Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland
Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
In this guide:
- Health and safety risk assessment
- Assess the health and safety risks in your business
- Identify health and safety hazards
- Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
- Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
- Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
- Review your health and safety risk assessment
Assess the health and safety risks in your business
How you can assess the risks in your business and work to reduce them by carrying out a proper risk assessment that identifies and minimises safety hazards.
You must manage the health and safety risks in your workplace. To do this you need to decide whether you are doing enough to prevent harm. This is known as a risk assessment.
A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about taking sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace. You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will tell you whether you should be doing more.
How do I assess the risks in my workplace?
The following steps form part of your risk assessment:
- A good starting point is to walk around your workplace and look for any hazards. A hazard is anything that may cause harm.
- Then think about the risks. A risk is the chance, high or low, of somebody being harmed by the hazard, and how serious the harm could be.
- Think about how accidents could happen and who might be harmed. Ask your employees what they think the hazards are, as they may notice things that are not obvious to you and may have some good ideas on how to control the risks. Focus on the real risks - those that are most likely to cause harm.
- Consider the measures you are already taking to control the risks and ask if there is anything you should do to make your workplace safer.
- Once you have identified the risks and what you need to do to control them, you should put the appropriate measures into place.
- Then record your findings. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down but it is good practice to keep a record. An easy way to record your findings is to download the risk assessment template.
- Take a look at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s selection of example risk assessments. They show you what a completed risk assessment might look like for your type of business. You can use these as a guide when doing your own.
- You can get more help and ideas on ways to control your risks from HSE.
- Few workplaces stay the same and sooner or later you will bring in new equipment, substances or procedures that could lead to new hazards. It makes sense to review your risk assessment on a regular basis. If anything significant changes, check your risk assessment and update it.
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Source URL
/content/assess-health-and-safety-risks-your-business
Links
Identify health and safety hazards
How to identify any potential causes of harm or injury in your workplace as part of a risk assessment by walking around, looking at records and talking to staff.
One of the most important aspects of your risk assessment is to accurately spot the potential hazards in your workplace.
When you work in a place every day it is easy to overlook some hazards, so here are some tips to help you find the ones that matter:
- Walk around your workplace and look at what could reasonably be expected to cause harm.
- Ask your employees or their representatives what they think. They may have noticed things that are not immediately obvious to you. See consult your employees on health and safety.
- Check manufacturers' instructions or data sheets for chemicals and equipment as they can be very helpful in spelling out the hazards and putting them in their true perspective.
- Have a look back at your accident and ill-health records. These often help to identify the less obvious hazards.
- Remember to think about long-term hazards to health (eg high levels of noise or exposure to harmful substances).
For some hazards there are particular control measures that are required by law. A few examples of activities with a recognised risk of harm are working at height, working with chemicals, machinery, and asbestos. Depending on the type of work you do there may be other risks that are relevant to your business.
The Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) website has information on the potential risks in different industries to help you decide what you need to do about different risks.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/identify-health-and-safety-hazards
Links
Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
Identify which groups that could be harmed or injured as part of a workplace risk assessment, including groups who are at particular risk like young workers.
For each hazard you need to be clear about who might be harmed; it will help you identify the best way of managing the risk. That doesn't mean listing everyone by name, but rather identifying groups of people (eg 'people working in the storeroom' or 'passers-by').
Think about people who might not be in the workplace all the time, such as visitors, contractors and maintenance workers.
Take members of the public into account if they could be hurt by your work activities.
If you share a workplace with another business, you will need to consider how your work affects others and how their work affects you and your staff. Talk to each other and make sure controls are in place.
In each case, identify how they might be harmed, i.e. what type of injury or ill health might occur. For example, 'shelf stackers may suffer back injury from repeated lifting of boxes'.
Groups at particular risk
Remember - some workers may have specific needs and may be at particular risk. Find information on health and safety considerations for the following groups:
- young workers
- migrant workers
- new workers (information available in a range of languages)
- people with disabilities
- new and expectant mothers
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/risk-assessment-groups-who-are-risk
Links
Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
Assessing the risks at your place of work and developing systems to avoid these hazards and accidents such as issuing protective equipment or reducing exposure.
Having spotted the hazards, you then have to decide what to do about them. You don't have to try and remove all the risks but the law requires you to do everything 'reasonably practicable' to protect people from harm.
So, first, look at what you're already doing and the control measures you have in place. Ask yourself:
- Can I get rid of the hazard altogether?
- If not, how can I control the risks so that harm is unlikely?
Some practical steps you could take to reduce the hazards you have identified include:
- try a less risky option
- prevent access to the hazards
- organise your work to reduce exposure to the hazard
- issue protective equipment
- provide welfare facilities such as first aid and washing facilities
- involve and consult with staff
Improving health and safety need not cost a lot. For instance, placing a mirror on a dangerous blind corner to help prevent vehicle accidents is a low-cost precaution considering the risks. Failure to take simple precautions can cost you a lot more if an accident does happen.
Involve staff, so that you can be sure that what you propose to do will work in practice and won't introduce any new hazards. See consult your employees on health and safety.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/evaluate-health-and-safety-risks-and-decide-precautions
Links
Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
How to record your findings after a risk assessment and put a plan of action in place to prioritise and mitigate or remove the risks you have identified.
It is important to accurately record the findings of your risk assessment. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down. However, it is useful so that you can review it at a later date, if for example something changes.
An easy way to record your findings is to download and use the risk assessment template (PDF, 22KB). This template also includes a section for your health and safety policy so you can record everything in one place.
When writing down your results, keep it simple. For example:
- 'Tripping over rubbish: bins provided, staff instructed, weekly housekeeping checks'
- 'Fume from welding: local exhaust ventilation used and regularly checked'
A risk assessment does not need to be perfect, but it must be 'suitable and sufficient'. The example risk assessments on the Health and Safety Executive website will give you an idea of what your risk assessment should look like.
What your records should include
It should show that:
- a proper check was made
- you asked who might be affected
- you dealt with all the obvious significant hazards, taking into account the number of people who could be involved
- the precautions are reasonable, and the remaining risk is low
- you involved your staff or their representatives in the process
Create an action plan
If, like many businesses, you find that there are quite a lot of improvements that you could make, big and small, don't try to do everything at once. Make a plan of action to deal with the most important things first.
A good plan of action often includes a mixture of different things such as:
- a few cheap or easy improvements that can be done quickly, perhaps as a temporary solution until more reliable controls are in place
- long-term solutions to those risks most likely to cause accidents or ill health
- long-term solutions to those risks with the worst potential consequences
- arrangements for training employees on the main risks that remain and how they are to be controlled
- regular checks to make sure that the control measures stay in place
- clear responsibilities - who will lead on what action and by when
Remember, prioritise and tackle the most important things first.
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/record-your-safety-risk-assessment-findings-and-implement-them
Links
Review your health and safety risk assessment
How to review your risk assessment on an ongoing basis to identify hazards or risks from any new equipment, substances or procedures in the workplace.
Once you have created your health and safety risk assessment, you should aim to review and revise it on a regular basis.
Why risk assessments need to be regularly revised
It's important to review and update your risk assessment because of the everyday changes that happen in all businesses. Few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, you will bring in new equipment, substances and procedures that could lead to new hazards. So it makes sense to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis.
How to review your health and safety risk assessment
Look at your risk assessment again:
- Have there been any changes?
- Are there improvements you still need to make?
- Have your workers spotted a problem?
- Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses?
Make sure your risk assessment stays up to date.
When you are running a business it's all too easy to forget about reviewing your risk assessment - until something has gone wrong and it's too late. Why not set a review date for this risk assessment now? Write it down and note it in your diary as an annual event.
