Health and safety policy: what you need to include + free template

It has become more and more challenging for small businesses to comply with health and safety regulations, especially when part of their workforce operates from an office and part from home.

As Operations Associate at Charlie, it’s my job to make sure that our office is a good place to work. That it’s welcoming and safe, and that it gives my team everything they need to feel good about what they do and where they work. And, as we follow a hybrid working model (check out our hybrid working policy template here if interested), I also need to ensure that team members have everything they need to safely and effectively work from home, too.

Putting together an adequate Health and Safety policy is key here.

In this article, I’m sharing our own Health and Safety policy, for you to take inspiration from. Plus, I’m going to run you through some best practice tips that have personally helped me a lot when crafting and updating Charlie’s H&S policy.

Why do you need a health and safety policy?

Any business in the UK needs a health and safety policy if they have more than five employees.

That’s not just best practice, it’s the law. Failure to comply can result in costly fines and harsh legal penalties.

It’s not just a legal protection for your business either, it shows you care about your employees and have their best interests at heart. Having measures in place to protect their safety and well-being can help your team members feel better about their jobs, which helps them stay productive.

Not having a health and safety policy can be a really expensive mistake, like many other HR policies and procedures into for your business. The repercussions of failure go beyond fines or even lawsuits, but permanent brand damage.

You have to take steps now to make sure that doesn’t happen.

What should a health and safety policy include?

So much for why you need a company health and safety policy, but what exactly should go into it?

Your policy should clearly outline the procedures and protocols you follow, and your objectives for maintaining a safe workplace.

Here are some of the basics that you need to put in there:

1. Risk assessment

Outline the potential hazards employees might encounter in the workplace and how they can mitigate them. This is important whether your team is remote-first or based in an office. A risk-free work environment is one where things get done.

2. Employee responsibilities

It’s not all about you. Your employees and team members are a part of this conversation, and they play a part in enforcing your health and safety policy as well.

Your employees are responsible for adhering to the guidelines in the policy, including reporting any health and safety issues they encounter.

3. Emergency procedures

You can’t control emergency situations, but you can control how you react to them.

Your health and safety policy should be done in case of fire, flooding, or medical emergencies. Schedule regular drills so that everyone knows what to do in case the worst happens.

Charlie’s Health and Safety policy

I’d like to point to the Charlie Health and Safety Policy below as a good example of how to make a health and safety policy for remote workers and office settings.

It includes a budget for ergonomic support for employees working from home and covering the costs of eye tests. Charlie values the well-being of its employees, no matter where they work.

4 Tips for writing an effective health and safety policy

There’s a lot that can go wrong if your health and safety policy isn’t airtight or leaves something important out - things you can’t even see right away.

I’d like to offer some tips on how to write your health and safety policy in a way that protects both you and your employees.

1. Keep it simple

Keep it simple, and keep it streamlined, and keep it easy to understand. A policy that has a lot of jargon and legalese is much less likely to be followed. When people don’t follow the policy, mistakes happen and people get hurt. When people get hurt, the lawyers get called.

2. Make it specific to your business

It’s tempting to just use a generic health and safety policy template and call it a day, but it won’t suffice. It will leave open a lot of loopholes and oversights.

It’s best for all concerned that you have something that’s more specific to your business and how it works.

Tailoring your health and safety policy to your business's unique risks and challenges will address the specific conditions your employees will face in their work environment.

3. Update it regularly

Laws and workplace conditions change, all the time. Your health and safety policy should change with them.

Update your policy regularly to ensure that it stays compliant, stays up-to-date with current laws, and remains effective in protecting your team from current and future hazards.

Think of it as a document that changes as your own business does.

4. Take other HR policies into account

Think about the bigger picture when writing it. A Health and Safety policy will also be linked to other policies such as your sickness and absence policydo (if you have no health and safety regulations, an accident could force someone to take sick leave), your disciplinary policy (if your people don't respect the regulations, they'll have to face consequences) or even your lone working policy (people working by themselves may need specific sets of rules and guidance)!

Make a squeaky-clean health and safety policy with Charlie’s help

So what’s your next move? Will you sweep health and safety hazards under the regulatory rug, or will you take proactive steps now to make sure they don’t happen in the first place?

Your health and safety policy is a statement of commitment to the well-being of your team. Understand the legal landscape and craft a policy that’s specific to your business and your needs.

You don’t have to do it alone though. I or another HR advisor at Charlie can be there to help you. Together, we can craft a bespoke health and safety policy that protects your employees from hurting themselves and protects you from fines and lawsuits.

The Charlie platform itself can have your health and safety policy sorted, storing all your policies in a place where they can be easily seen and accessed by everyone, so they all know what the rules are. Start a free trial with Charlie today.