UK Fire Health and Safety Requirements for Small Companies

There are many health and safety requirements to adhere to depending on the size and type of your organisation. We will look at these in more detail in the coming months.

To start with, listed below are the legal requirements for an ordinary office environment with up to 49 employees (note that factories and other workplaces will have diferent legal requirements).

• Employers Liability Insurance certificate to be displayed
• Health & Safety Risk Assessments to be completed and documented- this includes fire risk assessment. first-aid requirements, manual handling, emergency evacuation procedures, working with harmful substances and the safe use of machinery, equipment and tools and display screen equipment.
• Health and Safety law poster must be displayed.
• A written health and safety policy document - this should cover subjects such as allocation of responsibilities and indentifying any staff representatives (first aiders/fire marshals etc). It should also specify who will carry out risk assessments.
• Ensure all employees have received health and safety training and ensure this is documented.
• Provision of an accident book or electronically document accidents at work – depending on the type of accident you may need to report this to the health and safety executive under the RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995)

Provide health and safety signs to-

• Prohibit specific actions or activities such as smoking
• Warn people of potential hazards
• Provide information on the location of first aid equipment/first aiders/fire marshals

And provide fire safety signs to:

• Indicate emergency escape routes and exit doors
• Mark all exit doors in public places
• Indicate the location of fire extinguishers