Creating Health and Safety Policies

1 Understand the legal requirements of health and safety policy

Legal requirements for employers in relation to health and safety If the Centre’s country does not have sufficient laws or legislation, teach UK legislation and laws

• Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
• The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992
• The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 amended 2002
• The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
• The Work at Height Regulations 2005
• RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995)
• The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992
• COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) 2002
• The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)
• The Working Time Regulations 1998

Importance of creating inclusive health and safety policies: wheelchair access,  neurodivergence, impaired movement, hearing and sight difficulties, presence of animals.

2 Be able to develop health and safety policies that comply with the legal requirements 

Identifying the key regulatory bodies influencing health and policies using the internet: 

methods to explore regulatory bodies, identifying the correct regulatory body for a business, reading policy documents and legislation, ensuring a regulatory body is legitimate, search engine usage, official websites, subscribing to newsletters.

Developing procedures to safely control work operations: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), policies needed in a variety of settings, heavy machinery, light machinery.

Drafting and serving notices or other statutory enforceable documents for the purposes of work- related health and safety regulation using a digital device: drafting documents, regulations,serving notice, creating a document, saving the document in appropriate location, accessibility. 

Developing individual and organisational competence in health and safety matters: onboarding, formal training, certification, workshops and seminars, continuous training, mentorship, hands-on experience, specialised training, communication, feedback loop, online courses, webinars.

Planning and gathering evidence for the purposes of work-related health and safety regulation: staff feedback, collecting data, research methods for work-based research, writing research-based reports, data management tools, word publishing programs, data protections.

Developing and implementing health and safety emergency response systems and procedures: fire procedures, security threats, hazardous chemicals, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), safe use of equipment, infectious diseases, mobile phone alerts, screen warnings, electronic tools, artificial intelligence (AI) alert tools.

Developing and implementing the health and safety policy

• Development process: development cycle, identifying a need for policy, evidencing development.
• Implementation process: informing staff, documenting policy, training.

‍Identifying plans and priorities of the regulatory authority for work-related health and safety, and contributing to them effectively: conference attendance, networking, presenting research, sharing opinions, social media, subscription to emails, search engine alerts.

Developing an organisation’s health and safety strategy: clear strategy, defining a strategy, ensuring staff awareness of strategy.

3 Understand the process and importance of reviewing health and safety policies

The importance of regularly reviewing health and safety policies: changes in legislation, changes in the work environment, changes in personnel, effectiveness of policy.

Procedure for reviewing health and safety policies: collecting quantitative data, collecting qualitative data, analysing quantitative data, analysing qualitative data, review timelines, data management tools, data protection, using AI for data analyse.

Measures to ensure up to date with industry health and safety trends and regulations: newsletters, search engine alerts, social media, conferences, industry events, subscriptions, networking.

4 Be able to audit and review health and safety policies

Developing and implementing health and safety review systems: creation of review schedules, collecting feedback, reviewing feedback, review cycles, digital management tools, digital calendars.

Developing, implementing and reviewing reactive monitoring systems for health and safety: reasons for reactive monitoring, examples of systems, tools to create systems.

Reviewing the organisation’s health and safety strategy: review schedules, identify gaps in strategy, identifying problems in strategies, collecting feedback, reviewing feedback, review cycles. Influencing and keeping pace with improvements in health and safety practice: social media, industry journals, key websites, conferences, government websites, news sites, subscriptions.

Developing and implementing health and safety audits: effectiveness, collecting data, reviewing documentations, identifying weakness, conclusions, presentation of results.

Reviewing health and safety procedures at workplaces other than own: understanding of a variety of settings health and safety needs, ensuring integrity.

5 Understand the implications of mismanaged and misused health and safety policies

Legal ramifications of mismanaged and misused health and safety policies: court cases, liability, insurance.

Practical ramifications of mismanaged and misused health and safety policies: injuries, accidents, financial implications.

6 Be able to investigate and act upon health and safety complaints

Investigating work-related accidents, incidents, ill health reports and complaints for the purposes of health and safety regulation: keeping records, reporting incidents, impartiality. Contributing to health and safety legal actions: data laws, legal obligations, honestly, liability, witness.

Enforcing statutory provisions and present guilty pleas in Court for the purpose of work-related health and safety regulation: course proceedings, legal requirements.