sufficient
to perform them effectively. The important part of this planning is to ensure that they are
supported and motivated to perform them, rather than feeling that they have been coerced into it.
Appointment of competent persons to assist in health and safety management should be included
as part of the health and safety arrangements and be recorded by employers of five or more
workers.

These 'competent persons' may be employees, and sole traders or members of partnerships may
appoint themselves or other partners - as long as they are competent. External consultants may
be appointed, although normally in an advisory capacity only.
Employers should be aware that they cannot delegate the legal responsibilities owed to their
employees and others. Although they are required to appoint competent persons to assist them in
health and safety management, and can delegate responsibility for managing aspects of health
and safety within their business, the responsibility remains with the employer.
In devising control measures, the following must be considered

Hierarchy of control measures

Risks should be reduced according to the principles detailed in the Management Regulations, and
the following hierarchy of control followed.
Eliminate risks
By substituting the dangerous by the inherently less dangerous:
use less-hazardous substances
substitute a type of machine which is better guarded to make the same product
avoid the use of certain processes; eg, by buying from subcontractors.
Combat risks
At source by engineering controls and giving collective protective measures priority:
separate the operator from the risk of exposure to a known hazardous substance by enclosing the
process;
protect the dangerous parts of a machine by guarding
design process machinery and work activities to minimise the release, or to suppress or contain
airborne hazards
design machinery which is remotely operated and to which materials are fed automatically, thus
separating the operator from danger areas.
Minimise risk
by:
designing suitable systems of working
using personal protective clothing and equipment; this should only be used as a last resort.
The hierarchy reflects the fact that eliminating and controlling risk by using physical engineering
controls and safeguards is more reliable than relying solely on people.
Intolerable risks should be addressed irrespective of cost.
Tolerable risks should be addressed according to a 'cost v risk analysis'.

Measuring health and safety performance

In order to check that the health and safety standards set out in your policy are actually being
achieved, it is necessary to measure performance against pre-determined plans and standards.

Any areas where the planned standards are not being met should be identified for remedial
action. Suitable benchmarks (or performance standards) should be set to assess performance
with that of businesses to which the company aspires.
The types of systems that can be used to monitor health and safety performance include:
Active monitoring systems:
measure health and safety performance on a routine basis; eg, spot checks by a supervisor
documents relating to the promotion of the health and safety culture should be periodically
examined
premises, plant and equipment should be systematically inspected
health surveillance and environmental monitoring should be established to check the
effectiveness of health control methods and to detect early signs of harm to health.
Reactive monitoring systems:
identify where health and safety standards are not being met, by monitoring for failures in the
systems - such as accidents, cases of ill health (work-related sickness), damage to property, etc.
Reporting and response systems:
ensure that monitoring information is evaluated by people competent to identify situations which
create an immediate risk to health or safety, as well as longer term trends. They must have
sufficient authority to ensure that appropriate remedial action is taken
the board of directors should regularly consider reports on health and safety performance.
Investigation systems:
priority is given to incidents which indicate the greatest risk identification of both the immediate
and the underlying causes of events. Information reaches management with sufficient authority to
start remedial action, including organisational and policy changes. Adequate analysis of all
collected data to identify common features or trends and initiate improvements at an
organisational level
arrangements should be established to investigated cases of occupational ill-health
arrangements should be established for recording and investigating complaints relating to
occupational health and safety
arrangements should be established for recording and investigating accidents that cause property
damage
arrangements should be established for recording and investigating incidents with the potential to
cause injury, ill-health or loss.

Audit and review

Making sure that failings are rectified and that improvements are identified and actions are taken.
This is the final step in the health and safety management cycle. Together, performance auditing
and review constitute the 'feedback loop' needed to enable the organisation to maintain and
develop its ability to manage risks fully.

Auditing methods
The policy must be periodically audited, as should the:
arrangements for organising health and safety
adequacy of the risk control systems (and compliance thereof)
active and reactive monitoring systems.
Regular auditing of health and safety systems can identify whether they have deteriorated or
become obsolete. Auditing needs to be comprehensive and to examine over time all the
components of the health and safety management systems in an organisation. Various methods
of auditing can be used, but these can be broadly divided into two approaches:
'vertical slice' auditing - examining one specific aspect of health and safety; eg, emergency
arrangements or fire safety to see if it meets all the management requirements
'horizontal slice' auditing - examining one particular element of the health and safety management
system in detail; eg, an in-depth examination of the process of defining health and safety policy or
planning
It is important that the appropriate surveillance methods are adopted and, in order to ensure this,
it may be necessary to seek medical advice. It may also be appropriate to introduce more than
one surveillance technique, for example, monitoring sickness records as well as the accident
book.

Benchmark data for comparison

Statistics on rates of accidents and ill-health are published regularly by the HSE and the Office of
National Statistics (see: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/index.htm).
Sickness absence
CBI figures published in 2003 (The Guardian, 28 April 2003) reveal the national average number
of sick days was 6.8 per employee per year, varying from 8.9 in the public sector to 6.5 in the
private sector. Manual workers averaged 7.4 days, while white-collar staff took 6.5 days.
Labour Market Trend data published in February 2002 showed that during the reference week,
3.4% of the national workforce had one day off sick (regardless of industry or occupation) 96.64% of workers had no sickness absence in the reference one week period.
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