Health and Safety: Frequently asked questions

From writing a Health and Safety policy to understanding how Occupational Health and Safety fit into Compliance and Building Safety, we’ve put together answers to some of the most common questions our expert Health and Safety consultants are asked.

Does my organisation need a written health and safety policy?

Any organisation within the UK or operating under UK law with five or more employees, requires a written health and safety policy.

However, it is worth considering how an organisation with less or more than five employees would evidence what they have put in place and, how they would demonstrate employees have understood what is required of them if nothing is documented?

The key is not just having a written health and safety policy, but that as an organisation you can evidence how you ensure your employees have read and understood what is in the policy. As a result, a better question would be, ‘Do we need to evidence that our employees, contractors, and visitors have read and understood our health and safety policy?’. The answer to this question is yes because having a written policy makes this both tangible and measurable.

What is in a Health and Safety policy?

A Health and Safety policy is made up of three parts:

• The Statement of Intent – What you intend to do (signed by the CEO/MD & Chair of the Board if applicable).
• The Organisation – Who is going to do it (key roles and responsibilities).
• The Arrangements – How you are going to do it (these are often the procedures themselves as technology means linking actual documents keeps your policy ‘alive’).

The format and style of the policy will vary between organisations. The Statement of Intent is usually one page and should detail the name of the person rather than a generic job title. The Arrangements may be headlined and formed by appended documents or hyperlinks, depending on the complexity of the organisation’s core business delivery.

Who is the best person to write a health & safety policy?

Who writes the policy is not the issue. The issue is who is engaged in the development of the policy content?

Engaging the leaders and strategic level management of an organisation is key in developing a health and safety policy. The CEO or MD may not physically write the policy, but they and the board need to be involved in setting the policy and the Statement of Intent because they are legally accountable for the health & safety within the organisation.

The best approach is a collaborative one where the policy Statement of Intent and Organisation sections are set at a strategic level and passed to Senior Management.

Senior management will then develop the protocols and processes required for the Arrangement section at a business and/or tactical level to be discussed with the operation-focused management and workstream team members to ensure that the organisation can meet the practicalities of delivery.

The main consideration of a health and safety policy - aside from having to have a written policy to meet legislative requirements - is whether your organisational activities mirror what your policy says you do, who does it and how you do it.

Therefore, the best policies are those developed and reviewed in wider consultation across an organisation and signed by the Executive lead/s who hold legal responsibility and accountability for the delivery of the policy across the organisation.

How does Occupational Health and Safety fit into Compliance and Building Safety?

Occupational/Workplace Health and Safety is an over-arching, multi-disciplinary field that incorporates all aspects of health, safety, welfare and wellbeing in the workplace or occupational settings. Compliance and building safety are just two of the aspects that come under the umbrella term of Occupational Health and Safety, which is a vast area that is largely structured and based upon the requirements of health and safety-related statutory legislation within the UK. Read our guide to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 here.

Occupational Health and Safety uses statutory legislation and regulations as a baseline for organisations to demonstrate and ensure minimum compliance and from which to work towards best practice.

Compliance in the Social Housing Sector largely focuses on Gas Safety, Electrical Safety, Asbestos Management, Water Hygiene, Lift Safety and Fire Safety. Under Health and Safety, ‘compliance’ is viewed as a general term for all areas that are required to comply with statutory regulations under UK law, such as Manual Handling, Working at Height, and all other specialist areas.

Who should be involved in undertaking Risk Assessments?

Although the Risk Assessor undertaking the Risk Assessment needs to an appropriate level of competence to undertake the task, they also require the assistance, support and collaboration of the individuals who will be undertaking the task itself or involved in a related process within the area being assessed. This ensures that assumptions are not made, and every angle and viewpoint is considered. If an external person undertakes your Risk Assessments, they will need to develop the document closely with the individuals involved in undertaking the work task or working within the area/process under assessment.

What is the difference between a hazard and a risk?

A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm, while a risk is a likelihood that a hazard will cause harm (in combination with the severity of injury, damage or loss that might foreseeably occur).

What does the term ‘reasonably practicable’ mean I need to do?

The term ‘reasonably practicable’ requires the assessment of risk through a wider calculation that considers the resources, time and money that will be required to control the risk.

The risk is expected to be controlled at the lowest possible level of residual risk and ultimately, elimination of risk is always sort as the perfect scenario. As life is not perfect and because risks cannot always be eliminated, two other similar terms often get used and mean the same thing: ‘ALARP – as low as reasonably practicable' and ‘SFAIRP – so far as is reasonably practicable'.

All three terms above describe the level that workplace risk is expected to be controlled to and, allow the duty holder room to address the risks in the best manner possible rather than being solely prescriptive.

What makes somebody competent?

Competence in any area, including health and safety, is demonstrated through a combination of experience, knowledge, and qualifications/training. Qualifications and training alone are not sufficient to demonstrate competence. Knowing your limitations is also a prerequisite of being a competent person. Everyone has a slightly different view and perspective, which is why collaboration and discussion regarding health and safety, always leads to greater success and overall improvement in health and safety management. You can read more about the competent person in this blog here. 

Does DSEAR (Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations) affect High Rise Blocks of flats?

Traditionally, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RR(FS)O2005) has always been the key piece of statutory legislation addressed for high rise blocks. The DSEAR only cover workplaces not domestic premises.

As there is no expectation that storage of dangerous substances or that areas of explosive atmosphere would be created or allowed to be maintained in a safe manner below private dwellings, the DSEAR Regulations have largely been regarded as inappropriate in domestic high-rise blocks. Therefore, the issues of storage of flammable and combustible materials has essentially been managed through Fire Risk Assessment, as prescribed under the RR(FS)O.

However, many regulations do overlap or create contradictory requirements which must be understood and managed by the accountable and responsible persons in a manner that results in the lowest, acceptable residual risk. DSEAR and the RR(FS)O are two such regulations, in terms of storage of oxygen cylinders, where part of the building could be used as a store for another department i.e., the Housing Association or Local Authority Grounds Maintenance Team and/or where a main gas pipeline supply enters the building.

Legislation is well known for its overlaps and contradictions but Article 12 and Part 4 of Schedule 1 of the RR(FS)O & Regulation 6 of DSEAR, address dangerous substances almost identically.

Both pieces of legislation refer to the containment of the dangerous substance and ventilation practices. Awareness of this link provides common ground for communication between the gas engineer and the building owner. Other articles of interest within the RR(FS)O include Article 22, which places a duty to co-operate onto relevant parties.

Several pieces of gas sector legislation and guidance and the newly introduced Fire Safety Act 2021 have been designed to bring in controls for new and existing buildings. However, despite all the associated regulations being retrospective, many older existing buildings are still being managed without taking the requirements of DSEAR into account.