4. Step by Step Health and Safety

Getting Started

You can use YourHS.space to put in place a solid H&S foundation and to keep up to date with health and safety legislation.  Detailed below is a suggested step by step guide.  You will see that we recommend you start with a detailed H&S audit, which will identify what you have in place and where there are gaps.  For those elements which you already have in place, you can us YourHS.guide to check if everything is up-to-date and/or right for your organisation.

The links will take you to the relevant sections and pages.  From there you can find the templates you need (or you can review the template sections throughout the guide).

Step by Step, H&S:

1. Carry out an H&S Audit.
2. Draft a Health and Safety Policy. This will dictate everything that comes afterwards.
3. Identify the hazards in your workplace and in all work operations. Ask your workforce to contribute to this – they will know the hazards in their own area of work better than anyone else.  Starting with the most dangerous, write risk assessments for each.  NB, You can group hazards together.  For example, if you have office staff moving boxes of stationery around and also a Reception area which receives and distributes deliveries, you can write a Manual Handling risk assessment covering both activities.
4. Compile a training matrix. Write employee names down one side and the required training along another.  Include in-house and external training.  Some training must be completed by everyone, e.g. health and safety policy training.  Some will only be needed by certain employees e.g. first aid training, fire marshal training, forklift driving etc.
5. Compile a list of servicing, inspection and maintenance requirements and diarise expiry dates. This way you will never miss a deadline and all equipment will be safe.
6. If applicable, list all substances which are used and produced in the workplace e.g. chemicals, substances, fumes, dusts, gases etc. Obtain a safety data sheet for each and write a corresponding COSHH Assessment.  These must be available in the places where the substances are used/produced so that, in case of an emergency, the required information is immediately to hand.
7. Discharge the legal responsibilities: ensure you have an up-to-date Fire Risk Assessment, Legionella Risk Assessment, Asbestos Survey (if your building was constructed before 2000). If you are in rented premises, check the tenancy agreement first, as some of these might be the responsibility of the landlord.
8. All DSE (Display Screen Equipment) users must complete a DSE Assessment. Any issues raised must be dealt with satisfactorily.