Health & Safety Policies, health & safety advice.

Let's face it health and safety is pretty boring stuff isn't it? And normally of course it is delivered by men with no personality carrying clipboards. And it's not even relevant to most businesses is it?

Whoah! Let's back up, we can agree with the first statement (although you'll find that's not how we deliver health and safety), however I am afraid health and safety is highly relevant and has a direct impact on your bottom line if it's not in place. In fact we prefer to talk about protecting your "wealth and safety".

You probably think that most accidents occur where large machinery, heavy equipment or heights is involved but believe it or not the most common cause of injuries at work is the slip or trip. The estimated cost to employers of all these is a staggering £300 million a year and we're afraid your insurance will not cover a whole bunch of stuff like:

• Insurance investigation time
• Fines and legal costs
• Loss of contracts
• Production delays
• Loss of business reputation
• Sick pay
• Lost time
• Damage or loss of product and raw materials
• Repairs to plant and equipment
• Overtime working and temporary labour

All of these are going to come direct off your bottom line. Are you beginning to see what we mean about protecting your wealth and safety?

And then we come to the hidden costs. What happens if your employee is temporarily or permanently off work due to an accident? If their role is business critical you are now into another raft of expenditure, these are attached to replacing that individual. Think about it, we are now into job specs, advertising, interviewing, training, setting up short term contracts AND probably dealing with a drop in productivity whilst a new staff member gets up to speed.

Oh and don't forget there are even more serious consequences if you are a director of a company found responsible for an accident that has happened due to your negligence. If the case goes to Magistrates Court you could be fined up to a maximum of £20,000. If it goes to Crown Court you might be liable for an unlimited fine. Alternatively or in addition, 12 months imprisonment can be imposed in the Magistrates Court or 2 years in the Crown Court. Directors of the employer company may also be disqualified under the Directors Disqualification Act 1986 for a period of up to 15 years.

Not quite so bored now are you?

The other misunderstanding is that you have to be quite a large company to have a health and safety policy on place - but in fact this is not the case. H&S law applies to employees; the self-employed; work experience; apprentices; volunteers; mobile workers and home workers.

• All employers and self-employed people have to assess the risks from work activities
• Employers with five or more employees have to record the significant findings of their risk assessment
• All employers have to consult their employees or their employees' safety representatives on health and safety matters
• All employers have to provide health and safety training for employees
• Employers with five or more employees have to have a written health and safety policy