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It is your duty as an employer to protect all the people who work for you, as well as visitors and members of the public who have access to your workplace. This means you have a responsibility for health and safety in the workplace, ensuring that no one is hurt in an incident that could have been avoided.

All responsible business owners have a health and safety policy, outlining what steps have been taken to prevent accidents and keep everyone safe from harm. The following are some points to bear in mind when drawing up your own policy:

• Start with a mission statement, or statement of general policy. This is where you will outline what you aim to achieve, such as “preventing accidents”, “implementing emergency procedures” and “ensuring staff receive the right health and safety training”.
• Who is responsible for each item of general policy? Positive changes can only take place if some takes responsibility for making them happen.
• Outline the actions and procedures you will implement to safeguard health and safety within your business.
• Choose how often your health and safety policy will be reviewed and who will take charge of the review.
• Name the places where the policy and related safety certificates will be displayed, as well as first aid kits and the accident book.
• Sign the policy in front of a witness.