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/review-your-health-and-safety-risk-assessment
Links
Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
In this guide:
- Health and safety risk assessment
- Assess the health and safety risks in your business
- Identify health and safety hazards
- Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
- Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
- Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
- Review your health and safety risk assessment
Assess the health and safety risks in your business
How you can assess the risks in your business and work to reduce them by carrying out a proper risk assessment that identifies and minimises safety hazards.
You must manage the health and safety risks in your workplace. To do this you need to decide whether you are doing enough to prevent harm. This is known as a risk assessment.
A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about taking sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace. You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will tell you whether you should be doing more.
How do I assess the risks in my workplace?
The following steps form part of your risk assessment:
- A good starting point is to walk around your workplace and look for any hazards. A hazard is anything that may cause harm.
- Then think about the risks. A risk is the chance, high or low, of somebody being harmed by the hazard, and how serious the harm could be.
- Think about how accidents could happen and who might be harmed. Ask your employees what they think the hazards are, as they may notice things that are not obvious to you and may have some good ideas on how to control the risks. Focus on the real risks - those that are most likely to cause harm.
- Consider the measures you are already taking to control the risks and ask if there is anything you should do to make your workplace safer.
- Once you have identified the risks and what you need to do to control them, you should put the appropriate measures into place.
- Then record your findings. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down but it is good practice to keep a record. An easy way to record your findings is to download the risk assessment template.
- Take a look at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s selection of example risk assessments. They show you what a completed risk assessment might look like for your type of business. You can use these as a guide when doing your own.
- You can get more help and ideas on ways to control your risks from HSE.
- Few workplaces stay the same and sooner or later you will bring in new equipment, substances or procedures that could lead to new hazards. It makes sense to review your risk assessment on a regular basis. If anything significant changes, check your risk assessment and update it.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/assess-health-and-safety-risks-your-business
Links
Identify health and safety hazards
How to identify any potential causes of harm or injury in your workplace as part of a risk assessment by walking around, looking at records and talking to staff.
One of the most important aspects of your risk assessment is to accurately spot the potential hazards in your workplace.
When you work in a place every day it is easy to overlook some hazards, so here are some tips to help you find the ones that matter:
- Walk around your workplace and look at what could reasonably be expected to cause harm.
- Ask your employees or their representatives what they think. They may have noticed things that are not immediately obvious to you. See consult your employees on health and safety.
- Check manufacturers' instructions or data sheets for chemicals and equipment as they can be very helpful in spelling out the hazards and putting them in their true perspective.
- Have a look back at your accident and ill-health records. These often help to identify the less obvious hazards.
- Remember to think about long-term hazards to health (eg high levels of noise or exposure to harmful substances).
For some hazards there are particular control measures that are required by law. A few examples of activities with a recognised risk of harm are working at height, working with chemicals, machinery, and asbestos. Depending on the type of work you do there may be other risks that are relevant to your business.
The Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) website has information on the potential risks in different industries to help you decide what you need to do about different risks.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/identify-health-and-safety-hazards
Links
Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
Identify which groups that could be harmed or injured as part of a workplace risk assessment, including groups who are at particular risk like young workers.
For each hazard you need to be clear about who might be harmed; it will help you identify the best way of managing the risk. That doesn't mean listing everyone by name, but rather identifying groups of people (eg 'people working in the storeroom' or 'passers-by').
Think about people who might not be in the workplace all the time, such as visitors, contractors and maintenance workers.
Take members of the public into account if they could be hurt by your work activities.
If you share a workplace with another business, you will need to consider how your work affects others and how their work affects you and your staff. Talk to each other and make sure controls are in place.
In each case, identify how they might be harmed, i.e. what type of injury or ill health might occur. For example, 'shelf stackers may suffer back injury from repeated lifting of boxes'.
Groups at particular risk
Remember - some workers may have specific needs and may be at particular risk. Find information on health and safety considerations for the following groups:
- young workers
- migrant workers
- new workers (information available in a range of languages)
- people with disabilities
- new and expectant mothers
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/risk-assessment-groups-who-are-risk
Links
Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
Assessing the risks at your place of work and developing systems to avoid these hazards and accidents such as issuing protective equipment or reducing exposure.
Having spotted the hazards, you then have to decide what to do about them. You don't have to try and remove all the risks but the law requires you to do everything 'reasonably practicable' to protect people from harm.
So, first, look at what you're already doing and the control measures you have in place. Ask yourself:
- Can I get rid of the hazard altogether?
- If not, how can I control the risks so that harm is unlikely?
Some practical steps you could take to reduce the hazards you have identified include:
- try a less risky option
- prevent access to the hazards
- organise your work to reduce exposure to the hazard
- issue protective equipment
- provide welfare facilities such as first aid and washing facilities
- involve and consult with staff
Improving health and safety need not cost a lot. For instance, placing a mirror on a dangerous blind corner to help prevent vehicle accidents is a low-cost precaution considering the risks. Failure to take simple precautions can cost you a lot more if an accident does happen.
Involve staff, so that you can be sure that what you propose to do will work in practice and won't introduce any new hazards. See consult your employees on health and safety.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/evaluate-health-and-safety-risks-and-decide-precautions
Links
Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
How to record your findings after a risk assessment and put a plan of action in place to prioritise and mitigate or remove the risks you have identified.
It is important to accurately record the findings of your risk assessment. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down. However, it is useful so that you can review it at a later date, if for example something changes.
An easy way to record your findings is to download and use the risk assessment template (PDF, 22KB). This template also includes a section for your health and safety policy so you can record everything in one place.
When writing down your results, keep it simple. For example:
- 'Tripping over rubbish: bins provided, staff instructed, weekly housekeeping checks'
- 'Fume from welding: local exhaust ventilation used and regularly checked'
A risk assessment does not need to be perfect, but it must be 'suitable and sufficient'. The example risk assessments on the Health and Safety Executive website will give you an idea of what your risk assessment should look like.
What your records should include
It should show that:
- a proper check was made
- you asked who might be affected
- you dealt with all the obvious significant hazards, taking into account the number of people who could be involved
- the precautions are reasonable, and the remaining risk is low
- you involved your staff or their representatives in the process
Create an action plan
If, like many businesses, you find that there are quite a lot of improvements that you could make, big and small, don't try to do everything at once. Make a plan of action to deal with the most important things first.
A good plan of action often includes a mixture of different things such as:
- a few cheap or easy improvements that can be done quickly, perhaps as a temporary solution until more reliable controls are in place
- long-term solutions to those risks most likely to cause accidents or ill health
- long-term solutions to those risks with the worst potential consequences
- arrangements for training employees on the main risks that remain and how they are to be controlled
- regular checks to make sure that the control measures stay in place
- clear responsibilities - who will lead on what action and by when
Remember, prioritise and tackle the most important things first.
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/record-your-safety-risk-assessment-findings-and-implement-them
Links
Review your health and safety risk assessment
How to review your risk assessment on an ongoing basis to identify hazards or risks from any new equipment, substances or procedures in the workplace.
Once you have created your health and safety risk assessment, you should aim to review and revise it on a regular basis.
Why risk assessments need to be regularly revised
It's important to review and update your risk assessment because of the everyday changes that happen in all businesses. Few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, you will bring in new equipment, substances and procedures that could lead to new hazards. So it makes sense to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis.
How to review your health and safety risk assessment
Look at your risk assessment again:
- Have there been any changes?
- Are there improvements you still need to make?
- Have your workers spotted a problem?
- Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses?
Make sure your risk assessment stays up to date.
