Health and Safety.

Employers are responsible for the health, safety and well-being of all their employees whilst they are performing their job role, whether that is on-site, remotely or out in the field.

This duty of care also extends to visitors to the workplace, such as customers or contractors.

Some elements of workplace health and safety apply across the board. For example:

• Carrying out and documenting risk assessments
• Having the correct signage
• Keeping first aid kits on hand
• Emergency procedure planning and tests e.g. fire drills
• Basic facilities e.g. toilets
• Accident record

Examples of more niche health and safety include:

• Providing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) e.g. helmets, masks, gloves, hi-vis, for workers at a construction site or manufacturing warehouse.
• Carrying out Display Screen Equipment (DSE) checks for employees working on computers for extended periods in an office.

All health and safety procedures should be communicated to employees in the form of a policy.

If an employee has sustained a workplace injury you could be held liable and end up paying a settlement fee or even going to the Employment Tribunal.

Having the correct health and safety procedures in place will go in your favour if someone does happen to have a workplace accident. However, by having good health and safety procedures in place, you could prevent accidents from happening at all.

Ensuring your employees are safe at work will be relative to your industry, environment and even individual job roles.

Carrying out regular risk assessments is a vital part of keeping your workplace safe. From the information you collect, you can ensure you’re identifying risks, resolving risks, implementing training where needed, and monitoring changes.

If you’re concerned about the health and safety of your workplace, or could do with some guidance, you can book an initial consultation with our employment solicitor by calling 0203 007 5500.

It can be a daunting and stressful time facing a claim for an employee’s workplace injury. These claims can be very costly to the business and take up a lot of time and resources to resolve. In some circumstances, the claim can affect the business’ reputation long-term.

If you know your employee is claiming for a workplace accident, you should seek legal advice as soon as possible. A health and safety solicitor can clarify what your legal rights, obligations, and liabilities are as an employer.

You can book an initial consultation to discuss your legal position with us by calling 0203 007 5500.