1. Writing a Health and Safety Policy

2. Risk Assessment Made Simple

3. Running a Safe Event

CCVS guide to Writing a Health and Safety Policy

So coming up, we’ll start with the purpose of a safety policy and why it is needed, before looking closely at the three elements that form the content.

The Purpose

Let’s begin then with the Purpose.

A safety policy should be a working document. It should set out your organisation’s general approach to health and safety; and explain how you will manage health and safety in your group, charity or social enterprise.

And that’s it you don’t need to include pages of small print about noise, trips and falls, manual handling and so on… These are all matters that should be dealt with separately in a risk assessment.

But why is it needed?

Having an effective safety policy is a sign of a healthy organisation. It makes clear who is responsible for safety and what this actually involves.

And for organisations that employ staff, it is also the law.

But even if you are, volunteer-only, it is good practice to have a written safety policy

It shows that you plan, check and act on safety matters; and in particular, it demonstrates a positive attitude towards health and safety.

A safety policy may also be a requirement of certain funders.

So clearly, it is an important document. But what about the policy’s content… There are three main elements…starting with

The Statement

Quite simply, this is just a few lines committing the organisation to looking after the health, safety and welfare of its people; and meeting its health and safety duties.

Roles and responsibilities

Next are roles and responsibilities. Firstly, you need someone with overall and final responsibility for health and safety, such as your trustee board; and then someone with day-to-day responsibility such as your chief officer.

You also need to name those with any specific safety roles, such as undertaking risk assessment, monitoring safety controls, dealing with problems, and supervising team members.

You should also set out the responsibility of your staff and/or volunteers to work safely, attend safety training, and report concerns.

Safety arrangements

So what about your safety arrangements? Well, these should cover the actions, processes and procedures you will follow to manage health and safety.

This should include arrangements for conducting risk assessments, such as when and where they are needed, and how often they are carried out.

Other arrangements should cover how and when your team will be consulted on safety matters, your first aid arrangements, safety training, reporting incidents, and your emergency evacuation procedure.

Finally, the arrangements should also name your competent health and safety adviser. This is either an internal or external person who understands the safety issues you face and is experienced in safety matters.

Now, to help you, there are links to a template for a safety policy in the accompanying transcript of this presentation.

But let’s just sum up…

Keep it simple. Start your policy with an opening statement of intent, followed by a list of roles and responsibilities; and finally, a page or two setting out your arrangements. This is all you really need.

Thank you

Video Transcript was produced for CCVS by Green Pepper Consulting

Guidance links

• Check Managing risks and risk assessment at work.
• Download the Health and Safety Policy template (DOC)
• Download the Risk assessment form (DOC)

CCVS Guide to Risk Assessment Made Simple

Hello, my name is David Green from Green Pepper Consulting; and in this short training presentation, one of a series from Cambridge CCVS, I will be looking at how we should conduct a safety risk assessment. Let’s begin…

Risk assessment involves identifying hazards, evaluating the risk they pose, and implementing measures to control or remove the risk. There are five steps to the process, so coming up we will look at each of the steps in turn.

What is a hazard?

But first, what exactly do we mean by a hazard?

Well, a hazard is anything that can cause harm.

This might be something that can harm a person’s physical health. Or something that can harm mental health, such as stress.

Why assess risk?

It is perhaps obvious, but to clarify, we assess risk to:

• understand what safety measures are needed
• help prevent accidents and occupational diseases
• meet our legal duties

Risk assessment is a requirement of many safety regulations; and is a key aspect of health and safety management.

What’s more, a failure to assess risk might result in injury or illness to someone, leaving the organisation open to compensation claims and even prosecution.

To help you with the risk assessment process, there are links in the accompanying transcript of this video to a safety inspection checklist and to a risk assessment form.

Ok, Let’s now look at:

Step one of risk assessment – identifying the hazards

You do this by inspecting the workplace, ideally, with a staff rep or colleague, and then by speaking to your staff and volunteers – about their work.

We want to find out about different tasks, the equipment, the methods they use, and the environment in which they work. By looking at the workplace and speaking to your team at work, you can identify any hazards that they may face.

You will need to look for anything that might cause harm, something for example that could cause a trip, slip or fall. There could be manual handling hazards, objects stacked up high that could topple over, chemicals, noise, risk of violence and so on.

Because hazards can differ so widely, sometimes it helps to use a safety inspection checklist when looking around your workplace.