When you are running a business it's all too easy to forget about reviewing your risk assessment - until something has gone wrong and it's too late. Why not set a review date for this risk assessment now? Write it down and note it in your diary as an annual event.
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/review-your-health-and-safety-risk-assessment
Links
Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
In this guide:
- Health and safety risk assessment
- Assess the health and safety risks in your business
- Identify health and safety hazards
- Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
- Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
- Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
- Review your health and safety risk assessment
Assess the health and safety risks in your business
How you can assess the risks in your business and work to reduce them by carrying out a proper risk assessment that identifies and minimises safety hazards.
You must manage the health and safety risks in your workplace. To do this you need to decide whether you are doing enough to prevent harm. This is known as a risk assessment.
A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about taking sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace. You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will tell you whether you should be doing more.
How do I assess the risks in my workplace?
The following steps form part of your risk assessment:
- A good starting point is to walk around your workplace and look for any hazards. A hazard is anything that may cause harm.
- Then think about the risks. A risk is the chance, high or low, of somebody being harmed by the hazard, and how serious the harm could be.
- Think about how accidents could happen and who might be harmed. Ask your employees what they think the hazards are, as they may notice things that are not obvious to you and may have some good ideas on how to control the risks. Focus on the real risks - those that are most likely to cause harm.
- Consider the measures you are already taking to control the risks and ask if there is anything you should do to make your workplace safer.
- Once you have identified the risks and what you need to do to control them, you should put the appropriate measures into place.
- Then record your findings. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down but it is good practice to keep a record. An easy way to record your findings is to download the risk assessment template.
- Take a look at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s selection of example risk assessments. They show you what a completed risk assessment might look like for your type of business. You can use these as a guide when doing your own.
- You can get more help and ideas on ways to control your risks from HSE.
- Few workplaces stay the same and sooner or later you will bring in new equipment, substances or procedures that could lead to new hazards. It makes sense to review your risk assessment on a regular basis. If anything significant changes, check your risk assessment and update it.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/assess-health-and-safety-risks-your-business
Links
Identify health and safety hazards
How to identify any potential causes of harm or injury in your workplace as part of a risk assessment by walking around, looking at records and talking to staff.
One of the most important aspects of your risk assessment is to accurately spot the potential hazards in your workplace.
When you work in a place every day it is easy to overlook some hazards, so here are some tips to help you find the ones that matter:
- Walk around your workplace and look at what could reasonably be expected to cause harm.
- Ask your employees or their representatives what they think. They may have noticed things that are not immediately obvious to you. See consult your employees on health and safety.
- Check manufacturers' instructions or data sheets for chemicals and equipment as they can be very helpful in spelling out the hazards and putting them in their true perspective.
- Have a look back at your accident and ill-health records. These often help to identify the less obvious hazards.
- Remember to think about long-term hazards to health (eg high levels of noise or exposure to harmful substances).
For some hazards there are particular control measures that are required by law. A few examples of activities with a recognised risk of harm are working at height, working with chemicals, machinery, and asbestos. Depending on the type of work you do there may be other risks that are relevant to your business.
The Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) website has information on the potential risks in different industries to help you decide what you need to do about different risks.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/identify-health-and-safety-hazards
Links
Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
Identify which groups that could be harmed or injured as part of a workplace risk assessment, including groups who are at particular risk like young workers.
For each hazard you need to be clear about who might be harmed; it will help you identify the best way of managing the risk. That doesn't mean listing everyone by name, but rather identifying groups of people (eg 'people working in the storeroom' or 'passers-by').
Think about people who might not be in the workplace all the time, such as visitors, contractors and maintenance workers.
Take members of the public into account if they could be hurt by your work activities.
If you share a workplace with another business, you will need to consider how your work affects others and how their work affects you and your staff. Talk to each other and make sure controls are in place.
In each case, identify how they might be harmed, i.e. what type of injury or ill health might occur. For example, 'shelf stackers may suffer back injury from repeated lifting of boxes'.
Groups at particular risk
Remember - some workers may have specific needs and may be at particular risk. Find information on health and safety considerations for the following groups:
- young workers
- migrant workers
- new workers (information available in a range of languages)
- people with disabilities
- new and expectant mothers
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/risk-assessment-groups-who-are-risk
Links
Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
Assessing the risks at your place of work and developing systems to avoid these hazards and accidents such as issuing protective equipment or reducing exposure.
Having spotted the hazards, you then have to decide what to do about them. You don't have to try and remove all the risks but the law requires you to do everything 'reasonably practicable' to protect people from harm.
So, first, look at what you're already doing and the control measures you have in place. Ask yourself:
- Can I get rid of the hazard altogether?
- If not, how can I control the risks so that harm is unlikely?
Some practical steps you could take to reduce the hazards you have identified include:
- try a less risky option
- prevent access to the hazards
- organise your work to reduce exposure to the hazard
- issue protective equipment
- provide welfare facilities such as first aid and washing facilities
- involve and consult with staff
Improving health and safety need not cost a lot. For instance, placing a mirror on a dangerous blind corner to help prevent vehicle accidents is a low-cost precaution considering the risks. Failure to take simple precautions can cost you a lot more if an accident does happen.
Involve staff, so that you can be sure that what you propose to do will work in practice and won't introduce any new hazards. See consult your employees on health and safety.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/evaluate-health-and-safety-risks-and-decide-precautions
Links
Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
How to record your findings after a risk assessment and put a plan of action in place to prioritise and mitigate or remove the risks you have identified.
It is important to accurately record the findings of your risk assessment. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down. However, it is useful so that you can review it at a later date, if for example something changes.
An easy way to record your findings is to download and use the risk assessment template (PDF, 22KB). This template also includes a section for your health and safety policy so you can record everything in one place.
When writing down your results, keep it simple. For example:
- 'Tripping over rubbish: bins provided, staff instructed, weekly housekeeping checks'
- 'Fume from welding: local exhaust ventilation used and regularly checked'
A risk assessment does not need to be perfect, but it must be 'suitable and sufficient'. The example risk assessments on the Health and Safety Executive website will give you an idea of what your risk assessment should look like.
What your records should include
It should show that:
- a proper check was made
- you asked who might be affected
- you dealt with all the obvious significant hazards, taking into account the number of people who could be involved
- the precautions are reasonable, and the remaining risk is low
- you involved your staff or their representatives in the process
Create an action plan
If, like many businesses, you find that there are quite a lot of improvements that you could make, big and small, don't try to do everything at once. Make a plan of action to deal with the most important things first.
A good plan of action often includes a mixture of different things such as:
- a few cheap or easy improvements that can be done quickly, perhaps as a temporary solution until more reliable controls are in place
- long-term solutions to those risks most likely to cause accidents or ill health
- long-term solutions to those risks with the worst potential consequences
- arrangements for training employees on the main risks that remain and how they are to be controlled
- regular checks to make sure that the control measures stay in place
- clear responsibilities - who will lead on what action and by when
Remember, prioritise and tackle the most important things first.
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/record-your-safety-risk-assessment-findings-and-implement-them
Links
Review your health and safety risk assessment
How to review your risk assessment on an ongoing basis to identify hazards or risks from any new equipment, substances or procedures in the workplace.
Once you have created your health and safety risk assessment, you should aim to review and revise it on a regular basis.
Why risk assessments need to be regularly revised
It's important to review and update your risk assessment because of the everyday changes that happen in all businesses. Few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, you will bring in new equipment, substances and procedures that could lead to new hazards. So it makes sense to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis.
How to review your health and safety risk assessment
Look at your risk assessment again:
- Have there been any changes?
- Are there improvements you still need to make?
- Have your workers spotted a problem?
- Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses?
Make sure your risk assessment stays up to date.
