New Year Health & Safety Resolutions
For many companies January is traditionally a quiet time of year so it’s a good time to review your compliance documentation and staff safety training for the year ahead to start off on the right foot. An annual review of your health and safety documentation is important to check if it is no longer valid or if there has been any significant change since the last review. Small changes over time might not trigger a review mid-year, but over time add up.
New Year Health & Safety Resolutions – Safety Statements
The HSA recommends that Safety Statements be updated at least annually and whenever work practices or legislation changes. Covid and recent changes in legislation has meant that many Safety Statements are now obsolete. Legislation relating to Health & Safety is constantly changing and your Safety Statement should reflect the most up to date position. We would advise you to review your Safety Statement and update this for the coming year to ensure best working practice.
New Year Health & Safety Resolutions – Risk Assessments
As with Safety Statements, a Risk Assessment is a compulsory document in any business. A Risk Assessment helps you identify workplace hazards or risks and develop a plan to either reduce or eliminate these risks. An up to date and correctly completed Risk Assessment can help protect your business from liability and keep your staff safe. Our online training tutorial is available to assist your staff in completing Risk Assessments. Delegates trained effectively in Risk Assessment Procedure will produce effective Risk Assessments. For more information on the online risk assessments course click here.
New Year Health & Safety Resolutions – Staff training
Review staff training records to see if staff have training requirements and schedule these in before the annual leave calendar fills up or other constraints impact the time needed for training. Be aware of the training required for each staff member and if their training needs have changed in the past year. Know the legal requirements on the business for training, for example, First Aid Training or Manual Handling.
As an employer it is your duty to provide training for your staff, and the benefits of focused and competent training are clear;
- Skills gaps can be identified and addressed
- Increased awareness of risk leading to a better safety culture in the business.
- Reduced absences and sick leave due to workplace accidents and incidents.
- Increased accountability.
- Improved staff retention.
- Reputational risk is reduced.
- Increased productivity and profits.
- Reduced insurance premiums and legal costs from claims etc.
Keeping your health and safety documentation accurate as a and up to date can save you time and money in the long term. How? Because good health and safety can save you money. If you need help keeping your health and safety documentation up to date, we can assist. Our retained client service provides cost effective, compliant safety documentation and with yearly updates or as legislation changes, to ensure your paperwork is always up to date. For more info please visit https://compliplus.com/health-safety-consultancy or email us info@compliplus.com
