No matter whether your organisation is a local charity or an estate agent, health and safety is an issue that requires extensive care and attention. You have a clear legal and moral duty to look after all clients, employees and visitors who spend time on your premises, and this requires a well-thought-out, strategic approach. While it may sound boring, various forms of documentation will form the foundation of your approach to health and safety. From both a legal and practical perspective, these are the main health and safety related documents your business will need to use.
Water safety plan
When it comes to ensuring water safety on your premises, one of the main documents you’ll need to put together is your Water Safety Plan. This plan will essentially bring together all the different aspects of your water risk management strategies in a single place.
It will include risk assessments, the control measures you’ve put in place to mitigate a range of risks, the designation of clear roles and responsibilities, and how different issues should be recorded and communicated. This document should be put together with the help of some kind of water hygiene specialist, so that you don’t miss any important parts.
Fire safety
Another incredibly serious risk that needs to be taken care of in the workplace is the risk posed by fire. The fire brigade has fire risk assessments that you can use to assess fire safety in non-domestic properties, but it may be necessary to seek external advice as well. Fires can rage out of control incredibly quickly, and it’s vital that you use these assessments to ensure you have a proper escape strategy in place, and a clear plan to keep the fire under control.
General risk assessment
In addition to more specific risk assessments that are designed to deal with specific risks, you’ll also want to use more general risk assessments. These might be necessary for a range of different scenarios, whether that’s a company trip abroad or closing off half the office to install new lights.
Using risk assessments isn’t always entirely straightforward, and you may need to provide training on how to fill them out in a legally compliant and practically effective manner. They’re useful tools to help keep people safe, but they need to be used properly.
Injury logbook
Most organisations nowadays are also required to have some kind of injury or accident logbook. These should be used for most accidents, even if they only result in a seemingly insignificant injury such as a cut or scrape.
To make sure these are used properly, your employees need to know how important it is that they log their injuries or at least alert someone else that they’ve had an accident. These logbooks are an important way to spot dangerous environments and habits, but only when used properly.
These are by no means the only health and safety related documents your business will need to use, but they’re a good start. Make sure that you also look into any other industry-specific regulations, so that you’re not caught out anywhere.
Featured Image by Ziaur Chowdhury from Pixabay