When you are running a business it's all too easy to forget about reviewing your risk assessment - until something has gone wrong and it's too late. Why not set a review date for this risk assessment now? Write it down and note it in your diary as an annual event.
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/review-your-health-and-safety-risk-assessment
Links
Identify health and safety hazards
In this guide:
- Health and safety risk assessment
- Assess the health and safety risks in your business
- Identify health and safety hazards
- Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
- Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
- Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
- Review your health and safety risk assessment
Assess the health and safety risks in your business
How you can assess the risks in your business and work to reduce them by carrying out a proper risk assessment that identifies and minimises safety hazards.
You must manage the health and safety risks in your workplace. To do this you need to decide whether you are doing enough to prevent harm. This is known as a risk assessment.
A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about taking sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace. You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will tell you whether you should be doing more.
How do I assess the risks in my workplace?
The following steps form part of your risk assessment:
- A good starting point is to walk around your workplace and look for any hazards. A hazard is anything that may cause harm.
- Then think about the risks. A risk is the chance, high or low, of somebody being harmed by the hazard, and how serious the harm could be.
- Think about how accidents could happen and who might be harmed. Ask your employees what they think the hazards are, as they may notice things that are not obvious to you and may have some good ideas on how to control the risks. Focus on the real risks - those that are most likely to cause harm.
- Consider the measures you are already taking to control the risks and ask if there is anything you should do to make your workplace safer.
- Once you have identified the risks and what you need to do to control them, you should put the appropriate measures into place.
- Then record your findings. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down but it is good practice to keep a record. An easy way to record your findings is to download the risk assessment template.
- Take a look at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s selection of example risk assessments. They show you what a completed risk assessment might look like for your type of business. You can use these as a guide when doing your own.
- You can get more help and ideas on ways to control your risks from HSE.
- Few workplaces stay the same and sooner or later you will bring in new equipment, substances or procedures that could lead to new hazards. It makes sense to review your risk assessment on a regular basis. If anything significant changes, check your risk assessment and update it.
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Identify health and safety hazards
How to identify any potential causes of harm or injury in your workplace as part of a risk assessment by walking around, looking at records and talking to staff.
One of the most important aspects of your risk assessment is to accurately spot the potential hazards in your workplace.
When you work in a place every day it is easy to overlook some hazards, so here are some tips to help you find the ones that matter:
- Walk around your workplace and look at what could reasonably be expected to cause harm.
- Ask your employees or their representatives what they think. They may have noticed things that are not immediately obvious to you. See consult your employees on health and safety.
- Check manufacturers' instructions or data sheets for chemicals and equipment as they can be very helpful in spelling out the hazards and putting them in their true perspective.
- Have a look back at your accident and ill-health records. These often help to identify the less obvious hazards.
- Remember to think about long-term hazards to health (eg high levels of noise or exposure to harmful substances).
For some hazards there are particular control measures that are required by law. A few examples of activities with a recognised risk of harm are working at height, working with chemicals, machinery, and asbestos. Depending on the type of work you do there may be other risks that are relevant to your business.
The Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) website has information on the potential risks in different industries to help you decide what you need to do about different risks.
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Source URL
/content/identify-health-and-safety-hazards
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Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
Identify which groups that could be harmed or injured as part of a workplace risk assessment, including groups who are at particular risk like young workers.
For each hazard you need to be clear about who might be harmed; it will help you identify the best way of managing the risk. That doesn't mean listing everyone by name, but rather identifying groups of people (eg 'people working in the storeroom' or 'passers-by').
Think about people who might not be in the workplace all the time, such as visitors, contractors and maintenance workers.
Take members of the public into account if they could be hurt by your work activities.
If you share a workplace with another business, you will need to consider how your work affects others and how their work affects you and your staff. Talk to each other and make sure controls are in place.
In each case, identify how they might be harmed, i.e. what type of injury or ill health might occur. For example, 'shelf stackers may suffer back injury from repeated lifting of boxes'.
Groups at particular risk
Remember - some workers may have specific needs and may be at particular risk. Find information on health and safety considerations for the following groups:
- young workers
- migrant workers
- new workers (information available in a range of languages)
- people with disabilities
- new and expectant mothers
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Source URL
/content/risk-assessment-groups-who-are-risk
Links
Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
Assessing the risks at your place of work and developing systems to avoid these hazards and accidents such as issuing protective equipment or reducing exposure.
Having spotted the hazards, you then have to decide what to do about them. You don't have to try and remove all the risks but the law requires you to do everything 'reasonably practicable' to protect people from harm.
So, first, look at what you're already doing and the control measures you have in place. Ask yourself:
- Can I get rid of the hazard altogether?
- If not, how can I control the risks so that harm is unlikely?
Some practical steps you could take to reduce the hazards you have identified include:
- try a less risky option
- prevent access to the hazards
- organise your work to reduce exposure to the hazard
- issue protective equipment
- provide welfare facilities such as first aid and washing facilities
- involve and consult with staff
Improving health and safety need not cost a lot. For instance, placing a mirror on a dangerous blind corner to help prevent vehicle accidents is a low-cost precaution considering the risks. Failure to take simple precautions can cost you a lot more if an accident does happen.
Involve staff, so that you can be sure that what you propose to do will work in practice and won't introduce any new hazards. See consult your employees on health and safety.
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/content/evaluate-health-and-safety-risks-and-decide-precautions
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Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
How to record your findings after a risk assessment and put a plan of action in place to prioritise and mitigate or remove the risks you have identified.
It is important to accurately record the findings of your risk assessment. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down. However, it is useful so that you can review it at a later date, if for example something changes.
An easy way to record your findings is to download and use the risk assessment template (PDF, 22KB). This template also includes a section for your health and safety policy so you can record everything in one place.
When writing down your results, keep it simple. For example:
- 'Tripping over rubbish: bins provided, staff instructed, weekly housekeeping checks'
- 'Fume from welding: local exhaust ventilation used and regularly checked'
A risk assessment does not need to be perfect, but it must be 'suitable and sufficient'. The example risk assessments on the Health and Safety Executive website will give you an idea of what your risk assessment should look like.
What your records should include
It should show that:
- a proper check was made
- you asked who might be affected
- you dealt with all the obvious significant hazards, taking into account the number of people who could be involved
- the precautions are reasonable, and the remaining risk is low
- you involved your staff or their representatives in the process
Create an action plan
If, like many businesses, you find that there are quite a lot of improvements that you could make, big and small, don't try to do everything at once. Make a plan of action to deal with the most important things first.
A good plan of action often includes a mixture of different things such as:
- a few cheap or easy improvements that can be done quickly, perhaps as a temporary solution until more reliable controls are in place
- long-term solutions to those risks most likely to cause accidents or ill health
- long-term solutions to those risks with the worst potential consequences
- arrangements for training employees on the main risks that remain and how they are to be controlled
- regular checks to make sure that the control measures stay in place
- clear responsibilities - who will lead on what action and by when
Remember, prioritise and tackle the most important things first.
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/content/record-your-safety-risk-assessment-findings-and-implement-them
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Review your health and safety risk assessment
How to review your risk assessment on an ongoing basis to identify hazards or risks from any new equipment, substances or procedures in the workplace.
Once you have created your health and safety risk assessment, you should aim to review and revise it on a regular basis.
Why risk assessments need to be regularly revised
It's important to review and update your risk assessment because of the everyday changes that happen in all businesses. Few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, you will bring in new equipment, substances and procedures that could lead to new hazards. So it makes sense to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis.
How to review your health and safety risk assessment
Look at your risk assessment again:
- Have there been any changes?
- Are there improvements you still need to make?
- Have your workers spotted a problem?
- Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses?
