Planning for a Health and Safety Management System

Step 1 Senior management and Director commitment are essential for any Health and Safety Management System to be effective. A formal Health and Safety Policy Statement should be produced and signed by the Managing Director / Chief Executive.

Step 2 Once you have formal, written commitment from senior management in place, it will be necessary to encourage across the company participation. This can be done by submitting regular reports to senior management and publicizing to employees that the business takes Health and Safety seriously.

Step 3 In developing the policy establish “who does what” in terms of managing the day-to-day activities. It would be reasonable to see responsibilities for Health and Safety cascaded down from senior management through to shop floor workers.

Step 4 Determine which activities of the company are the most hazardous and those which need prioritizing above all others, with consideration to resource availability.

Step 5 Priorities should be agreed and Health and Safety not compromised in favour of other programmes, namely manufacturing, in which case Health and Safety should be built into the processes.

Step 6 Commence the programme of risk assessments, making them simple to follow with realistic timescales for implementing any actions requiring attention. Make it clear as to who is responsible for ensuring action if carried out.

Step 7 Risk assessments will invariably identify the need for training requirements. This could be in the form of simple ‘Tool Box Talks’ or more in-depth training programmes. Whatever training you decide to put into place; ensure a ‘Competent Person’ and/or organization that have the necessary skills and experience to deliver the subject matter with confidence is used.