Set up employment policies for your business

If you have five or more employees, you must by law have a written health and safety policy. The health and safety policy should set out:

• your general approach and objectives in relation to health and safety
• the arrangements you have in place for managing health and safety in your business

However, good health and safety practice means that you should not only have such a policy but also manage it in a way that benefits your business, workers, clients, and local community.

Write a health and safety policy for your business.

Read Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) guidance on health and safety.

Policies to promote staff well-being

To promote the health and well-being of your staff, you also might want to consider policies on specific health-related issues, such as:

• stress at work - see how to deal with stress
• smoking, drugs, and alcohol - see workplace policies on smoking, drugs, and alcohol

To back up your health and safety policies, you may decide to introduce a range of facilities promoting good health amongst your workforce, eg gym access deals (dependant on gym contract terms), advice on how to give up smoking, alcohol or drugs counselling, and routine health check-ups.

The benefits for your business can include the improved overall health of your workers, and improved morale and productivity. See what you need to do about health and safety.

Consultation on health and safety matters

You're required by law to consult your employees on health and safety issues in the workplace and to make them aware of what's in your policy. See how to provide health and safety training and information.

However, you may decide to encourage them to get involved more fully in the process. This could involve devising safety rules, as well as giving useful feedback on how effectively policies are working.

To access templates that you can download, tailor, and use, see other key HR policies and templates.