Implementing your plans
It’s easy for the best-intentioned plans or manuals in a business to gather dust and be forgotten. Here are some important steps to ensure your health and safety plans are adopted and implemented by everyone in your business.
What you must do
- Discuss health and safety planning with your employees and explain how they can help to develop a safer workplace.
- Give your staff the training and supervision they need to achieve the objectives in your plans. For example, training in safer procedures for servicing dangerous machinery.
- Keep your health and safety plans, manuals and checklists alive and meaningful through regular reviews.
What you could do
- Help your employees to elect someone as the health and safety representative who will be responsible for liaising with employees, implementing plans and reporting new hazards to you.
- Allow the health and safety representative to attend relevant training. Note that elected health and safety representatives are entitled to two days of paid leave per year to attend an approved course.
- Give health and safety representatives the resources and recognition they need to do the job.
- Health and safety planning and execution work best when it’s a team effort. Include health and safety as part of your regular team meeting to ensure everyone is there to get their say, and encourage them to openly discuss any issues and possible solutions.
