An employer’s responsibilities not only cover the physical standards but also a need to establish and maintain a health and safety management system. The HSG65 Successful Health and Safety Management identifies that six key elements are involved in a successful health and safety management system. The Management of Health and Safety Framework consists of;
Policy – A written health and safety policy will inform your employees and let others know about your company’s / senior manager’s commitment to health and safety and will show that you take your responsibilities to people and the environment seriously. The policy should be monitored and reviewed regularly. The policy should be properly communicated and understood by all the workforce
Organising - An essential part of developing and promoting a positive health and safety culture is offering a shared understanding of the company’s beliefs and values. It is important that there is effective communication; roles and responsibilities are clearly defined (who reports to who and who is responsible for what) and that staff are involved. There should be effective consultation on health and safety with the ultimate aim to motivate employees to work safely. If a Trade Union is recognised then the union has the right to appoint safety representatives who are employees of the employer.
Planning and Implementation - Measuring success will enable your organisation to establish practical plans and set performance targets. A plan is based on risk assessment and includes effectively implementing performance standards, setting targets and procedures. Understanding the legislation and standards that apply to your organisation, how the health & safety objectives are defined and how reviews and risk assessments manage the risk.
Measuring Performance - Measurement is key in any management process and forms the basis of continual improvement, this includes reviewing how the health & safety management system is working and involves active and reactive monitoring (processes are in place to ensure the continual improvement process). Reactive monitoring would include investigating and reviewing how and why accidents and incidents occurred and why control measures failed. Measuring performance also includes reviewing the organisation’s people, procedures and systems along with the buildings, substances and plant.
Reviewing Performance - As well as a systematic review, changes in the company’s working procedures, environment, accidents or incidents provide a reason to conduct a review. This includes evaluating the performance of the health & safety management system against the organisation’s objectives and targets established in the Health & Safety Policy.
Audit - Auditing is critical to a health & safety management system and makes a valuable contribution to the organisation’s safety management system and should be independent and structured. Every part of the organisation, policy, organisational arrangements, planning, monitoring, and review is subject to audit and should identify weaknesses in the health & safety management system, identify training needs, reinforce the review process, identify where more needs to be done however, it should not be seen a fault finding activity.
In addition to the six key elements, continual improvement is a vital element to your organisation’s health & safety management system, the easiest way to achieve this is by implementing the recommendations from the audit and reviews.
For further information on health and safety please see here.