Are you up to scratch?

No doubt, many businesses will be breathing a sigh of relief that the winter weather and snowy conditions are all behind us. A lot of you may well feel that you did everything you could have possibly done to keep your business open and the staff safe during this time. You might even feel that you’ve already spent too much time worrying about health and safety, and that next time you’ll ‘cross that bridge when you come to it’. However, you may have come out of the winter unscathed but are there other disasters waiting to happen at your business that you might not be aware of?

The worry about the weather and other potential emergencies can actually be avoided. The key to all this of course is planning, but unless you know whether you are up to scratch or not then how can you create an effective system? One answer is to do a complete health & safety audit, which will allow you to see how your business is faring. It may be that you and your employees have worked really hard to establish a safe workplace, in which case there are probably only a few things that can be highlighted for you to improve and reduce risks. It may be that you are unwittingly courting disaster, which a proper audit will help you to avoid wherever possible. There are many companies out there who claim they can provide the expertise, but a professional audit should cover the following areas:

• Structural and environmental issues
• Safety organisation and systems
• Storage systems and procedures
• Traffic management
• Mechanical and electrical equipment
• Fire protection and prevention
• Working at height issues
• Manual handling and ergonomics
• Personal safety
• Storage and use of chemicals
• Provision, suitability and maintenance of PPE
• Display screen equipment
• Accident and incident reporting/investigation

The audit should provide a quantifiable measure of compliance in each of the selected areas as well as highlighting successes and opportunities for further improvements. It usually comprises of three stages:

1.Initial Audit

• Review with your top people of all existing systems/documentation
• Suggestions for spreading responsibility amongst more staff
• Identifying concerns, especially of potential danger, which are particular to your company.

2. Inspection

A thorough premises inspection should follow the audit:

• In depth tour of your premises investigating every aspect of health and safety.
• Short discussions with staff members across departments and jobs.
• Record of any concerns
• Evaluation of how your health and safety procedures measure up to the legal requirements.

3. Review

A review meeting will then be held where the auditor will present a report to include an action plan detailing what further action may be required on:

• Control systems and how staff should implement them.
• Training
• Risk assessments – any remedial action.
• Safety Plan – improvements/priorities.

If you feel you would benefit from a review of your health and safety policy, fire risk assessment, COSHH risk assessments or any other part of your safety management system please call us on 01939 200 221