Health and Safety Policy

 The main aim of the health and safety policy is to make the organization understand and follow the requirements of health and safety management system, and also to make the organization understand that the requirements of health and safety management system cannot be bypassed.

There are three sections for the health and safety policy.

Statement of intent

Statement of intent is a written and signed commitment from the senior most level of management stating that health and safety is their prime concern in all levels of the organization and would do utmost in their power to make sure that health and safety is implemented and maintained in the workplace.

Organisation

Organisation section basically deals with roles and responsibilities of each and every person in the organization in relation to health and safety and what they are accounted for in case of any breach in the section. It also explains the chain of command within an organization and also the line of communication.

Arrangement

Arrangement section of the policy basically deals with the arrangements that are in place to manage health and safety in the workplace. This section is considered to be the live section of the policy and is subjected to constant change with respect to the everchanging demands of the workplace and its environment. 

Some of the arrangements that are in place are:-

1. Risk assessment, which is identifying and categorizing the risks according to the threat that it poses. This is also called as risk profiling.

2. Control measures that are in place to reduce these risks. These can be divided into elimination , substitution, engineering controls, managemental control and PPE. It can also be categorized into protective and preventive.

3. Emergency control measures that are in place.

4. Safe System of Work and Permit to work systems that are in place to reduce, control and eliminate the hazards that are present.

5. Active and Reactive monitoring methods that are in place.

6. Visitor and Contractor control measures.

7. Welfare facilities and first and first aid.

8. Information , Instruction and Training that is being given according to the requirements.

9. Health Surveillance.

Many of the risks and hazards are job specific, hence the arrangements and control measures are for that particular type of job and cannot be used for any other type of job.