A company Health and Safety policy is required by law by all companies. Companies with 5 or more employees are required to have a written safety policy, this is different from the company Health and Safety manual but can be a part of the same document.
The Health and Safety policy can be split into three distinct sections.
Section 1
Should highlight the company's commitment to Health and Safety and should detail the company's ever progressive attitude toward adopting a positive Health and Safety culture. It should set out the goals and objectives of the organisation and how these will be achieved.
Section 2
This section should detail the lines of reporting and responsibility within an organisation, outline who are the safety representatives and their responsibilities.
Section 3
Called the arrangements section, this by far is the most comprehensive section and should contain detail on how the health and safety policy is to be put in to practice.
Typically it should detail the policy how to deal with Hazards such as fire, guarding on machinery, housekeeping, Specific hazardous operation i.e. working at height, maintenance and access and egress from places of work.
It should also deal with the policy of introducing new machinery or new SWP's. Housekeeping and amenities should be mention and the policy for hygiene in these areas. Other areas are first aid with emergency contact numbers incident reporting procedures and monitoring of these. It should also highlight the lines of communication and how to utilise them for H&S issues.
The health and safety policy is an important part of introducing a positive health and safety culture within an organisation, other things that could be included are selection criteria for employees, ensuring they are competent to carry out the duties requested; also details of health monitoring schemes (Hearing or eye tests) should any of the organisation activities warrant this,
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