Health & Safety Policy

[NickJPalmer]

Just looking for some advice re H&S policy. On my first NIC assessment the assessor just directed me to the NIC website where they have a downloadable leaflet from the HSE. However I noticed in the info that came with the appointment for the 2nd periodic assessment visit that I have to provide evidence that I have a written H&S policy statement and undertake risk assessments. I can complete the H&S policy statement (p20 leaflet) but how do I show I have undertaken risk assessments? As a sole trader I have no responsibilities to any employees. Also isn't risk assessment a continual process? I make decisions regarding safety (self & others) from the moment I arrive at the job. What does the assessor expect to see? Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Mac]

Just looking for some advice re H&S policy. On my first NIC assessment the assessor just directed me to the NIC website where they have a downloadable leaflet from the HSE. However I noticed in the info that came with the appointment for the 2nd periodic assessment visit that I have to provide evidence that I have a written H&S policy statement and undertake risk assessments. I can complete the H&S policy statement (p20 leaflet) but how do I show I have undertaken risk assessments? As a sole trader I have no responsibilities to any employees. Also isn't risk assessment a continual process? I make decisions regarding safety (self & others) from the moment I arrive at the job. What does the assessor expect to see? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Found this mate,hope it is of some help.
www.chas.gov.uk/Downloads/Appendix2A.doc

 

[steamboatwilly]

It's not so much a legal obligation as an operational one....your inspector will want to see that you're assessing risk to both yourself and anyone else in the vicinity. Minimum (and what I do) is to draft a simply Excel sheet with two columns and a header.

Header: Contains date and location, nature of job
Column 1: Contains a simple description of the risk
Column 2: Contains what you've done to mitigate the risk

This is no more than you do every day for every job mentally....it's just recording it so that he can see you're doing so. File a printed version with each job/certificate and just show him a few (you can write some up retrospectively). You'll not need to do them for every job but you could simply print one and state "No significant risks"?

Paperwork crap I know