E6. Ensure health and safety requirements are met in your area of responsibility

Sound File E6.wav

Outcomes of effective performance: You must be able to do the following:

1. Identify your personal responsibilities and liabilities under health and safety legislation.
2. Ensure that the organisation’s written health and safety policy statement is clearly communicated to all people in your area of responsibility and other relevant parties.
3. Ensure that the health and safety policy statement is put into practice in your area of responsibility and is subject to review as situations change and at regular intervals and the findings passed to the appropriate people for consideration.
4. Ensure regular consultation with people in your area of responsibility or their representatives on health and safety issues.
5. Seek and make use of specialist expertise in relation to health and safety issues.
6. Ensure that a system is in place for identifying hazards and assessing risks in your area of responsibility and that prompt and effective action is taken to eliminate or control identified hazards and risks.
7. Ensure that systems are in place for effective monitoring, measuring and reporting of health and safety performance in your area of responsibility.
8. Show continuous improvement in your area of responsibility in relation to health and safety performance.
9. Make health and safety a priority area in terms of informing planning and decision-making in your area of responsibility.
10. Demonstrate that your own actions reinforce the messages in the organisation’s health and safety policy statement.
11. Ensure that sufficient resources are allocated across your area of responsibility to deal with health and safety issues.
12. Develop a culture within your area of responsibility which puts ‘health and safety’ first.

Behaviours which underpin effective performance

1. You respond quickly to crises and problems with a proposed course of action.
2. You identify people’s information needs.
3. You comply with, and ensure others comply with, legal requirements, industry regulations, organisational policies and professional codes.
4. You are vigilant for possible risks and hazards.
5. You take personal responsibility for making things happen.
6. You identify the implications or consequences of a situation.
7. You act within the limits of your authority.
8. You constantly seek to improve performance.
9. You treat individuals with respect and act to uphold their rights.

Knowledge and understanding: You need to know and understand the following:

General knowledge and understanding

1. Why health and safety in the workplace is important
2. How and where to identify your personal responsibilities and liabilities under health and safety legislation
3. How to keep up with legislative and other developments relating to health and safety
4. The requirement for organisations to have a written health and safety policy statement
5. How to communicate the written health and safety policy statement to people who work in your area of responsibility and other relevant parties
6. How and when to review the application of the written health and safety policy statement in your area of responsibility and produce/provide findings to inform development
7. How and when to consult with people in your area of responsibility or their representatives on health and safety issues
8. Sources of specialist expertise in relation to health and safety
9. Ways of developing a culture in your area of responsibility which puts ‘health and safety’ first
10. The type of hazards and risks that may arise in relation to health and safety - how to establish and use systems for identifying hazards and assessing risks and the type of actions that should be taken to control or eliminate them
11. How to establish systems for monitoring, measuring and reporting on health and safety performance in your area of responsibility
12. Why and how health and safety should inform planning and decision-making
13. The importance of setting a good example to others in relation to health and safety
14. The type of resources required to deal with health and safety issues

Industry/sector specific knowledge and understanding

1. Sector-specific legislation, regulations, guidelines and codes of practice relating to health and safety
2. Health and safety risks, issues and developments which are particular to the industry or sector

Context specific knowledge and understanding

1. Other relevant parties with an interest in health and safety in your area of responsibility
2. The organisation’s written health and safety policy statement and how it is communicated to people who work for the organisation, people in your area and to other relevant parties
3. Sources of specialist health and safety expertise used in your area of responsibility
4. The operational plans for your area of responsibility
5. The resources allocated to and across your area of responsibility for health and safety
6. Allocated responsibilities for health and safety in your area and the organisation in general
7. Systems in place in your area of responsibility for identifying hazards and assessing risks and taking action
8. Systems in place for monitoring, measuring and reporting of health and safety performance in your area of responsibility