Beware of the law!
There are numerous statutes, regulations and approved codes of practice governing health and safety in the workplace, but primarily it is the employer's responsibility to provide an up-to-date, written health and safety policy for the business and to carry out, document and retain all required Risk Assessments. Failure to do so is a criminal offence in itself, but it is likely to lead to far more serious charges in the event of an accident.
Under existing law the consequence of an accident or prosecution can ultimately lead to the closure of a working premises, the disqualification from directorships, fines imposed by a criminal court and excessive legal costs, not to mention possible adverse effects on employer's liability insurance.
December 31st, 1992 saw the introduction and implementation of specific EC directives ralting to the health, safety and welfare of employees. Although many of the obligations under these reulations were already in force, there has been a tightening of existing requirements and extensions to cover such areas as the manual lifting of loads and the use of visual display units.
All businesses in the UK employing five or more persons on either a full or part-time basis must now appoint a 'competent person' to carry out a duty ensuring that all health and safety obligations are met.
Alarm bells ring over new Fire Regulations:
 New fire safety rules affecting all non-domestic premises in England and Wales came into force on 1 October 2006. If you are:
- responsible for business premises
- an employer or self-employed with business premises
- responsible for a part of a dwelling where that part is solely used for business purposes
- a charity or voluntary organisation
- a contractor with a degree of control over any premises
...then you need to act now to ensure you have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment in place.
Even if you have previously complied with fire regulations, you need to check that you also comply with the new legislation. Fire is a serious risk to any business and we recommend that you take steps to ensure that you are doing everything to avert a potential catastrophe.
SASS will assess your current level of compliance and, if necessary, complete and document all of your required risk assessments.
Beware of insurance "loopholes":
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 There is a rude awakening awaiting those businesses who think that employers' liability insurance will bail them out in case of an accident.
They could be paying high premiums but effectively receiving no cover if they fail to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 or, for example, new workplace fire regulations (see above).
In these cases you can expect your insurance company to reject a claim.
Contact SASS for a free assessment of your workplace to check what would be covered in the event of an accident... or stop the accident happening in the first place.
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The true cost of accidents :
 There are an estimated 1.6million workplace accidents every year in Britain alone - and the example, right, was just one of them. As well as being a personal tragedy, this incident also proved a very costly financial one. Often, though, the company found to be negligent faces far greater costs than those meted out by the courts. The trend towards bigger civil actions means that they can often expect to pay a second time as the victim of an accident claims compensation. In this case the company did learn from its mistake by instigating a safety policy after the accident had occured, but it is a classic case of locking the door after the horse had bolted and proved an expensive lesson to learn.
An assessment of the risks you face costs nothing from SASS .
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Even if a company recognises the risk of accidents, they may not properly address the problems caused by illness. Yet a 1995 survey showed that 2,000,000 people in Britain are suffering from a work-related illness - causing a massive financial burden for both the state and individual businesses.
The table, right, shows some of the more serious areas of occupational illness.
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