Health and Safety law is criminal law. That means an employer’s failure to comply with legislation can result in criminal convictions as well as a host of legal and financial sanctions. Staying on the right side of the law should not be the only reason to provoke interest in compliance, having a strong Health and Safety focus in the workplace can provide significant benefits to your business.

For help with Health and Safety compliance and to ensure your business is taking the correct steps, contact a Croner Health and Safety expert on 01455 858 132.

• What are my Health and Safety compliance requirements?
• How to ensure compliance with Health and Safety legislation
• Conducting a Health and Safety compliance audit
• Health and Safety penalties for non-compliance
• Health and Safety compliance software
• Get expert Health and Safety compliance support

When the term compliance is used, it means following the guidance set out by the Health and Safety at Work Act. Every workplace has obligations to be compliant although what is defined as compliance can differ depending on the type of business and industry sector.

It is important to note, that all workplaces have to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act, however there are additional pieces of legislation that certain types of businesses and industries have to comply with. Whether these are preventative or protective measures, it’s important that your business follow them.

What are my Health and Safety compliance requirements?

The type of workplace, and the nature of the work, will determine what your requirements are. Ultimately, your duty is to protect your employees from getting hurt or ill through their work. More specifically, you must:

• Conduct a health and safety risk assessment.
• Provide your staff with clear instructions, information and training relating to their role.
• Have a health and safety policy.
• Provide the correct facilities, such as toilets.
• Appoint a competent person to manage health and safety in your business.
• Have a first aid kit, training workers, and appoint first aiders.
• Display the Health and Safety law poster.
• Get employee liability insurance.
• Report certain accidents, injuries, or work-related illnesses to the HSE.

These are the basics, and there’s a lot of them. If your business has specific health and safety requirements, we’ll have a specialist to help with them. Call for expert Health and Safety advice for your business today on 01455 858 132.

How to ensure compliance with Health and Safety legislation

There are several ways you can guarantee compliance. The first area you should review is your Health and Safety management system, policy and risk management. Make sure you cover all relevant risks and assign a suitable person to each issue. If every person within the business understands their responsibility, they’re more likely to uphold them to a high standard.

Next, you should consult your workforce. Ask about the Health and Safety protocols they use and how they’d improve it. Ask if they feel they’ve got all the relevant information and are sufficiently trained. Your staff may be able to shed light on areas you have missed.

Conduct/review your risk assessment. Remember to assess the hazards that are likely to cause harm to people. Are you taking reasonable steps to prevent harm in each of these areas?

The next step is to action any issues highlighted in the previous steps. This is just as important as highlighting problem areas.

The final step is keeping up to date with any developments and seek advice when you’re even remotely unsure. Remember, Croner’s advice line is available 24/7 and manned by experts in the field.

Conducting a Health and Safety compliance audit

You can produce an audit internally or externally. Whichever approach you take, you must have a Competent Person leading it.

You may find it helpful if the auditor is independent from the part of the organisation you’re auditing. For example, you could have a Health and Safety Manager in a parent company review your premises or you could get a Competent Person in the head office to conduct an audit in a warehouse that is part of the organisation.

Health and Safety penalties for non-compliance

It is a criminal offence to fail to comply with your Health and Safety obligations. The consequences of non-compliance with Health and Safety legislation are two-fold:

Financial penalties: A legislation breach can mean a fine of up to £20,000. More serious breaches, ones that endanger human lives, can produce unlimited fines. In the most serious of cases, employers can even face imprisonment.

There is also the added risk of an employee claiming against your business, resulting in further financial damage.

Disqualification and reputation damage: Minor breaches can hurt your organisation’s reputation. Severe breaches can result in disqualification from the industry, holding Director status and more.

You also run the risk of having your business totally shut down.

Health and Safety compliance software

The cost of Health and Safety compliance can seem expensive but the price in non-compliance is more so. Ensuring your documentation is correct, such as your Health and Safety compliance declaration. Providing relevant training. Conducting regular assessments and audits. Hiring designated Competent people to manage your responsibilities internally. The cost of compliance is high, and it’s a lot of work.

One of the ways Croner help you manage both your cost, and the workload is through Health and Safety software solutions. Croner BrightSafe helps you create HSE standard risk assessments in a matter of minutes and it lets you cut out paperwork with secure online policy and document storage in real time.

Croner BrightSafe also has a comprehensive suite of e-learning courses to allow you to conveniently train your staff to suit your business needs.

Get expert Health and Safety compliance support

Croner have been protecting businesses for over 80 years. With over 14,000 clients trusting the Croner brand, your business is in safe hands. Don’t wait until an accident happens, make sure you are invested in Health and Safety, so everyone works safely.

Call Croner today for expert advice from our Health and Safety consultants on 01455 858 132.