If you’re starting a new business in the UK or are running an existing business in the UK, you’ll want to make sure safety is addressed.
In any industry, workplace injuries can cost companies a lot of money from workers’ compensation claims. Handling these claims can become very costly for the business. To avoid this, it is important that all businesses learn about mandatory safety measures in the UK.
Prepare a health and safety policy
Before starting your business, one of the most important things you should take care of is drafting a health and safety policy. If something goes wrong and somebody gets injured, having your health and safety policy will save you from all kinds of consequences.
This will also be useful when it comes to dealing with customers: though it’s unlikely they would sue you in court for being injured at your place of business. But they can complain to the council or simply cut off all relations with you if your office is considered an unsafe environment.
Provide information and training for employees
An essential aspect of risk management is to provide information and training to your employees. This will also help you fill in the gaps in their knowledge or enlighten them on the safety measures they don’t know exist.
Why do you need It? Providing your employees with up-to-date training is a great way of improving workplace safety. Employees can learn about new hazards they hadn’t been aware of or information on existing hazards that they may not have known about.
Get insurance for your business
You may think that your business is not important enough to get insurance, but trust me, it is. Make sure you have employer’s liability insurance so that you can keep your employees safe.
Getting insurance is a must for many UK businesses. It allows companies to protect themselves, their business and their employees against the financial perils of mishaps, damage, lawsuits and theft. Of course, we hope none of these things will happen but knowing you’re covered if they do definitely gives you peace of mind.
Conduct regular risk assessment
It is every business owner’s duty to ensure their employees and customers are safe during the day-to-day operations of the business. Safeguarding people in and around your property can be carried out by simply implementing regular risk assessment processes.
Doing regular safety checks will help you avoid an accident that causes harm to people or property. In fact, conducting regular risk assessments is part of the UK Health and Safety Regulations.
Appoint a competent person to manage health and safety
The Health and Safety at Work Act makes it compulsory for UK businesses to appoint a ‘competent person’ in the workplace. The competency should include health and safety responsibilities and knowledge.
A competent person is more than just an employee with health and safety expertise. An organisation’s management can appoint individuals or teams of workers to take responsibility for specific site activities, operations, processes, procedures or hazard identification.
