Are your business’ activities covered by Health and Safety law?
Health and Safety regulations cover all working situations, whether they are high or low risk. They are designed to protect workers regardless of their professional activity and as an employer you are required to ensure that you take the appropriate measures to keep them as safe as possible.
Some laws apply to specific hazards, some to specific industries, and you must make sure that you are aware of these laws and comply with them. Failure to do so could have catastrophic consequences.
Lives are lost and terrible injuries are sustained every year in what are often avoidable or foreseeable accidents. Where companies are found to have breached Health and Safety regulations following investigation by the Health and Safety Executive, they are prosecuted. Fines can be substantial, and the accompanying reporting in the press can have a detrimental effect on a company’s reputation, both locally and nationally.
As an employer, you must make sure that you have carried out a risk assessment of your business, and that you have appointed the required number of people responsible for ensuring compliance with the health and safety laws. These employees must also have successfully completed the appropriate health and safety training.