Health and Safety at Work

Your business has a legal duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of all your employees. Furthermore, this duty extends to all people who could be affected by your business’ activities, for example, clients and suppliers.

As part of complying with this general duty, your business is required to have prepared a written health and safety policy and a written risk assessment which is suitable and sufficient, where there are 5 or more employees.

Failure to comply with any of the duties contained in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 can lead to a criminal prosecution, with possible fines of up to £20,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 6 months on summary conviction and unlimited fines and/or imprisonment for up to 2 years on conviction on information. Civil liability could also be established, should a compensation claim be made, which could result in large amounts of damages being paid by your business to the claimant.

In addition to your business’ legal responsibility to comply with Health and Safety law, there are other reasons why it is beneficial for your business to ensure that you are health and safety compliant. For example, accidents and incidents of ill health in the workplace will be less likely to occur, which in turn will reduce the costs incurred by accidents and improve the reputation of your business. It is for all these reasons why health and safety management makes good business sense.

We can advise you in developing a health and safety management system for your business, which will help you to comply with your health and safety legal responsibilities and give you the benefits that come with having a health and safety policy in place.

This service we provide will include:

  • Providing a written health and safety policy which is tailored to your business;
  • Carrying out  a general health and safety risk assessment with suggested control measures to minimise risks;
  • Carrying out a fire risk assessment with suggested control measures to minimise risks; and
  • Providing Workstation self-assessment checklists.

We specialise in providing this service to small low risk businesses on a competitive fixed fee basis. It is a small price to pay to ensure you are health and safety compliant and avoid the costs that could result from a criminal prosecution or civil liability.

All businesses are legally required to ensure that they have sought advice from a competent person in relation to evaluating the health and safety risks within their workplace and advising them on appropriate control measures. If you seek advice from us, we can help you to ensure you are complying with your legal responsibilities and save you valuable time and money.

For more information please contact Carly Park e-mail: carlypark@mannbenham.com or Amy Jolly e-mail: amyjolly@mannbenham.com