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Your business must have a health and safety policy. If you have five or more employees, you must have a written policy.

Most businesses set out their policy in three parts:

• the statement of general policy section sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what you want to achieve
• the responsibility section states who is responsible for what
• the arrangements section contains the detail of what you are going to do in practice to achieve the aims set out in your statement of general policy

Help to write a health and safety policy

You may find that there are some areas of health and safety policy that you need help with. You may be able to get help from Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) or the environmental health department of your local authority. If the issues are complicated, you may need to seek external advice

HSENI provide the following downloads to help you create your policy:

Environmental policy

You may want to consider environmental issues at the same time as considering your health and safety policy. If you have an environmental management system, your environmental policy should be a part of this. For further information see set up an environmental management system (EMS).

The statement of general policy sets out your general approach, objectives and the arrangements for managing health and safety in your business. It is a unique document that says who does what, when and how. There are no set rules on what you should include in your statement, but it is often only one page long. You must sign and date the statement.

What to include the statement of general policy

Most statements of general policy will state:

• your commitment to keeping your employees, customers and anyone else affected by your business' activities safe
• who has ultimate responsibility for health and safety in the business
• which staff have specific responsibilities - including the name or job title of the person in charge of health and safety
• your commitment to engaging and consulting with employees on day-to-day health and safety conditions and provide advice and supervision on occupational health
• that you understand the legal duties you have to provide a safe working environment, safe work equipment and safe methods of work
• what organisation and arrangements will be made to 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ the policy

The responsibilities section of your policy should clearly say who is responsible for what.

As an employer, you must appoint someone competent to help you meet your health and safety duties. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage health and safety.

You could appoint (one or a combination of):

• yourself
• one or more of your workers
• someone from outside your business

You probably manage most aspects of your business yourself, or with the help of your staff. But if you are not confident of your ability to manage all health and safety in-house, you may need some external help or advice.

Deciding what help you need is very important. Unless you are clear about what you want, you probably won't get the help you need.

You should identify who will:

• conduct health and safety risk assessments
• make workplace inspections
• ensure safety when specific tasks or work activities are carried out, or in specific areas of the workplace

See appoint a competent person for health and safety.

The arrangements section of your health and safety policy should say how you will meet the commitments you have made in your statement of general policy. See the statement of general health and safety policy.

You should include information on what you are going to do to remove or reduce the risks of the hazards in your workplace.

A hazard is anything in your business that could cause harm to people. A risk is the chance - however large or small - that a hazard could cause harm.

Your health and safety risk assessment should have highlighted the areas that may be a risk and any measures you currently have in place. 

The additional arrangements you will make to control the risks should be set out in the arrangements section of your policy. They could include:

• staff training
• using signs to highlight risks
• improved safety equipment such as guards or additional personal protective equipment including goggles, safety boots or high-visibility clothing 
• replacing hazardous chemicals with less harmful alternatives
• improved lighting or anti-slip flooring

You should focus your attention on the activities that could affect the most people or cause serious harm. 

The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) provide an  to give you an idea of what to include when writing your own. 

Environmental policy

If you are including environmental issues in your policy, you should consider areas such as:

• improving pollution controls
• minimising waste
• recycling
• water
• energy

See set up an environmental management system (EMS).

Your health and safety policy should be a practical guide to how you manage health and safety within your business.

Monitoring your health and safety policy

Ways to check your policy include:

• Where you have set out clear responsibilities for employees, you can check that they have actually carried them out to the required standard.
• You can monitor whether people are following any rules or safe methods set out in the arrangements.
• You can walk around the workplace and check for hazards. Hazards are a sign that you need to improve safety management.
• Records or registers may be included as part of the arrangements section of your policy. Check they are being used and what incidents or comments have been recorded. For example, it is good practice to record workplace safety inspections and training given to staff.

Involve your workers in your policy implementation

You have to consult all your workers on health and safety. You do this by listening and talking to them about:

• health and safety and the work they do
• how risks are controlled
• the best ways of providing information and training

Consultation is a two-way process. Allow staff to raise concerns and influence decisions on the management of health and safety. Your employees are often the best people to understand risks in the workplace. Involving them in making decisions shows them that you take their health and safety seriously.

In a very small business, you might choose to consult your employees directly. Alternatively, you might consult your employees through a health and safety representative. This can be someone who has been chosen by their colleagues or selected by a trade union. As an employer, you cannot decide who will be the representative.

Some of the ways that you can bring the policy statement to your employees' attention are by:

• including it in any employee handbooks
• providing it at induction
• including a copy with the contract of employment
• posting it on your intranet sites
• posting it on notice boards
• making the duties in the policy part of your employees' workplace objectives

See consult your employees on health and safety.