Who is responsible for health and safety at work?
What is workplace health and safety?
There is no way to avoid the importance of workplace health and safety. For any business - regardless of size, industry or activity - protecting employees, guests in the business and customers should be a top priority. Read on to find out who is legally responsible for health and safety at work.
Unfortunately, accidents in the workplace can happen and the ill-health and damage that they can cause can bring harm to people within your business, damage employee morale, destroy brand reputation and cost your business a lot of money.
Workplace health and safety is the barrier against such accidents happening. It makes up the processes, documents and expectations that you put in place to keep anyone in and around your business safe from harm.
Who is legally responsible for health and safety at work?
There is no way to avoid the importance of workplace health and safety. For any business - regardless of size, industry or activity - protecting employees, guests in the business and customers should be a top priority. Read on to find out who is legally responsible for health and safety at work.
Unfortunately, accidents in the workplace can happen and the ill-health and damage that they can cause can bring harm to people within your business, damage employee morale, destroy brand reputation and cost your business a lot of money.
Workplace health and safety is the barrier against such accidents happening. It makes up the processes, documents and expectations that you put in place to keep anyone in and around your business safe from harm.
What is the Health and Safety Executive?
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the national regulator of workplace health and safety within Great Britain. Their purpose is to determine who is legally responsible for health and safety at work. In doing this, they aim to prevent work-related injuries, ill-health or worse.
The HSE also provides support to businesses by offering free advice, guidance and documentation for employers to help them manage workplace risks effectively.
Who must create a workplace health and safety policy?
It is the responsibility of the business owner or employer to create a robust and clear health and safety policy for the business. All businesses that employ five or more people are legally required to have a written Health & Safety Policy.
This health and safety policy should act as a backbone for your business. It should establish your approach to health and safety, confirm your commitment to preventing workplace harm, and promotion of safe working practices.
Employers’ Responsibilities
The expectations of the HSE state: “It is an employer's duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees and other people who might be affected by their business.” It is the employer who is legally responsible for health and safety at work, and they are the individuals who must create a workplace health and safety policy. To fulfil this responsibility, employers need to::
Carry out risk assessments and method statements
Employers are responsible for completing risk assessments for both general business practices and specific activities that may warrant higher risk - for example, coronavirus risk assessment or heavy machinery risk assessment.
Carrying out a risk assessment will involve inspecting the workplace thoroughly to ensure all significant hazards are identified and measures are put into place to eliminate or control the identified hazards.
A risk assessment, whether general or specific, should highlight the protections that have been made for employees and include information on how to manage workplace hazards.
Create written health and safety policies
Having a written health and safety policy that is available to all staff is a legal requirement of all businesses. This should include safety procedures, fire safety, and first aid information. It should also be readily accessible by employees, contractors and other visitors to the business.
Other elements that should be included within the health and safety policy are:
Risk assessment details
Evacuation plans
Staff training and consultation
Names of staff with specific health and safety duties (first aiders or fire wardens)
Provide safety equipment and PPE
Each business should have a well-stocked first-aid kit on-site, as well as a member of staff/management appointed as the first-aider. The number of first aid kits and first-aiders required will depend on your specific workplace risks and the size of your business. As a general rule-of-thumb, the HSE recommends that a low-risk workplace have at least one qualified first-aider for every 100 staff (1 first-aider to every 50 staff members in a high-risk workplace).
Depending on your business, you may need to ensure other forms of PPE are available on-site, for example, masks, gloves or disinfectant wipes for companies where employees must work in proximity with one another.
Provide effective health and safety training for staff
Employers should provide training to their employees whenever possible to make sure that all staff understand the potential risks of their workplace. The type of training that an employee should receive will vary depending on their role within the business. If the member of staff performs manual handling or labour regularly, they may need manual handling training, whereas those working in an office environment may benefit most from a general safety training session.
Consult employees about health and safety
It is incredibly important for employers to regularly communicate with their employees about health and safety matters. Employers should inform staff about any changes or additional policies that have been made to manage risk.
Employers should also find out if employees have any concerns about risk in the workplace. Discussing this openly with employees can allow them to voice their ideas about making the workplace safer.
Display the approved health and safety poster
It is a legal requirement, as stated by the HSE, that all employers - regardless of size or type or business - display an informational health and safety poster within the workplace.
This poster should outline British health and safety laws and summarise the duties that both employers and employees have in regard to workplace safety.
Employees’ Responsibilities
According to the HSE: “workers have a duty to take care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by [their] actions at work.” The staff of a business are partially who is legally responsible for health and safety at work, to fulfil this responsibility, employees need to:
Follow health and safety training guidelines
Since everyone is responsible for health and safety at work, all employees should follow the health and safety policy for their business, and they should look to implement any instruction or training they receive. This is expected of all staff within a business to ensure that they are able to perform their work within a safe environment. Employees are also expected to follow proper protocol when using equipment such as fire extinguishers or fire alarms.
Follow workplace safety procedures
Within their responsibilities, employees must attend health and safety training that is offered by the employer, to ensure they keep both themselves and their colleagues safe in the workplace. As a subset of this, employees working with machinery, chemicals or anything that requires PPE are expected to follow any health and safety procedures surrounding these activities.
Be proactive and report safety risks immediately
If employees work within a culture that expects the working environment to be tidy and organised, accidents are less likely to occur.
If an employee feels they may be at risk in regard to their health at work, they should report it to a senior member of staff. This risk assessment can be for any matter that may affect the safety of others, such as faulty equipment, mishandling of equipment or individuals ignoring procedures.
Common things to include in a workplace health and safety plan
Employee health and safety Codes of Practice
Arrangements for reporting health and safety issues (accident and illness reporting, investigation procedures, etc.)
Emergency/fire drill procedures
Risk assessment procedures and inspections
First aid procedures
Control of exposure to specific hazards (noise, vibration, manual handling, hazardous substances, etc.)
Machinery safety and testing.
Proper PPE use
Procedures for ensuring the safety of contractors, visitors and members of the public
Health and safety training and induction procedures
Catering and food hygiene procedures