General health and safety is the framework all the specific regimes sit inside. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 sets the overarching duty, and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 set out how to manage it day to day. Get the framework right and every individual discipline becomes easier to run.
The general duty
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of employees and anyone else affected by the work. It is a broad, active duty, not a box you tick once and forget.
Risk assessment and arrangements
- Carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments
- Record the significant findings (required with five or more employees)
- Put arrangements in place to plan, organise, control, monitor and review
- Review assessments whenever the work, site or team changes
Competent person and consultation
Appoint one or more competent people to help you meet your duties, and consult your employees, or their representatives, on matters that affect their health and safety. Both are duties an inspector will look for, and both should be documented rather than assumed.
Reporting and records
Certain injuries, occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences must be reported under RIDDOR, and the records kept. A written health and safety policy is required where you employ five or more people. Keep training, induction and consultation records so you can show the framework is real, not just on paper.
Running the framework on CertFlow
CertFlow keeps risk assessments, competence records, scheduled inspections and remedial actions in one place, so the management framework the law expects is visible and exportable rather than scattered across folders and inboxes.