Health and Safety Starter Pack

A step by step guide to basic health and safety requirements

1. Take out Employer's Liability Compulsory Insurance. Employer's Liability Compulsory Insurance covers you against claims from employees who are injured or become ill as a result of their work.
2. Appoint a competent person. The law says you must appoint a competent person to help you meet your health and safety duties. This does not have to be an external consultant.
3. Write your health and safety policy. Your health and safety policy sets out the arrangements you have put in place for managing health and safety in your business. It is a unique document that says who does what, when and how.
4. Assess the risks. Decide what could harm people and what precautions to take. This is your risk assessment. You must act on the findings of your risk assessment, by putting sensible controls in place to prevent accidents and ill health and making sure they are followed.
5. Provide basic welfare facilities. You must provide a safe and healthy environment for all your employees. This includes toilets, washing facilities and drinking water, and appropriate lighting and temperature.
6. Provide free health and safety training and supervision. Everyone who works for you, including self-employed people, needs to know how to work safely and without risks to health. So you need to train them and supervise their work.
7. Consult your workers. Consultation means discussing health and safety with your workers allowing them to raise concerns and influence decisions.
8. Display the health and safety law poster. This is required by law. The poster includes basic health and safety information and lets people know who is responsible for health and safety in your workplace. Or you can give workers a leaflet.
9. Make arrangements for first aid, accidents and ill health. You must have adequate first-aid arrangements in your workplace and you are responsible for making sure that your employees receive immediate attention if they are taken ill or are injured at work. Accidents and illness can happen at any time and first aid can save lives and prevent minor injuries from becoming major ones. Also, The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), require you to report work-related accidents, diseases and near-miss incidents. Make sure you know how to report, even if you never need to.
10. Keep up to date. You can follow the news in your sector through e-bulletins, news feeds, podcasts and texts to your mobile.

A guide (downloadable at the bottom of the page) has been produced by health@work and Salford City Council to assist new and existing small businesses to conform to basic health and safety requirements. It should not be used as a short cut to reaching minimum health and safety standards, but as a stepping-stone for the improvement of health and safety in your workplace.

The management of health and safety is not an option, but a legal requirement. Ignorance in a court of law is not a defence. If you hold some responsibility within a small company, then you may have a responsibility under the law to identify and control work hazards. By following the steps in the guide, and completing all the stages, your business will be on the way to achieving the basic health and safety requirements needed to comply with current health and safety legislation.

An amendable version of the document is also available to assist businesses to produce a tailored version of the guide and is downloadable at the bottom of the page.

Sector specific information on the key areas that local authority enforcement officers will be prioritising is available for 2010-2011 on the HSE's website. 

This page was last updated on 23 March 2011