Health & Safety policy, What do I need?

mikeopvc

I run a small home improvements business from home employing 2 men to help me with the work.
We have just landed a job at the local RSPCA centre but before we carry out any work for them I have to fill in a form they sent to me which is a little bit daunting.

It's basically a questionnaire asking questions about health & safety policies, enviromental policies, public liability and professional indemnity etc.

My questions are:

Does my company need a H&S policy?

Does my company need an environmental policy?

I do have employers and public liability but what is proffessional indemnity? And does my company need it?

It also has a section with the heading Contractors All Risks
What is this?

Apologies if I seem a bit clueless but I'm just a builder trying to do work and am not used to all this type of stuff.
We do go about our work in a sensible and safe manner but have never actually been asked to do things like risk assessments etc.

Any advice would be great!

heretolearn_2

Yes, a lot of big organisations make you jump through a few paperwork hoops. It's nothing to be worried about. Have a look at the H&S website, they are very helpful with examples of policies, also you can find quite a lot on the internet. Just find a basic one and adapt to your needs.

As a small firm, no one is expecting anything very long or elaberate. It actually isn't a bad idea to do them anyway, they make you think about the way you do things and can show up where you might need to improve.

But mainly at this end of the scale it's a tickbox exercise. Their requirement is that all contractors have these things in place. You provide a copy, they tick off that you have one. Most of the time I doubt anyone actually reads what you give them.

for example we frequently have work experience kids from colleges. This year for the first time we had someone from the sixth form of a school rather than a college. We were asked for lots more information than usual - including a special 'young workers risk assessment' that had to be different to the usual risk assessment, which we did not have. But it took me 5 minutes to google something up, put our name in it, and send it off and they were happy. It only reflected what we do anyway - ensuring they get a bit of extra supervision and are not going to be let loose with any dangerous machinery.

Mistral001

mikeopvc wrote: »

I
I do have employers and public liability but what is proffessional indemnity? And does my company need it?

!

I very much doubt if you need preofessional indemnity insurance (PII). It is required when you are selling, not products, but designs, advice etc. Architects, accountants and lawyers etc. generally have it. If the drawings that you are working to have been produced by an architect employed by you and not the client, then you might have to check whether that architect has PII. If you are given the drawings by the client and the client has hired the architect, then it is up to the client to insure that they have PII. In short it very likely to be "not applicable" in your case.

mikeopvc

My questions are:

Does my company need a H&S policy?

Does my company need an environmental policy?

It also has a section with the heading Contractors All Risks
What is this?

Annisele

mikeopvc wrote: »

My questions are:

Does my company need a H&S policy?

Probably not - this says you only need one if you have five or more employees. However, sounds like if you want to work for the RSPCA they require you to have one - so, even though you might not be legally required to have one, for practical purposes you do need one.

Does my company need an environmental policy?

Probably not. I can't find a decent source for that statement - but if people trying to sell you the thing say it's not a legal requirement, it probably isn't. Again, sounds like you do need one if you want to work for RSPCA though.

It also has a section with the heading Contractors All Risks
What is this?

Google is your friend.

lavendergirl

The HSE https://www.hse.gov.uk website is full of useful info. Another leaflet which is useful for H & S Policy is indg259. You can download a copy of this useful leaflet called an Introduction to Health and Safety. Know this because my OH is a H & S consultant

ohreally

Sec 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work Act require written policy statements by all employers except for small organisations (fewer than 5 employees).

You are not required to have one however it shows good practice and demonstrates commitment if you do have one.


Edit: You may find a read through some of the Provision and Use regs helpful: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l22.pdf

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg107.pdf - p15

If you were local I could have advised on combined inspection and testing of your 110v equipment - ensure the frequency of hand held equipment inspection is in line with the code of practise.

cavework

We had this dilema and decided to bite the bullet and employ an outside H&S company 5 years ago
They dealt with everything .
It cost us £500 and was a lot of money at the time, but once it was put in position we have been able to update it every year since ourselves and for £500 we have received over 40K worth of business from excellent clients.