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Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires that all employers have a policy on health and safety at work.

Employers with five or more employees are required to prepare a written statement on their company policy, which sets down procedures to be followed regarding health and safety matters.

We will produce a policy that is user friendly and easy to understand.

The policy would clearly set out the responsibilities of people at all levels within the organisation. Safe working procedures would be drafted to cover all company activities as well as arrangements to be made for contractors working on site, visitors, tenants, etc.

The format of the policy also enables the employer to comply with Regulation 5 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 which requires employers to have arrangements in place to cover health and safety including planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review.

Such a record of arrangements should form part of the Company’s General Policy on Health and Safety and our Policy is designed to ensure that this is so.

SM&MS can prepare site-specific health and safety manuals for companies occupying more than one property.

Each manual contains the company’s statement of intent, the responsibilities of people within the company, with particular reference to those on site and the arrangements in place for ensuring the health and safety on those particular premises.

The aim is to ensure that employees on each site are only provided with the information which is relevant and applicable to them.

This avoids confusion and overburdening staff with irrelevant information.

The user manuals are user friendly and are designed to facilitate record keeping as well as monitoring and reviewing of health and safety standards.

We have provided this service to many large property companies including; KWB Property Management and CIS Ltd.

The Manual Handling Operating Regulations 1992 apply wherever there are risks to the health of employees from manual handling. The employer is required to:

• Avoid

  the need for hazardous manual handling as far as is reasonably practicable

• Check

  whether an item needs to be moved at all. Can any repair or maintenance work be carried out in situ?

• Consider

  the use of mechanical aids

• Assess

  the risk of injury from any manual handling that can’t be avoided

• Reduce

  the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling, as far as is reasonably practicable

SM&MS can carry out this Manual Handling Assessment on behalf of the client and advise as to what action is necessary in order to secure compliance with these Regulations?

As the legislative minefield continues to become more and more dangerous to employers, it is important to ensure that staff who are handling goods of any nature are well informed.

In a recent case a woman took legal proceedings against her employer when she was injured carrying office stationary up the stairs. This demonstrates how most employers fall within the legislation on some level.

It is recommended that all companies assess these risks within the workplace.

SM&MS can carry out a Health and Safety Audit for Companies who already have a comprehensive health and safety policy. The audit will assess key elements of health and safety management including:

• The Company Health and Safety Policy – its intent, scope and adequacy.

The organisation, including:

• the acceptance of health and safety responsibilities by the line managers and the adequacy of arrangements to secure control.
• the adequacy of arrangements for planning and policy implementation including:
• overall control and direction of the health and safety programme.
• standard setting – its adequacy and relevance.
• the allocation of resources to implement standards.
• the extent of compliance with procedures set down in the Policy and their effectiveness in risk control.
• the long term improvement in accident and incident performance.
• monitoring systems – their adequacy and relevance
• review systems and the ability of the organisation to learn from experience and improve performance.
• audits can be carried out on Policies and Systems installed by SM&MS in order to monitor their effectiveness and to identify areas which may require review. This fulfils the legislative requirement to monitor and review.
• secure the involvement of all employees in health and safety matters.
• the adequacy of arrangements to secure the communication of policy and other H&S matters.

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 came into force on the 1st January 1993 and set out minimum requirements for workstations.

These were required to be met by 1st January 1997 for existing workstations (unless immediate action is required to reduce risks). Equipment used for the first time is required to comply immediately.

Any workers who habitually use DSE’s for a significant part of their normal work are covered by these Regulations which require the employer to analyse the workstations of such employees and assess and reduce risks. Where risks are identified, steps must be taken to reduce them.

SM&MS have a wealth of experience in Display Screen Assessments and currently provide this service to a number of Blue Chip Clients including the London Stock Exchange.

In addition to completing DSE Assessments we are also able to provide clients with a DSE Database to hold information gained from the assessment.

The system is a Microsoft Access Database which provides information on the VDU / Workstation details, User details, DSE Training Details, Job Design, Rest Periods, Posture Whilst Typing, Workstation Faults, Health Problems and Recommendations.

Importantly, the database allows the user to produce reports of all outstanding actions, completed actions, chair related actions and non-chair related actions.

This legislation states that no work which is liable to expose anyone to substances that are hazardous to health shall be carried out unless an assessment of their activities has been made.

The assessment consists of a systematic review of the risks associated with the use of any substances used by employees whilst at work, that are deemed to be hazardous to health.

The risks to health arising from work involving substances hazardous to health must be evaluated and steps taken to establish what has to be done to meet the requirements of the whole of the COSHH Regulations.

This may involve the introduction of appropriate measures to prevent or control a risk to health and ensuring that such measures, and any safe working procedures, are used and that any equipment provided is properly maintained.

SM&MS can undertake such an assessment on behalf of the client and advise as to what action is necessary in order to secure compliance with these Regulations.

Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires that all employers carry out an assessment of the potential risks to employees and others who may reasonably be affected by this undertaking.

It identifies the hazards, assesses the risks and indicates the measures necessary to control the risks.

Employers with five or more employees are required to record the significant findings of the assessment and any group of employees found to be particularly at risk.

The purpose of a risk assessment is to help the employer determine the measures needed to comply with their duties under relevant statutory provisions.

The assessment will:

• Identify the hazards to which employees and others are exposed.
• Establish the likelihood of harm from the hazards being realised i.e. the risk.
• Evaluate the extent of the risks (taking into account the existing control measures or precautions).

It is a working document which can be used to guide future action aimed at improving health and safety. With this in mind, an Action Plan is provided in order that control measures may be readily identified and implemented

Our Risk Assessments will advise on ways to implement control measures