For those who work remotely, such as lone workers and home workers, it may not be possible to inspect how they work. But by discussing working methods with the individuals concerned, prompting and asking them about their safety concerns, you can together work out the likely hazards.

Step two of risk assessment – decide who might be harmed, and how

Step two of risk assessment considers who might be harmed, and how…

Look for anyone who could be harmed by the hazards you identify and how this could happen, including when and where.
Those affected might include members of your team, whether staff or volunteers, including homeworkers, and lone workers. Also your beneficiaries and other visitors to the workplace.

Think also about any special groups who might be more vulnerable to particular harm and may need additional support, such as new or expectant mothers, or people with disabilities.

It might also include those who may have communication difficulties, such as people who don’t have English as a first language.

Once you know who can be harmed, decide how and when it could happen.

Together, the who, how, and when, will give you the likelihood of something causing harm.

Step three – evaluate the risk and introduce safety control measures

Step three has two parts. Firstly to evaluate the risk; and secondly, to introduce safety control measures.

We evaluate risk by combining the likelihood of the hazard, which we have worked out from step two, with the severity of the hazard.

But what if we need to find out more about the hazard before deciding how severe or dangerous it can be?

We can do this by looking up the hazard on the Health and Safety Executive website; and then consulting the manufacturer’s handbook, data sheet or their own website.

So something that has a high degree of severity, and a moderate to high likelihood of occurring, would be a high-risk hazard.

Once you have evaluated a hazard; you can put in place safety control measures.

Always consider the most effective measure first. Your starting point should always be to try and remove the risk altogether. (For example, although you could warn people about a slippery surface, the best remedy would be to remove the slippery surface and replace it with a safe one).

If this isn’t possible then see if there is some less risky way of doing the same thing, for example using a different technique or with different equipment or substances.

Other measures might be to reduce access to the risk (such as cutting the time someone is exposed to the risk, or perhaps using a smaller pool of people). Or to use personal protective equipment.

Finally, make sure your team is trained on how to use your control measures, and that they receive clear instructions on how to mitigate the risk. It’s very important they understand the nature of the risk, and why the control measures are necessary.

Step four – record your findings

We now come to Step four which is to record your findings. One of the simplest ways is in the form of a table. This is the information you will want to record…

• the hazard
• who might be harmed
• how they might be harmed
• current control measures
• any new control measures needed
• who is responsible (for action)

Step five – monitor and review your risk assessment

The final and fifth step is to monitor and review your risk assessment. This will involve periodically checking that the control measures you have implemented are being used properly and that they are effective.

Any shortfalls should prompt a review of the risk assessment; and possibly result in new control measures (or better management of the ones you already have in place); and perhaps better training.

You should also review your risk assessment if there is an accident, or if new information about the hazard or activity becomes available.

So we are almost to the end of this video. Contact information and details of other training videos in this series follow.

Summary of the risk assessment process

1. identify the hazards
2. decide who might be harmed and how
3. evaluate and control the risk
4. record your findings
5. monitor and review

Thank you for watching.

Video Transcript was produced for CCVS by Green Pepper Consulting

Guidance links

• Managing risks and risk assessment at work
• Download the Safety Inspection Checklist DOC

CCVS Guide to Running a Safe Event

Hello, my name is David Green from Green Pepper Consulting; and in this short training
presentation I will be looking at how an event can be run safely.

Indeed, whenever you organise an event; you have a duty of care to those who attend. So
clearly you will want to avoid accidents or incidents that could cause harm to individuals.
The following explains what you need to do.

OK, This is what we’re going to cover…, We’ll start with the pre-event considerations, then
look at safety plans, followed by risk assessment, and finally, managing an event.
So lets begin with the pre-event considerations.

 

Pre-event considerations
Firstly, you should make someone have overall responsibility for the event’s safety.
Next, make a list of who will need consulting, such as the venue, your event partners and the
active participants. These could be performers, players, speakers, exhibitors etc.

If using contractors for any aspect, such as setting-up, lighting, catering, for example, make
sure they are safe and competent. Ask to see risk assessments and check references.
Alongside all of the above, check your organisation’s safety policy to ensure that you are
following your stated safety arrangements and responsibilities.
And finally, draw up an event safety plan.

This is a key step and we shall cover this next.

