Health and Safety Awareness

Health and safety awareness means understanding the main risks in your work, what your employer must do to control them, and what you must do to keep yourself and others safe. The core law is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, supported by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which apply in England, Wales and Scotland. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publishes guidance on what the law requires.

What Everyday Health and Safety Covers

Everyday health and safety is about the ordinary risks most workplaces share: slips and trips, manual handling, display screen work, electrical equipment, fire, stress and working environment. It also covers the basics the HSE lists for every business, such as having a health and safety policy, assessing risks, reporting certain incidents, providing information and training, consulting workers, having the right welfare facilities and making first aid arrangements.

What the Law Requires of Employers

Section 2 of the 1974 Act says every employer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees. This includes:

• safe plant and systems of work
• safe use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances
• the information, instruction, training and supervision needed for health and safety
• a safe place of work, with safe ways in and out
• a safe working environment with adequate welfare facilities

The HSE says every business must have a policy for managing health and safety. If you have five or more employees, you must write it down and share it, and any changes, with your employees.

Risk Assessment

Under the 1999 Regulations, employers must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees and to others affected by their work. The HSE says the minimum is to identify what could cause injury or illness, decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously, and take action to eliminate the hazard or, if that is not possible, control the risk.

Employers with five or more employees must record the significant findings and any group identified as especially at risk. Assessments must be reviewed if they may no longer be valid or if there has been a significant change. There are extra requirements before employing a young person.

What the Law Requires of Staff

Health and safety is not only the employer's job. Section 7 of the 1974 Act says every employee must take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by what they do or fail to do, and must cooperate with their employer so that legal duties can be met. In practice, that means following safe systems of work, using equipment as trained, and reporting hazards, injuries and near misses.

New Starters and Changes in Role

Regulation 13 of the 1999 Regulations says employers must take employees' capabilities into account when giving them tasks, and must provide adequate health and safety training:

• when they are recruited
• when they are exposed to new or increased risks because of a transfer or change of responsibilities
• when new work equipment, new technology or a new system of work is introduced, or an existing one changes

The training must be repeated periodically where appropriate, adapted to take account of new or changed risks, and take place during working hours.

Reporting Incidents

The HSE says employers must report certain injuries, near misses and work-related illnesses under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, known as RIDDOR. Staff help by reporting incidents internally straight away so the right person can decide what needs to be reported and recorded.

Common Mistakes

• Writing a risk assessment once and never reviewing it.
• Relying on training alone instead of removing or controlling the hazard first.
• Leaving new starters to learn on the job without an induction.
• Not telling staff what the risk assessment found.
• Forgetting home workers, lone workers and visitors.
• Not recording near misses, which are often the early warning.

What Good Training Covers

• The main duties on employers and employees, in plain language.
• How to spot hazards and why risk assessment matters.
• Common workplace risks and simple controls.
• How and when to report accidents, near misses and concerns.
• Where to find your organisation's policy, first aid and emergency arrangements.

General awareness training works best alongside job-specific training for higher-risk tasks.

Refreshing the Training

The law asks for training to be repeated periodically where appropriate rather than on a fixed timetable. Good trigger points include changes of role, new equipment or processes, a change in the risk assessment, and lessons from incidents or near misses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Small Businesses Need a Written Health and Safety Policy?

The HSE says every business must have a policy. If you have five or more employees it must be written down. With fewer than five it does not have to be, but writing it down is useful.

Do Risk Assessments Have to Be Written Down?

Employers with five or more employees must record the significant findings of their risk assessment and any group of employees identified as especially at risk.

Does Health and Safety Training Have to Be in Work Time?

Yes. The 1999 Regulations say the training they require must take place during working hours.

What Are Employees' Own Duties?

To take reasonable care of themselves and others affected by their work, and to cooperate with their employer on health and safety.

Training works best when it is short, relevant to the job and refreshed when things change. If you are planning compliance training for a team, you can book a call to talk it through, or see our courses.