Main Principle of the Health & Safety Policy

A health and safety policy sets out a strategy for promoting health and safety in a workplace or other shared environment. The policy will set out a structure for health and safety inspections, and assign responsibility for monitoring compliance. Some policies will address risks specific to a particular workplace or type of workplace. For example, storage issues at a chemical plant or safety measures at construction site.

Reasons and Benefits

• The main reason for having a health and safety policy at a workplace is to protect as far as possible the welfare of staff and visitors. In addition to ethical and legal obligations to minimize workplace hazards, avoiding injury and sickness, industrial accidents and related stoppages or other health and safety problems makes sound commercial sense.

The Health and Safety Manager

• In some workplaces, special equipment may be needed for risky tasks.

  A comprehensive health and safety policy assigns responsibility for conducting inspections and monitoring compliance. In larger companies a trained, full-time health and safety professional may be appointed to manage these issues. In small companies, a manager may have health and safety as one among a number of responsibilities. A basic duty of the health and safety manager is to ensure an appropriate policy is in place, that it is updated when necessary, and that it is communicated to the workforce.

Five Steps to Health and Safety

• Posting appropriate warnings may be part of a health and safety plan.

  Experts identify five important elements in an effective health and safety policy. The first step begins with senior management and its involvement in the development and guidance of relevant policy. Next it is necessary to identify the role of each employee. The third step is to evaluate the workplace itself for actual and potential hazards. Fourthly, identification of hazards must be followed by their removal or minimization. Finally, effective environmental, safety and health management implies adequate training of personnel.

Health and Safety Inspections

• Chemical plants often store hazardous materials.

  Safety inspections, whether of factories, construction sites, hospitals or offices, are a key element in implementing a health and safety policy. Different types of hazards arise in different workplaces, but common principles apply to safety inspections in general. Any safety inspection plan needs to identify the areas, equipment or other items in the workplace to be inspected, how often the inspection should take place, and who should conduct it. Formal inspections are likely to be needed on at least a monthly basis (or more frequently if required by regulations).

  In addition, special inspections might be prompted by incidents such as near misses and actual accidents. High risk areas will inevitably be a focus of concern, including stored chemicals, power and electrical equipment, emergency equipment and personal protective equipment, surfaces, structures and machinery, but the detail will vary according to workplace. Full reporting, follow ups to correct potential hazards, and further auditing of the effectiveness of corrections, must all be part of the program.

Regulatory Bodies

• In developing a health and safety policy, it is essential to pay attention to relevant legislation and regulations. In the United States, for example, the Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) promulgates detailed standards which specific types of workplace should meet. In the United Kingdom, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for occupational health and safety issues. Health and safety managers will need to be cognizant of the standards set by such bodies, and applicable law in general.