Make sure your risk assessment stays up to date.
When you are running a business it's all too easy to forget about reviewing your risk assessment - until something has gone wrong and it's too late. Why not set a review date for this risk assessment now? Write it down and note it in your diary as an annual event.
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Source URL
/content/review-your-health-and-safety-risk-assessment
Links
Assess the health and safety risks in your business
In this guide:
- Health and safety risk assessment
- Assess the health and safety risks in your business
- Identify health and safety hazards
- Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
- Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
- Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
- Review your health and safety risk assessment
Assess the health and safety risks in your business
How you can assess the risks in your business and work to reduce them by carrying out a proper risk assessment that identifies and minimises safety hazards.
You must manage the health and safety risks in your workplace. To do this you need to decide whether you are doing enough to prevent harm. This is known as a risk assessment.
A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about taking sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace. You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will tell you whether you should be doing more.
How do I assess the risks in my workplace?
The following steps form part of your risk assessment:
- A good starting point is to walk around your workplace and look for any hazards. A hazard is anything that may cause harm.
- Then think about the risks. A risk is the chance, high or low, of somebody being harmed by the hazard, and how serious the harm could be.
- Think about how accidents could happen and who might be harmed. Ask your employees what they think the hazards are, as they may notice things that are not obvious to you and may have some good ideas on how to control the risks. Focus on the real risks - those that are most likely to cause harm.
- Consider the measures you are already taking to control the risks and ask if there is anything you should do to make your workplace safer.
- Once you have identified the risks and what you need to do to control them, you should put the appropriate measures into place.
- Then record your findings. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down but it is good practice to keep a record. An easy way to record your findings is to download the risk assessment template.
- Take a look at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s selection of example risk assessments. They show you what a completed risk assessment might look like for your type of business. You can use these as a guide when doing your own.
- You can get more help and ideas on ways to control your risks from HSE.
- Few workplaces stay the same and sooner or later you will bring in new equipment, substances or procedures that could lead to new hazards. It makes sense to review your risk assessment on a regular basis. If anything significant changes, check your risk assessment and update it.
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Source URL
/content/assess-health-and-safety-risks-your-business
Links
Identify health and safety hazards
How to identify any potential causes of harm or injury in your workplace as part of a risk assessment by walking around, looking at records and talking to staff.
One of the most important aspects of your risk assessment is to accurately spot the potential hazards in your workplace.
When you work in a place every day it is easy to overlook some hazards, so here are some tips to help you find the ones that matter:
- Walk around your workplace and look at what could reasonably be expected to cause harm.
- Ask your employees or their representatives what they think. They may have noticed things that are not immediately obvious to you. See consult your employees on health and safety.
- Check manufacturers' instructions or data sheets for chemicals and equipment as they can be very helpful in spelling out the hazards and putting them in their true perspective.
- Have a look back at your accident and ill-health records. These often help to identify the less obvious hazards.
- Remember to think about long-term hazards to health (eg high levels of noise or exposure to harmful substances).
For some hazards there are particular control measures that are required by law. A few examples of activities with a recognised risk of harm are working at height, working with chemicals, machinery, and asbestos. Depending on the type of work you do there may be other risks that are relevant to your business.
The Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) website has information on the potential risks in different industries to help you decide what you need to do about different risks.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/identify-health-and-safety-hazards
Links
Risk assessment: groups who are at risk
Identify which groups that could be harmed or injured as part of a workplace risk assessment, including groups who are at particular risk like young workers.
For each hazard you need to be clear about who might be harmed; it will help you identify the best way of managing the risk. That doesn't mean listing everyone by name, but rather identifying groups of people (eg 'people working in the storeroom' or 'passers-by').
Think about people who might not be in the workplace all the time, such as visitors, contractors and maintenance workers.
Take members of the public into account if they could be hurt by your work activities.
If you share a workplace with another business, you will need to consider how your work affects others and how their work affects you and your staff. Talk to each other and make sure controls are in place.
In each case, identify how they might be harmed, i.e. what type of injury or ill health might occur. For example, 'shelf stackers may suffer back injury from repeated lifting of boxes'.
Groups at particular risk
Remember - some workers may have specific needs and may be at particular risk. Find information on health and safety considerations for the following groups:
- young workers
- migrant workers
- new workers (information available in a range of languages)
- people with disabilities
- new and expectant mothers
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/risk-assessment-groups-who-are-risk
Links
Evaluate health and safety risks and decide on precautions
Assessing the risks at your place of work and developing systems to avoid these hazards and accidents such as issuing protective equipment or reducing exposure.
Having spotted the hazards, you then have to decide what to do about them. You don't have to try and remove all the risks but the law requires you to do everything 'reasonably practicable' to protect people from harm.
So, first, look at what you're already doing and the control measures you have in place. Ask yourself:
- Can I get rid of the hazard altogether?
- If not, how can I control the risks so that harm is unlikely?
Some practical steps you could take to reduce the hazards you have identified include:
- try a less risky option
- prevent access to the hazards
- organise your work to reduce exposure to the hazard
- issue protective equipment
- provide welfare facilities such as first aid and washing facilities
- involve and consult with staff
Improving health and safety need not cost a lot. For instance, placing a mirror on a dangerous blind corner to help prevent vehicle accidents is a low-cost precaution considering the risks. Failure to take simple precautions can cost you a lot more if an accident does happen.
Involve staff, so that you can be sure that what you propose to do will work in practice and won't introduce any new hazards. See consult your employees on health and safety.
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/evaluate-health-and-safety-risks-and-decide-precautions
Links
Record your safety risk assessment findings and implement them
How to record your findings after a risk assessment and put a plan of action in place to prioritise and mitigate or remove the risks you have identified.
It is important to accurately record the findings of your risk assessment. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down. However, it is useful so that you can review it at a later date, if for example something changes.
An easy way to record your findings is to download and use the risk assessment template (PDF, 22KB). This template also includes a section for your health and safety policy so you can record everything in one place.
When writing down your results, keep it simple. For example:
- 'Tripping over rubbish: bins provided, staff instructed, weekly housekeeping checks'
- 'Fume from welding: local exhaust ventilation used and regularly checked'
A risk assessment does not need to be perfect, but it must be 'suitable and sufficient'. The example risk assessments on the Health and Safety Executive website will give you an idea of what your risk assessment should look like.
What your records should include
It should show that:
- a proper check was made
- you asked who might be affected
- you dealt with all the obvious significant hazards, taking into account the number of people who could be involved
- the precautions are reasonable, and the remaining risk is low
- you involved your staff or their representatives in the process
Create an action plan
If, like many businesses, you find that there are quite a lot of improvements that you could make, big and small, don't try to do everything at once. Make a plan of action to deal with the most important things first.
A good plan of action often includes a mixture of different things such as:
- a few cheap or easy improvements that can be done quickly, perhaps as a temporary solution until more reliable controls are in place
- long-term solutions to those risks most likely to cause accidents or ill health
- long-term solutions to those risks with the worst potential consequences
- arrangements for training employees on the main risks that remain and how they are to be controlled
- regular checks to make sure that the control measures stay in place
- clear responsibilities - who will lead on what action and by when
Remember, prioritise and tackle the most important things first.
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Source URL
/content/record-your-safety-risk-assessment-findings-and-implement-them
Links
Review your health and safety risk assessment
How to review your risk assessment on an ongoing basis to identify hazards or risks from any new equipment, substances or procedures in the workplace.
Once you have created your health and safety risk assessment, you should aim to review and revise it on a regular basis.
