YOUR CLA
Effective health and safety Oliver Dale at Safety Revolution explains how members can keep their enterprises safe, and why an effective safety management system is important
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IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
he management of health and safety in a private house, farm or estate where staff and/or contractors are employed is regulated under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This act is criminal law, and failure to comply with it can leave the owner or occupier of the property or their directors, trustees and executives open to enforcement action, including prosecution. Penalties include substantial fines and potentially custodial sentences. Where the HSE does not deem enforcement action necessary, a party alleging that injury or loss has occurred on your property has recourse to seek recompense under civil law. The following examples are not an exhaustive list of the circumstances that could lead to a breach, although they are situations that typically arise: Where five or more persons are employed – that threshold includes self-employed contractors, part-time and casual staff as well as full time staff – you are required to have a documented health and safety policy and risk assessment. These should be drafted by a competent person. In practice, that means someone with health and safety expertise and qualifications. All staff and contractors should have been fully inducted. This means that you have provided them with full information, including addressing the work they will complete. You should also have conducted a basic health assessment and recorded the issue of personal protective equipment. For larger contractors, you are obliged to have assessed their competence.
This means you must have a contractor approval process in place (that is, a structured administration process with technical review of contractor documents
by your competent person) that is actively managed and maintained and which positively approves each contractor. Where staff work alone, such as within the house, gardens or woodland, you must have documented systems in place to ensure that they are supervised, even if that is remotely. Staff should sign off all documents containing information and instruction.
Where staff live within the house or within ancillary buildings, these areas would be considered very high risk in relation to fire – a documented and actively managed suitable and su cient fire risk assessment is a statutory legal requirement.
All of these requirements should form part of an effective safety management system. That system forms the backbone of your body of evidence that you are required to maintain to prove that you have discharged your duty of care to your staff, contractors and visitors. Please be aware that if you are the owner or operator of a country house or a director or trustee, you cannot delegate your responsibilities to a third party – you are personally responsible for developing the type of system required (or for instructing a competent person to do so) to comply with the law. Safety Revolution has teamed up with the CLA to offer members a full-service solution for all your health and safety requirements, with an exclusive discount available.
GET IN TOUCH safetyrevolution.co.uk 0800 028 1965 info@safetyrevolution.co.uk
CLA ANNUAL 2022
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