What should the Health and Safety Policy Include?
It is a requirement of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 that all employers have a health and safety policy that is available to all employees. The Policy should comprise the following: • The General Statement – This should be a declaration of the employers’ intent to provide and maintain, so far as reasonably practicable, a safe and healthy working environment and to enlist the support of employees towards achieving this. The statement can be quite short; two or three paragraphs may suffice. The statement should be signed by the employer or chief executive, to demonstrate commitment to managing health and safety. • The organisation – To be effective, this should detail health and safety responsibilities within the organisation. Where appropriate key individuals or their job titles should be named, and responsibilities defined within a job description. This will apply to specialists (eg. safety adviser, works engineer, etc.) as much as to line management and supervisors • The