Why risk assessments need to be regularly revised
It's important to review and update your risk assessment because of the everyday changes that happen in all businesses. Few workplaces stay the same. Sooner or later, you will bring in new equipment, substances and procedures that could lead to new hazards. So it makes sense to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis.
How to review your health and safety risk assessment
Look at your risk assessment again:
- Have there been any changes?
- Are there improvements you still need to make?
- Have your workers spotted a problem?
- Have you learnt anything from accidents or near misses?
Make sure your risk assessment stays up to date.
When you are running a business it's all too easy to forget about reviewing your risk assessment - until something has gone wrong and it's too late. Why not set a review date for this risk assessment now? Write it down and note it in your diary as an annual event.
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/review-your-health-and-safety-risk-assessment
Links
Implementing your health and safety policy
In this guide:
- Write a health and safety policy for your business
- What should be in your health and safety policy?
- The statement of general health and safety policy
- The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
- The arrangements section of your health and safety policy
- Implementing your health and safety policy
What should be in your health and safety policy?
The information you need to set out in your health and safety policy including the statement of general policy, responsibilities and arrangement sections.
Your business must have a health and safety policy. If you have five or more employees, you must have a written policy.
Most businesses set out their policy in three parts:
- the statement of general policy section sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what you want to achieve
- the responsibility section states who is responsible for what
- the arrangements section contains the detail of what you are going to do in practice to achieve the aims set out in your statement of general policy
Help to write a health and safety policy
You may find that there are some areas of health and safety policy that you need help with. You may be able to get help from Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) or the environmental health department of your local authority. If the issues are complicated, you may need to seek external advice
HSENI provide the following downloads to help you create your policy:
Environmental policy
You may want to consider environmental issues at the same time as considering your health and safety policy. If you have an environmental management system, your environmental policy should be a part of this. For further information see set up an environmental management system (EMS).
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Source URL
/content/what-should-be-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The statement of general health and safety policy
What you should include in your statement of intent in your written health and safety policy including who is responsible for health and safety duties.
The statement of general policy sets out your general approach, objectives and the arrangements for managing health and safety in your business. It is a unique document that says who does what, when and how. There are no set rules on what you should include in your statement, but it is often only one page long. You must sign and date the statement.
What to include the statement of general policy
Most statements of general policy will state:
- your commitment to keeping your employees, customers and anyone else affected by your business' activities safe
- who has ultimate responsibility for health and safety in the business
- which staff have specific responsibilities - including the name or job title of the person in charge of health and safety
- your commitment to engaging and consulting with employees on day-to-day health and safety conditions and provide advice and supervision on occupational health
- that you understand the legal duties you have to provide a safe working environment, safe work equipment and safe methods of work
- what organisation and arrangements will be made to support the policy
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Source URL
/content/statement-general-health-and-safety-policy
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The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
Deciding who will carry out risk assessments, inspections and ensure health and safety – this could be you, an employee or someone external.
The responsibilities section of your policy should clearly say who is responsible for what.
As an employer, you must appoint someone competent to help you meet your health and safety duties. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage health and safety.
You could appoint (one or a combination of):
- yourself
- one or more of your workers
- someone from outside your business
You probably manage most aspects of your business yourself, or with the help of your staff. But if you are not confident of your ability to manage all health and safety in-house, you may need some external help or advice.
Deciding what help you need is very important. Unless you are clear about what you want, you probably won't get the help you need.
You should identify who will:
- conduct health and safety risk assessments
- make workplace inspections
- ensure safety when specific tasks or work activities are carried out, or in specific areas of the workplace
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/responsibilities-section-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The arrangements section of your health and safety policy
What you should include in the arrangements section of your health and safety policy including information on hazards and risk assessment.
The arrangements section of your health and safety policy should say how you will meet the commitments you have made in your statement of general policy. See the statement of general health and safety policy.
You should include information on what you are going to do to remove or reduce the risks of the hazards in your workplace.
A hazard is anything in your business that could cause harm to people. A risk is the chance - however large or small - that a hazard could cause harm.
Your health and safety risk assessment should have highlighted the areas that may be a risk and any measures you currently have in place.
The additional arrangements you will make to control the risks should be set out in the arrangements section of your policy. They could include:
- staff training
- using signs to highlight risks
- improved safety equipment such as guards or additional personal protective equipment including goggles, safety boots or high-visibility clothing
- replacing hazardous chemicals with less harmful alternatives
- improved lighting or anti-slip flooring
You should focus your attention on the activities that could affect the most people or cause serious harm.
The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) provide an example and template health and safety policy to give you an idea of what to include when writing your own.
Environmental policy
If you are including environmental issues in your policy, you should consider areas such as:
- improving pollution controls
- minimising waste
- recycling
- water
- energy
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Implementing your health and safety policy
How to check your health and safety policy helps manage risks and prevents accidents through regular monitoring and consulting staff.
Your health and safety policy should be a practical guide to how you manage health and safety within your business.
Monitoring your health and safety policy
Ways to check your policy include:
- Where you have set out clear responsibilities for employees, you can check that they have actually carried them out to the required standard.
- You can monitor whether people are following any rules or safe methods set out in the arrangements.
- You can walk around the workplace and check for hazards. Hazards are a sign that you need to improve safety management.
- Records or registers may be included as part of the arrangements section of your policy. Check they are being used and what incidents or comments have been recorded. For example, it is good practice to record workplace safety inspections and training given to staff.
Involve your workers in your policy implementation
You have to consult all your workers on health and safety. You do this by listening and talking to them about:
- health and safety and the work they do
- how risks are controlled
- the best ways of providing information and training
Consultation is a two-way process. Allow staff to raise concerns and influence decisions on the management of health and safety. Your employees are often the best people to understand risks in the workplace. Involving them in making decisions shows them that you take their health and safety seriously.
In a very small business, you might choose to consult your employees directly. Alternatively, you might consult your employees through a health and safety representative. This can be someone who has been chosen by their colleagues or selected by a trade union. As an employer, you cannot decide who will be the representative.
Some of the ways that you can bring the policy statement to your employees' attention are by:
- including it in any employee handbooks
- providing it at induction
- including a copy with the contract of employment
- posting it on your intranet sites
- posting it on notice boards
- making the duties in the policy part of your employees' workplace objectives
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The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
In this guide:
- Write a health and safety policy for your business
- What should be in your health and safety policy?
- The statement of general health and safety policy
- The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
- The arrangements section of your health and safety policy
- Implementing your health and safety policy
What should be in your health and safety policy?
The information you need to set out in your health and safety policy including the statement of general policy, responsibilities and arrangement sections.
Your business must have a health and safety policy. If you have five or more employees, you must have a written policy.
Most businesses set out their policy in three parts:
- the statement of general policy section sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what you want to achieve
- the responsibility section states who is responsible for what
- the arrangements section contains the detail of what you are going to do in practice to achieve the aims set out in your statement of general policy
Help to write a health and safety policy
You may find that there are some areas of health and safety policy that you need help with. You may be able to get help from Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) or the environmental health department of your local authority. If the issues are complicated, you may need to seek external advice
HSENI provide the following downloads to help you create your policy:
Environmental policy
You may want to consider environmental issues at the same time as considering your health and safety policy. If you have an environmental management system, your environmental policy should be a part of this. For further information see set up an environmental management system (EMS).
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/what-should-be-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The statement of general health and safety policy
What you should include in your statement of intent in your written health and safety policy including who is responsible for health and safety duties.
The statement of general policy sets out your general approach, objectives and the arrangements for managing health and safety in your business. It is a unique document that says who does what, when and how. There are no set rules on what you should include in your statement, but it is often only one page long. You must sign and date the statement.
