Whatever size your business is you will need to have certain health and safety rules and regulations in place. These are not only to protect your employees, but also your company. If these regulations are followed correctly they can help your company avoid unnecessary costs caused by injury or illness.
Protecting you and your employees
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website has all the information you will need to protect you and your workforce. It’s also important that you take into account any member of the public that might enter your premises and follow all HSE recommendations. Companies such as www.broschdirect.com can supply your business with the relevant protective equipment needed to conform to these safety standards. They can offer anything from signage to disposable gloves for the medical or catering industry.
Risk assessment
Before you decide what type of health and safety measures you need to take in your business, it is important that you carry out a risk assessment. To do this you need to think what might cause harm to someone working in, or visiting your premises.
The law says that if you have less than five employees you don’t have to carry out a health and safety check, but for your own safety it is advisable. This assessment is to identify sensible measures that will control the risks in your workplace; most of this is just common sense. Ensuring that you have the correct signage for fire escapes, etc, in place for employees and visitors is imperative.
Making a building safe
One simple way of ensuring your premises are safe to work in is to contact your local Fire Brigade. They will send a specialist to assess your property and will advise you about any fire traps, or if where to place smoke detectors or fire extinguishers. Having the correct emergency exits signposted is not only important, but is also needed by law. If you don’t have the correct safety plans in place you may not be covered by your insurance policy.
Self employed
Even if you are self employed and work from home in a spare room or outdoor office you should still take into account any risks that could arise if someone else is working with you or comes to visit. A low risk business will only need straightforward common sense and the risk assessment and safety policy doesn’t have to be written down. For someone working with machinery the health and safety regulations will need to be on display and everything should have adequate signage.
