Do I Need A Health and Safety Policy, and Why?

There’s a short answer and a long answer to that question. For the short answer, if your business has 5 or more employee’s (which includes anyone who draws money from the payroll) the answer is most definitely yes. It is a legal requirement that every business with 5 or more employee’s has a written health and safety policy. Depending on the nature of the business, other written policies may also be required. Business’s with 5 or more employee’s are also required to carry out and document all relevant risk assessments.

What if a business employs less than 5 member’s of staff? The law says no, but you’re insurance provider is likely to say yes. What do we mean by that? The law does not currently require business’s with 4 or fewer employee’s to have a written health and safety policy or to document their risk assessments (although these are still required to be carried out by law). However, a major reason that insurance claims are rejected is due to the fact that the claimant did not have a written health and safety policy, or carried out a proper risk assessment. This partly comes under the requirement of “taking all reasonable precautions”. In addition, while not being legally required to have a written health and safety policy or to document their risk assessments, in the event of an accident, a compensation claim, or criminal charges of negligence a business owner may be asked to prove that they did indeed meet the legal obligation of risk assessing activities and meeting their legal duty of care. So when deciding whether or not to invest in an appropriate health and safety policy, a business should also ask: “In the event of an incident involving damage or injury, could my business survive financially in the event of an insurance claim being rejected?”

Membership of this site provides a business with written health and safety policies which will meet the legal requirements to have appropriate written health and safety policies. It provides a number of risk assessment forms to allow a business to carry out a number of self risk assessments, as well as a range of guidance information. As such, it proves to insurer’s and inspector’s that the business takes health and safety matters seriously.

It should be noted too that when submitting a tender, a business will usually be required to include health and safety documentation with the tender application – when applying for a tender with the government or local authority it is compulsory.

As well as enabling business’s to meet their legal obligations, many insurance companies offer better insurance premiums to business’s who can demonstrate their commitment to promoting health and safety.

Our Online Solutions health and safety package or our Safety First Solution are the most practical and cost effective methods of meeting these obligations and protecting your business. We can also write bespoke health and safety portfolio’s for business’s. Why not get in touch for a no obligation discussion of your needs? We won’t sell you anything if you don’t actually need it. Please click here for ways to get in touch.