Workplace Report June 2000

Features: Health and safety

Health and safety help for employers

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a simple guide to help employers identify health and safety problems in the workplace and to get the right help at the right time to comply with their legal requirements.

The leaflet, Need help on health and safety, provides a practical checklist of questions to assist employers identify health and safety problems. It encourages them to adopt a preventive and protective approach to health and safety, and to involve employees and their representatives in identifying problems and seeking solutions.

The leaflet, which also gives advice on what to consider when buying in help from outside and a list of useful contacts, combines and updates two previous HSE leaflets, Selecting a health and safety consultancy, and Need advice on occupational health?

The HSE says it has been published in response to calls from small and medium sized enterprises for simple guidance on working out health and safety problems, and where they can go for help.

Single, free copies can be obtained from HSE Books (see box).