 

So what goes into a safety plan?
A key step in planning a safe event is to consult with those who will be involved.
As we have seen, this will include your team, the venue, any partner organisations and
active participants.

Consulting is important to identify the expected roles of those involved, the activities that will
take place at the event; and to find out about possible hazards and the risk assessments that
will be needed.

If you can, visit and inspect the venue as this can inform many aspects of your safety plan.
Next, sketch or obtain a site layout, even if your event is outdoors. This can help you decide
who goes where, the maximum numbers of attendees, and consider the entry and exit
routes etc.

Then assign someone to carry out risk assessments; and check those risk assessments
already supplied by the participants and others. Where gaps are identified, new risk
assessments should be undertaken.

The goal is to make sure everyone knows what safety measures are needed when the event
starts. There will be more on this topic later in the video.

While considering hazards, it is wise to consider contingencies in the case of severe
weather. Outdoor events are more prone to problems, but indoor ones can also suffer,
especially when approaches to buildings are slippery, or when hot weather is making venues
uncomfortable.

So assess poor wintery conditions, or hot summer days in the same way you would as any
other hazard; and plan your response.

Regardless of the size of your event, you should include a crowd or people management
plan. For bigger events youmay also need to include traffic management.

You will also want to ensure, if necessary, that you can contact key people during the
event…so prepare a contact list; and know where they will be if you need them.

A good way to ensure things run smoothly is to appoint members of your team as stewards,
and brief them on what they will need to do. This will include people management, ensuring
safety controls are followed, reporting problems and dealing with accidents.

A very important part of the planning process is to know how to deal with emergencies. You
need to ensure that there are clearly marked fire exits, and that your team of stewards know
what to do if the worst happens. You should also nominate a person to call the emergency
services.

Finally, your safety plan should also include arranging insurance if your existing insurance
does not extend to events. And don’t forget to check information about facilities such as
drinking water, toilets and anything else the venue can provide to help with wellbeing.
Where the venue can’t provide such things, you may have to use contractors so don’t leave
arranging these until the last minute.

Here then is a short summary of what goes into a safety plan.
• consultation
• layout of venue
• risk assessment
• weather contingencies
• people/traffic management
• contact list
• stewards
• emergency procedure
• insurance
• and facilities

 

Risk assessment
We now come to risk assessment.
This will form a vital part of your safety plan; and the results of your risk assessments will
decide how your event can be run.
The process involves assessing all foreseeable risks, whether they be from the activities of
your organisation, the active participants, your chosen venue, or even the public.

So as well as your own risk assessments, you will need to consider any risk assessments
provided by the venue, exhibitors, performers, stall holders, speakers, contractors or
whatever other organisations are involved.

It is from these risk assessments that you can take steps to avoid or control any safety risks
that are presented by your event.

But what does a risk assessment involve…? Well, there are five steps involved in risk
assessment…
1. Identify the hazard(s)
2. Decide who might be harmed, and how
3. Evaluate and control the risk(s)
4. Record your findings
5. Monitor your safety measures, and review them if needed
For more detail on risk assessment, please see our separate training video, Risk
Assessment Made Simple.

 

Managing an event
The final topic is “managing your event” from a safety perspective….
There are a number of considerations.

Firstly, before the event starts ensure that health and safety is covered in an induction for
stewards and the active participants so that everyone understands their role, including what
to do if there is an accident.

Next, check that safety measures are in place.

Thirdly, make sure there are signs and notices to help enforce health and safety.
Also, ensure that stewards and active participants are aware of the emergency procedure;
and understand what they would have to do, should an emergency arise.

Ensure that stewards can guide people so they can move safely into, during and out of the
event. This people management should be in your safety plan. Good signage to car parking
may also be needed.

During the event, monitor safety measures during the event as it progresses, and be ready
to act on a problem.

Finally, check-in with stewards during the event, so keep close at hand your list of key
contacts and your safety plan.

Once the event finishes, do another inspection to check any taking down of equipment is
following correct procedures; and that the venue is left in good order.

Then debrief your team, and learn any lessons for next time.

 

Well, that’s all our topics covered. So before I finish, let’s have a very brief summary of what
it takes to run a safe event…
Consult all those who will be involved
Draw up a safety plan
Assess risks and implement safety measures
Raise awareness of the safety plan so everyone knows who is responsible for what
particular actions
And finally: Monitor safety as the event progresses.
….Thank you for listening.