Managing Health & Safety in Your Organisation

An H&S management system is the framework an organisation uses to manage health and safety risks — including how risks are identified, assessed and controlled, how findings are acted upon and reviewed, how staff are trained and informed, and how compliance is evidenced. It doesn't need to be complex to be effective.

If you employ five or more people, yes — you must have a written health and safety policy. The policy must state your commitment to health and safety, identify who is responsible for specific actions, and explain how you organise and manage H&S in practice.

Warning signs include: risk assessments that haven't been reviewed in more than a year; no clear record of who is responsible for H&S actions; staff who don't know what to do in an emergency; no system for reporting near misses or concerns. If any of these sound familiar, a management review would be a useful starting point.

We review your existing documentation, interview key staff or managers, and assess whether your current arrangements meet legal requirements and best practice. We then provide a written report with prioritised recommendations and, if needed, support for implementing the changes.

Yes. All organisations with employees or volunteers have H&S management obligations, regardless of size or sector. The approach we take is always proportionate — a small charity doesn't need the same system as a large employer, but it does need a system that works.