Managing Health & Safety

An employer must have arrangements in place for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review office health and safety measures, including any preventive and protective measures which he has in place.

He must be able to demonstrate that he is proactively managing health and safety with his business, rather than merely reacting to incidents.

If he has five employees and more, these arrangements must be documented; if he has fewer than five employees, they need not be documented but he will nevertheless have to be able to demonstrate that he has arrangements in place.

He is expected to have knowledge of his duties and responsibilities, but have access to such knowledge and expertise that he requires to manage his health and safety policy. This can be available either within his business or through the use of external competent persons. He must satisfy himself that the people he selects have the relevant knowledge and expertise.

As one would expect, ignorance of the law is not a defence. The burden is the employer, to demonstrate that he has complied with his various duties imposed by the legislation. As has been previously stated, this is difficult to do unless he has adequate documentation and records addressing the full range of its activities and responsibilities.

Further information can be obtained from tqma and the Health and Safety Executive website.