What to include the statement of general policy
Most statements of general policy will state:
- your commitment to keeping your employees, customers and anyone else affected by your business' activities safe
- who has ultimate responsibility for health and safety in the business
- which staff have specific responsibilities - including the name or job title of the person in charge of health and safety
- your commitment to engaging and consulting with employees on day-to-day health and safety conditions and provide advice and supervision on occupational health
- that you understand the legal duties you have to provide a safe working environment, safe work equipment and safe methods of work
- what organisation and arrangements will be made to support the policy
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/statement-general-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
Deciding who will carry out risk assessments, inspections and ensure health and safety – this could be you, an employee or someone external.
The responsibilities section of your policy should clearly say who is responsible for what.
As an employer, you must appoint someone competent to help you meet your health and safety duties. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage health and safety.
You could appoint (one or a combination of):
- yourself
- one or more of your workers
- someone from outside your business
You probably manage most aspects of your business yourself, or with the help of your staff. But if you are not confident of your ability to manage all health and safety in-house, you may need some external help or advice.
Deciding what help you need is very important. Unless you are clear about what you want, you probably won't get the help you need.
You should identify who will:
- conduct health and safety risk assessments
- make workplace inspections
- ensure safety when specific tasks or work activities are carried out, or in specific areas of the workplace
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/responsibilities-section-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The arrangements section of your health and safety policy
What you should include in the arrangements section of your health and safety policy including information on hazards and risk assessment.
The arrangements section of your health and safety policy should say how you will meet the commitments you have made in your statement of general policy. See the statement of general health and safety policy.
You should include information on what you are going to do to remove or reduce the risks of the hazards in your workplace.
A hazard is anything in your business that could cause harm to people. A risk is the chance - however large or small - that a hazard could cause harm.
Your health and safety risk assessment should have highlighted the areas that may be a risk and any measures you currently have in place.
The additional arrangements you will make to control the risks should be set out in the arrangements section of your policy. They could include:
- staff training
- using signs to highlight risks
- improved safety equipment such as guards or additional personal protective equipment including goggles, safety boots or high-visibility clothing
- replacing hazardous chemicals with less harmful alternatives
- improved lighting or anti-slip flooring
You should focus your attention on the activities that could affect the most people or cause serious harm.
The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) provide an example and template health and safety policy to give you an idea of what to include when writing your own.
Environmental policy
If you are including environmental issues in your policy, you should consider areas such as:
- improving pollution controls
- minimising waste
- recycling
- water
- energy
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/content/arrangements-section-your-health-and-safety-policy
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Implementing your health and safety policy
How to check your health and safety policy helps manage risks and prevents accidents through regular monitoring and consulting staff.
Your health and safety policy should be a practical guide to how you manage health and safety within your business.
Monitoring your health and safety policy
Ways to check your policy include:
- Where you have set out clear responsibilities for employees, you can check that they have actually carried them out to the required standard.
- You can monitor whether people are following any rules or safe methods set out in the arrangements.
- You can walk around the workplace and check for hazards. Hazards are a sign that you need to improve safety management.
- Records or registers may be included as part of the arrangements section of your policy. Check they are being used and what incidents or comments have been recorded. For example, it is good practice to record workplace safety inspections and training given to staff.
Involve your workers in your policy implementation
You have to consult all your workers on health and safety. You do this by listening and talking to them about:
- health and safety and the work they do
- how risks are controlled
- the best ways of providing information and training
Consultation is a two-way process. Allow staff to raise concerns and influence decisions on the management of health and safety. Your employees are often the best people to understand risks in the workplace. Involving them in making decisions shows them that you take their health and safety seriously.
In a very small business, you might choose to consult your employees directly. Alternatively, you might consult your employees through a health and safety representative. This can be someone who has been chosen by their colleagues or selected by a trade union. As an employer, you cannot decide who will be the representative.
Some of the ways that you can bring the policy statement to your employees' attention are by:
- including it in any employee handbooks
- providing it at induction
- including a copy with the contract of employment
- posting it on your intranet sites
- posting it on notice boards
- making the duties in the policy part of your employees' workplace objectives
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Source URL
/content/implementing-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The statement of general health and safety policy
In this guide:
- Write a health and safety policy for your business
- What should be in your health and safety policy?
- The statement of general health and safety policy
- The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
- The arrangements section of your health and safety policy
- Implementing your health and safety policy
What should be in your health and safety policy?
The information you need to set out in your health and safety policy including the statement of general policy, responsibilities and arrangement sections.
Your business must have a health and safety policy. If you have five or more employees, you must have a written policy.
Most businesses set out their policy in three parts:
- the statement of general policy section sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what you want to achieve
- the responsibility section states who is responsible for what
- the arrangements section contains the detail of what you are going to do in practice to achieve the aims set out in your statement of general policy
Help to write a health and safety policy
You may find that there are some areas of health and safety policy that you need help with. You may be able to get help from Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) or the environmental health department of your local authority. If the issues are complicated, you may need to seek external advice
HSENI provide the following downloads to help you create your policy:
Environmental policy
You may want to consider environmental issues at the same time as considering your health and safety policy. If you have an environmental management system, your environmental policy should be a part of this. For further information see set up an environmental management system (EMS).
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Source URL
/content/what-should-be-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The statement of general health and safety policy
What you should include in your statement of intent in your written health and safety policy including who is responsible for health and safety duties.
The statement of general policy sets out your general approach, objectives and the arrangements for managing health and safety in your business. It is a unique document that says who does what, when and how. There are no set rules on what you should include in your statement, but it is often only one page long. You must sign and date the statement.
What to include the statement of general policy
Most statements of general policy will state:
- your commitment to keeping your employees, customers and anyone else affected by your business' activities safe
- who has ultimate responsibility for health and safety in the business
- which staff have specific responsibilities - including the name or job title of the person in charge of health and safety
- your commitment to engaging and consulting with employees on day-to-day health and safety conditions and provide advice and supervision on occupational health
- that you understand the legal duties you have to provide a safe working environment, safe work equipment and safe methods of work
- what organisation and arrangements will be made to support the policy
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/statement-general-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
Deciding who will carry out risk assessments, inspections and ensure health and safety – this could be you, an employee or someone external.
The responsibilities section of your policy should clearly say who is responsible for what.
As an employer, you must appoint someone competent to help you meet your health and safety duties. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage health and safety.
You could appoint (one or a combination of):
- yourself
- one or more of your workers
- someone from outside your business
You probably manage most aspects of your business yourself, or with the help of your staff. But if you are not confident of your ability to manage all health and safety in-house, you may need some external help or advice.
Deciding what help you need is very important. Unless you are clear about what you want, you probably won't get the help you need.
You should identify who will:
- conduct health and safety risk assessments
- make workplace inspections
- ensure safety when specific tasks or work activities are carried out, or in specific areas of the workplace
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/responsibilities-section-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The arrangements section of your health and safety policy
What you should include in the arrangements section of your health and safety policy including information on hazards and risk assessment.
The arrangements section of your health and safety policy should say how you will meet the commitments you have made in your statement of general policy. See the statement of general health and safety policy.
You should include information on what you are going to do to remove or reduce the risks of the hazards in your workplace.
A hazard is anything in your business that could cause harm to people. A risk is the chance - however large or small - that a hazard could cause harm.
Your health and safety risk assessment should have highlighted the areas that may be a risk and any measures you currently have in place.
The additional arrangements you will make to control the risks should be set out in the arrangements section of your policy. They could include:
- staff training
- using signs to highlight risks
- improved safety equipment such as guards or additional personal protective equipment including goggles, safety boots or high-visibility clothing
- replacing hazardous chemicals with less harmful alternatives
- improved lighting or anti-slip flooring
You should focus your attention on the activities that could affect the most people or cause serious harm.
