Office safety - the fundamentals
With health and safety there’s always a doubt that you’ve missed something which could come back to haunt you - even in a low risk environment such as an office. So why not use our guide to point you in the right direction?
Covering the basics
Regardless of the size and nature of your business, health and safety legislation applies. However, it’s true to say that, although certain business sectors occupy the lion’s share of inspectors’ time, lower risk environments such as offices aren’t totally ignored. Add to this the ever-present threat of a personal injury or ill-health claim, and making sure you’ve covered all of the basics is something that most businesses need to do. However, how do you know when you’ve covered everything? And, if you miss something is it going to come back and haunt you later? To make sure you’ve covered the basics properly, why not use our twelve-point checklist?
What does it cover?
To save you the trouble, we’ve gone through all of the legislation that we feel is applicable to an office environment. From these regulations, we’ve broken your legal requirements down into twelve sections.
Section one. All businesses with more than five employees are required to have a health and safety policy statement. This section gives basic guidance on what your policy should include and also what you need to do with it.
Section two. You have a duty to display basic health and safety law information. Often this is in the form of a poster. However, you can’t just put the poster up and not fill in the blank sections. This section will help you do this.
Section three. Risk assessment - what do you need to cover, how should it be recorded and once completed what do you need to do with it? Section three will answer these questions.
Section four. In October 2006, the laws governing fire changed dramatically. This section provides a brief guide to basic compliance.
Sections five and six. Office equipment. These sections outline the main requirements for office equipment and VDU workstations.
Section seven. This section covers the basic requirements for lighting, heating and ventilation. Although the law isn’t cut and dried on this subject, guidance is available, which is what this section is based on.
Section eight. Although most offices aren’t filled with chemicals, it’s likely that you’ll still find the odd one. If you do, what do you need to do? This section provides the answers.
Section nine. Manual handling - although your staff are unlikely to be moving much - especially heavy items - this section will provide a brief guide for when they do.
Section ten. Regardless of the nature of the workplace, good housekeeping standards are a must. This section provides guidance on the key issues and where the law specifically addresses it.
Sections eleven and twelve. The rules associated with first aid provision and what you need to do in the event of an accident are very specific. This section outlines what you need to have in place and what actions are required if someone has an accident.
Create your profile to unlock this advice and many more.