Safety and Health Policy Statement

Your health and safety policy statement sets out how you manage health and safety in your organisation. It is a unique document that shows who does what and when and how they do it. 

The health and safety policy statement is your starting point to managing health and safety in the workplace. By law, (Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 section 2(3)) if you employ five or more people you must have a written health and safety policy. This contains your statement of general policy on health and safety at work and the organisation and arrangements for putting that policy into practice. 

Writing a health and safety policy statement is more than just a legal requirement - it is your commitment to planning and managing health and safety. It is the key to achieving acceptable standards, reducing accidents and cases of work-related ill health and it shows your employees that you care for their health and safety. 

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 This is the Health and Safety Policy Statement of... 

A Health and Safety Policy Statement should meet at least the following requirements ... 

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, the employer is responsible for ensuring that adequate instruction and information is given to employees to make them safety conscious. Part 1, Section 3 of the Act instructs all employers to prepare a written health and safety policy statement and to bring this to the notice of all employees. Figure 1.2 shows a typical Health and Safety Policy Statement of the type which will be available within your company. Your employer must let you know who your safety representatives are, and the new Health and Safety poster shown In Fig. 1.3 has a blank section into which the names and contact information of your specific representatives can be added. This is a large laminated poster, 595 x 415mm, suitable for wall or notice-board display. 

Figure 1.2 Typical Health and Safety Policy Statement.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, the employer is responsible for ensuring that adequate instruction and information is given to employees to make them safety conscious. Part 1, Section 3 of the Act instructs all employers to prepare a written health and safety policy statement and to bring this to the notice of all employees. Your employer must let you know who your safety representatives are. 

My health and safety policy statement is quite widely available but I honestly feel that just putting a document out to people, to noticeboards doesn t work, because very often we ate dealing with people who are not word-oriented, written word-oriented, so we need to talk to people about it, we need to explain to them because it is word of mouth that makes the... 

The following points should be included or considered when a health and safety policy statement is being drafted ... 

The committee should have stated objectives, which mirror the objectives in the organization s health and safety policy statement, and its own terms of reference. Terms of reference could include the following ... 

The board needs to ensure that all board decisions reflect its health and safety intentions, as articulated in the health and safety policy statement. 

---