The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) provide an example and template health and safety policy to give you an idea of what to include when writing your own.
Environmental policy
If you are including environmental issues in your policy, you should consider areas such as:
- improving pollution controls
- minimising waste
- recycling
- water
- energy
Developed withHelpActionsContent category
Source URL
/content/arrangements-section-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
Implementing your health and safety policy
How to check your health and safety policy helps manage risks and prevents accidents through regular monitoring and consulting staff.
Your health and safety policy should be a practical guide to how you manage health and safety within your business.
Monitoring your health and safety policy
Ways to check your policy include:
- Where you have set out clear responsibilities for employees, you can check that they have actually carried them out to the required standard.
- You can monitor whether people are following any rules or safe methods set out in the arrangements.
- You can walk around the workplace and check for hazards. Hazards are a sign that you need to improve safety management.
- Records or registers may be included as part of the arrangements section of your policy. Check they are being used and what incidents or comments have been recorded. For example, it is good practice to record workplace safety inspections and training given to staff.
Involve your workers in your policy implementation
You have to consult all your workers on health and safety. You do this by listening and talking to them about:
- health and safety and the work they do
- how risks are controlled
- the best ways of providing information and training
Consultation is a two-way process. Allow staff to raise concerns and influence decisions on the management of health and safety. Your employees are often the best people to understand risks in the workplace. Involving them in making decisions shows them that you take their health and safety seriously.
In a very small business, you might choose to consult your employees directly. Alternatively, you might consult your employees through a health and safety representative. This can be someone who has been chosen by their colleagues or selected by a trade union. As an employer, you cannot decide who will be the representative.
Some of the ways that you can bring the policy statement to your employees' attention are by:
- including it in any employee handbooks
- providing it at induction
- including a copy with the contract of employment
- posting it on your intranet sites
- posting it on notice boards
- making the duties in the policy part of your employees' workplace objectives
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/implementing-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
What should be in your health and safety policy?
In this guide:
- Write a health and safety policy for your business
- What should be in your health and safety policy?
- The statement of general health and safety policy
- The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
- The arrangements section of your health and safety policy
- Implementing your health and safety policy
What should be in your health and safety policy?
The information you need to set out in your health and safety policy including the statement of general policy, responsibilities and arrangement sections.
Your business must have a health and safety policy. If you have five or more employees, you must have a written policy.
Most businesses set out their policy in three parts:
- the statement of general policy section sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what you want to achieve
- the responsibility section states who is responsible for what
- the arrangements section contains the detail of what you are going to do in practice to achieve the aims set out in your statement of general policy
Help to write a health and safety policy
You may find that there are some areas of health and safety policy that you need help with. You may be able to get help from Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) or the environmental health department of your local authority. If the issues are complicated, you may need to seek external advice
HSENI provide the following downloads to help you create your policy:
Environmental policy
You may want to consider environmental issues at the same time as considering your health and safety policy. If you have an environmental management system, your environmental policy should be a part of this. For further information see set up an environmental management system (EMS).
Developed withHelpAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/what-should-be-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The statement of general health and safety policy
What you should include in your statement of intent in your written health and safety policy including who is responsible for health and safety duties.
The statement of general policy sets out your general approach, objectives and the arrangements for managing health and safety in your business. It is a unique document that says who does what, when and how. There are no set rules on what you should include in your statement, but it is often only one page long. You must sign and date the statement.
What to include the statement of general policy
Most statements of general policy will state:
- your commitment to keeping your employees, customers and anyone else affected by your business' activities safe
- who has ultimate responsibility for health and safety in the business
- which staff have specific responsibilities - including the name or job title of the person in charge of health and safety
- your commitment to engaging and consulting with employees on day-to-day health and safety conditions and provide advice and supervision on occupational health
- that you understand the legal duties you have to provide a safe working environment, safe work equipment and safe methods of work
- what organisation and arrangements will be made to support the policy
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/statement-general-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The responsibilities section of your health and safety policy
Deciding who will carry out risk assessments, inspections and ensure health and safety – this could be you, an employee or someone external.
The responsibilities section of your policy should clearly say who is responsible for what.
As an employer, you must appoint someone competent to help you meet your health and safety duties. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage health and safety.
You could appoint (one or a combination of):
- yourself
- one or more of your workers
- someone from outside your business
You probably manage most aspects of your business yourself, or with the help of your staff. But if you are not confident of your ability to manage all health and safety in-house, you may need some external help or advice.
Deciding what help you need is very important. Unless you are clear about what you want, you probably won't get the help you need.
You should identify who will:
- conduct health and safety risk assessments
- make workplace inspections
- ensure safety when specific tasks or work activities are carried out, or in specific areas of the workplace
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/responsibilities-section-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
The arrangements section of your health and safety policy
What you should include in the arrangements section of your health and safety policy including information on hazards and risk assessment.
The arrangements section of your health and safety policy should say how you will meet the commitments you have made in your statement of general policy. See the statement of general health and safety policy.
You should include information on what you are going to do to remove or reduce the risks of the hazards in your workplace.
A hazard is anything in your business that could cause harm to people. A risk is the chance - however large or small - that a hazard could cause harm.
Your health and safety risk assessment should have highlighted the areas that may be a risk and any measures you currently have in place.
The additional arrangements you will make to control the risks should be set out in the arrangements section of your policy. They could include:
- staff training
- using signs to highlight risks
- improved safety equipment such as guards or additional personal protective equipment including goggles, safety boots or high-visibility clothing
- replacing hazardous chemicals with less harmful alternatives
- improved lighting or anti-slip flooring
You should focus your attention on the activities that could affect the most people or cause serious harm.
The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) provide an example and template health and safety policy to give you an idea of what to include when writing your own.
Environmental policy
If you are including environmental issues in your policy, you should consider areas such as:
- improving pollution controls
- minimising waste
- recycling
- water
- energy
Developed withHelpActionsContent category
Source URL
/content/arrangements-section-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links
Implementing your health and safety policy
How to check your health and safety policy helps manage risks and prevents accidents through regular monitoring and consulting staff.
Your health and safety policy should be a practical guide to how you manage health and safety within your business.
Monitoring your health and safety policy
Ways to check your policy include:
- Where you have set out clear responsibilities for employees, you can check that they have actually carried them out to the required standard.
- You can monitor whether people are following any rules or safe methods set out in the arrangements.
- You can walk around the workplace and check for hazards. Hazards are a sign that you need to improve safety management.
- Records or registers may be included as part of the arrangements section of your policy. Check they are being used and what incidents or comments have been recorded. For example, it is good practice to record workplace safety inspections and training given to staff.
Involve your workers in your policy implementation
You have to consult all your workers on health and safety. You do this by listening and talking to them about:
- health and safety and the work they do
- how risks are controlled
- the best ways of providing information and training
Consultation is a two-way process. Allow staff to raise concerns and influence decisions on the management of health and safety. Your employees are often the best people to understand risks in the workplace. Involving them in making decisions shows them that you take their health and safety seriously.
In a very small business, you might choose to consult your employees directly. Alternatively, you might consult your employees through a health and safety representative. This can be someone who has been chosen by their colleagues or selected by a trade union. As an employer, you cannot decide who will be the representative.
Some of the ways that you can bring the policy statement to your employees' attention are by:
- including it in any employee handbooks
- providing it at induction
- including a copy with the contract of employment
- posting it on your intranet sites
- posting it on notice boards
- making the duties in the policy part of your employees' workplace objectives
Developed withHelpActionsAlso on this siteContent category
Source URL
/content/implementing-your-health-and-safety-policy
Links