Health & Safety Policy - Change Recruitment

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires all employers with over 5 employees to have a written health and safety policy. It is also a legal requirement under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act 1999, to assess the risks arising from work activities and to record such findings.

Purpose

This document is a statement of general policy on Health and Safety, the systems and procedures in place and responsibilities.

Our statement of general policy is:

To provide adequate control of the Health and Safety risks arising out of our work activities;
To consult with our employees on matters affecting their health and safety;
To provide and maintain safe equipment;
To ensure any hazardous materials are treated with respect and disposed of safely;
To provide information, instruction and supervision for employees;
To ensure where required employees receive training
To take action to prevent accidents and cases of work related ill-health;
To maintain safe and healthy working conditions;
To review and revise this statement of policy as required at regular intervals.

Responsibilities

Day to day responsibility for ensuring that this policy is put into practice is delegated to the Group Administration Manager. Overall responsibility rests with the Group Managing Director.

To ensure that health and safety standards are maintained and improved continuously, the following positions have responsibility in the following areas:

Position	Responsibility
Group Administration Manager/First Aiders	Recording of accidents
Group Administration Manager/First Aiders	Reporting of accidents to RIDDOR
Two elected members of staff from each office	First Aid provision
Group Admin Manager assisted by Admin Team	Maintenance and safety of equipment
Group Admin Manager assisted by Admin Team	Risk assessments
Group Admin Manager assisted by Admin Team	Fire risk assessment
Two elected members of staff from each office	Fire warden duties

All employees must:

Cooperate with management on health and safety matters;
Ensure that they do not interfere with anything provided to safeguard their health and safety;
Demonstrate reasonable care for their own health and safety;
Report all health and safety concerns to the appropriate person as detailed in this document.

Specific arrangements relating to Change's Health and Safety Policy include:-

Procedure	In detail	Responsibility
Risk Assessment	The findings of these assessments will be reported to the Head of Finance. The Head of Finance will approve action required to be taken in light of the risk. Ensure that the implemented actions have removed the risk. Assessments will be reviewed quarterly, or when there are environmental requirements. Employee representatives have yet to be appointed. Monthly meetings provide consultation with employees. Any problems found with equipment should be reported. Check that new equipment meets health and safety standard before it is purchased.	Group Administration Manager
Health and Safety Law Poster	Displayed in the Kitchen/Dining areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh offices.	Group Administration Manager
Training	Induction Training will be provided for all employees Job specific training will be provided as required by external facilitators. Training records will be maintained. Ongoing training will be identified, arranged and monitored.	Human Resources
Hazardous Chemicals	Employees are not required to undertake work with hazardous chemicals and therefore health surveillance is not normally required and therefore the organisation and its staff are unlikely to fall under regulations of Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999.
First Aid	The First Aid boxes are kept within the main offices, clearly visible.	First Aiders (Glasgow/Edinburgh)
Accidents	All accidents and cases of work-related ill health are to be recorded in the accident book. Responsible for the reporting of accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences to the enforcing authority.	Group Administration Manager
Work Related Sickness	Responsible for investigating and acting upon work related causes of sickness absence.	Human Resources
Fire Risk	Escape routes are maintained and checked for access by the Group Administration Manager every week at minimum. Fire extinguishers are maintained and checked by an external party (Lowland Fire) every year, and located at key positions. Test Alarms occur in Glasgow on a Tuesday and in Edinburgh on a Wednesday. Emergency evacuation rehearsal takes place at regular intervals, in the event of a fire, employees and visiting members of the public meet at: Glasgow Office: corner at Cath Kidson, 18 Gordon Street Edinburgh Office: Starbucks, 106 George Street, Edinburgh	Group Administration Manager is responsible to organise external party to carry out fire risk assessment. Trianed Fire Wardens are based in each office.
Electrical Testing	PAT Testing is carried out annually on all electrical equipment by an external party (PAT UK)	Group Administration Manager to organise annually
Working in office out of hours work	Due to the nature of our business it is not unusual to be in the office late during the week or at weekends. If you require to be in the office outside of normal working hours then this must be for work purposes only. Failure to comply with this requirement will be considered to be a disciplinary matter.

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