Health & Safety Business Idea - Your Thoughts?

CreativeUK

Hello MSEForum,

I am keen in making 2017 the year where I can try and set up my own successful business!

Background:
I'm Charlie, 29, married, with a baby due this May! :shocked:
So although time will be limited, I'd hope that the business will have strong foundations to launch towards the end of the year.

I am a Health & Safety Manager with 7 years of experience in the field. I enjoy what I do, but I am realizing more and more that I am just a number in a big pool of numbers and just following orders. Waking up at 6:00 am to get on the roads to join the rat-race of all the other people doing exactly the same thing. I want to break this cycle for myself!

I also have a website design/illustration business on the side as well!
But, I always want to push myself and do more to help be 'financially free', or in better terms, make better money to give me more time to spend with the wife and little one in future.

The Idea:
As stated above I have a strong interest in safety, and being in the UK the HSE (Health & Safety Executive) is the leading organizing body, but there is always fear and worry surrounded going to them for help, also with the new players to the market, other small businesses who think they can just start a business often miss the basic health and safety principles for any business.

At the moment, I am continuing to do my full-time job, and I would like to build this up on the side, I won't be able to visit clients in the working hours as I already have commitments.

This is just a drafted plan of what I plan for the business to provide:

• Blog / News / Updates
• Forms / Templates
• Custom & Bespoke Form Designs
• Purchases (Affiliate products / Safety Signs / Own products)
• Support Forum

Additionally, I would then like to expand into:

• Job Boards
• Customer Services / Consultancy

Would be interested to know what anyone's thought on this business idea is, and any comments / additional thought's they would like to add, I would be very interested to hear from you.

Thank you for reading.
Kind Regards, Charlie

da_rule

What relevant qualifications do you have?

Why should people trust your advice?

Are you a member of any relevant professional body?

Also, have you factored in liability insurance incase you give incorrect advice?

CreativeUK

Hello da_rule,

Thanks for the reply.
I have had 7 years working in the construction, offices, manufacturing and assembly industries.
Also have worked with the HSE in event investigations as well.

I am currently not a member of any organising bodies.
But I do have NEBOSH, IOSHH, ISO qualifications.

Regarding the advice to persons, yes insurance is something I will be looking into.

Regards, Charlie

Savvy_Sue

da_rule wrote: »

What relevant qualifications do you have?

Why should people trust your advice?

Are you a member of any relevant professional body?

Also, have you factored in liability insurance incase you give incorrect advice?

I've bolded the key question: you might want to consider a particular sector in which to focus your advice, but if you could find a body to recommend and promote your services that could help kick start things. I work for a small charity, and sometimes it's hard to know whether our Risk Assessments are sufficiently robust, for example.

da_rule

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I've bolded the key question: you might want to consider a particular sector in which to focus your advice, but if you could find a body to recommend and promote your services that could help kick start things. I work for a small charity, and sometimes it's hard to know whether our Risk Assessments are sufficiently robust, for example.

Risk assessments are something that a lot of smaller businesses struggle with. Whether that's a risk assessment for a one off activity, a particular job role or a particular person (pregnant worker risk assessments etc).

I think you'd want to be careful trying to have too many things on the go at once as people may see you as a bit of a "jack of all trades". As Savvy_Sue has said, stick to one area and build up a specialism and reputation then you could possibly branch out.

It would also be worth while speaking to some small local businesses or charities as a form of market research. You could even offer to do some work for free (probably the charities rather than businesses) as this will help you build up a portfolio of work and get some (hopefully) good references. You'd still need the insurance issue sorted so it'd cost you some money, but you could get good exposure as a result.

cavework

As a small business we have just taken on an external H&S adviser.She comes with outstanding reviews. she has completely overhauled our existing H&S which had become out of date and dealt with our Acclaim accreditation review . She charges us quarterly in advance and holds all the required qualifications and has huge experience within large corporations (in effect she really knows her stuff). We retain her services for a fee and she deals with most issues but should any require a more involved approach she will give us a quote before dealing with the problem. She is available 24/7 ..TBH it was her CV, work history extensive previous experience and reviews that made us decide to use her Hope this feedback helps Charlie

Mupette

I think i may need your help.

I have my first Environmental health check.

I make confectionery in my kitchen

Registered with the local council (this is who is coming out) cleaning routines etc no problem, is signage, its a family small run thing, 3 of us, what signs do we need?

CreativeUK

Mupette wrote: »

I think i may need your help.

I have my first Environmental health check.

I make confectionery in my kitchen

Registered with the local council (this is who is coming out) cleaning routines etc no problem, is signage, its a family small run thing, 3 of us, what signs do we need?

Hello Mupette,
Hope you are well?

The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 are the regulations which outline safety signage. Although I have never dealt with food hygeine or the local council environmental health checks.

The signage regulations require employers to provide specific Safety Signs whenever there is a risk that has not been avoided or controlled by other means, e.g. by engineering controls and safe systems of work.

As you are a small company with fewer than 5 people there is no legal requirement for written risk assessments, but all employees must be made aware of the risks in the workplace.

You will want to ensure that everyone is aware of hazards and risks which are not controlled by management systems / processes and signage is appropriately used as reminders/notices.
E.g.

• Colour codes for cutting boards
• Food Safety temperatures
• Hot water
• No drinking water tap
• Caution Hot
• All food must be covered and dates
• This sink is for hand wash only

Hope this all helps and good luck with your assessment!

Regards, Charlie

paddyrg

Find a niche and specialise - a friend is a specialist in safety for events, for instance, so everything from compiling the event manual to proving ratings to sound levels to evacuation plans to CDM for structures to signage to emergency access routes to liaising with security to... Any situation we may come across, he's able to advise to reduce risk with lots of industry experience.

Then in the film world, we have different requirements, need all sets and locations risk assessed. We may even need CDM on some set builds. Find a vertical/niche and occupy it

Mupette

CreativeUK wrote: »

Hello Mupette,
Hope you are well?

The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 are the regulations which outline safety signage. Although I have never dealt with food hygeine or the local council environmental health checks.

The signage regulations require employers to provide specific Safety Signs whenever there is a risk that has not been avoided or controlled by other means, e.g. by engineering controls and safe systems of work.

As you are a small company with fewer than 5 people there is no legal requirement for written risk assessments, but all employees must be made aware of the risks in the workplace.

You will want to ensure that everyone is aware of hazards and risks which are not controlled by management systems / processes and signage is appropriately used as reminders/notices.
E.g.

• Colour codes for cutting boards
• Food Safety temperatures
• Hot water
• No drinking water tap
• Caution Hot
• All food must be covered and dates
• This sink is for hand wash only

Hope this all helps and good luck with your assessment!

Regards, Charlie

wow yes very helpful, its just 3 of us, usually me but husband and son as back up, brilliant.

[Deleted User]

Bit late to the discussion - Anyway,someone I knew was a Health & Safety trainer. He was contracted in to train staff in companies which did not have their own full time H&S manager.