Safety Statements & Risk Assessment?

Kent Brockman

Is there any sole traders out there working from home who have already completed the H&S documentation required for a home based office? Lets assume the public will not be visiting this office (all dealings will be via phone, email or post).
Is there much documentation Involved with regard to risk assessment and safety statements/ fire escape routes/ hazards etc.?

cashelking

Hi,

Well dont pay anyone to do it, those HS people will fleece you for no reason, I had a similar thing with my business, go to the HSA website, if you are a small company they have everything there. I signed up for their newsletter, tell you all the new stuff and they brought out a new safety statement risk assessment program for small businesses, covered my line of work anyway and I am sure it would cover yours. they also have info on office type environments and display screens etc.

Should help you out better than getting something wrong from someone and I mean a phoney consultant too!

BnB

cashelking wrote: »

Hi,

Well dont pay anyone to do it, those HS people will fleece you for no reason, I had a similar thing with my business, go to the HSA website, if you are a small company they have everything there. I signed up for their newsletter, tell you all the new stuff and they brought out a new safety statement risk assessment program for small businesses, covered my line of work anyway and I am sure it would cover yours. they also have info on office type environments and display screens etc.

Should help you out better than getting something wrong from someone and I mean a phoney consultant too!

That is shockingly bad "advice". Don't use H&S consultants because they will "fleece you for no reason". Mother of God.

OP - What do you need the Safety Statement for ? Are you covering yourself in the event of a HSA visit or is it a requirement of a customer ?

Will you be stocking anything in the office ?

Will you be going out on Client Sites ?

Do you use any kind of machines apart from a pc ?

cashelking

So you are saying that a H & S consultant wont just re-has something they used before and tell you that they spent x amount of hours on it, yet they really only spent 1 making the required changes!! Are they a trained ergonimist who will be able to assess everything? If so fair play, if not...

There are a pretty large amount of so called H & S people floating about scare mongering people about 'the dreaded HSA' and their 'visits' etc, its an office, not a nuclear power plant! the vast amount of these H & S people have flip all qualifications yet spend their time telling people what they should and shouldnt be doing, they use the term 'competent' a lot, I wonder does their own 'competency' stand up to the test!

BnB, not trying to cause aggro here, just going on past experience with what maybe a few bad eggs i was unlucky to encounter, so maybe next time I encounter one it may be different. I am all for safety and often its used as an excuse to get people out of certain situations which gives it a bad name, and this tends to come up with people, I understand this, but i am basing my opinion on my experience and as I said I am willing to be proved wrong!

Kent,
Go to the HSA site, they will give you all the info you need and you can input your risks etc and they will generate your safety statement, worked for me. I'm sure if they came visiting at home, hardly that likely, but they would be happy you took the time to research what was required on their site and did it yourself - so long as you are not messing about with uranium!

Let me know if it doesnt cover everything... I came across a few other sites I can send on.

BnB

I don't want to hijack the OPs thread so, I'll just leave it at - Cashelking - I disagree strongly.

davemac83

Jees Cashelking, if you were any good you might send him on your safety statement seeing as you're the expert and have this area all sown up. Seeing as anyone can "rehash" this stuff, you would being saving him a few pound all whilst keeping your ego in check and competent h&s professionals on the dole.

Kent Brockman

BnB wrote: »

OP - What do you need the Safety Statement for ? Are you covering yourself in the event of a HSA visit or is it a requirement of a customer ?

Will you be stocking anything in the office ?

Will you be going out on Client Sites ?

Do you use any kind of machines apart from a pc ?

I am currently attending a Business developement Program and it is a requirement of the course to produce a safety statement, risk assessment and fire safety procedures for all on the course.(I believe they will be going into a business plan (?))
I do see the need for some on the course to have this done professionally (Roofer, Plumber and various tradesmen), but think it is overkill for Myself, an Accountant and a graphic designer who will all be home based.

I have public liability insurance and am a member of IOMST.( for attending trade shows/ craft fairs etc)

I use a laptop and a printer, and I put my prints into frames, All in my own home. No machinery or special tools.

I will have to do one but it seems that only the bare bones of any I have seen will apply to me. (Seems over-kill in some instances, but necessary in others).

cashelking

Kent fling us a PM with your email and I will see what I can do. Have a look here first:

http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Small_Business/Taking_Care_of_Business/BeSmart_-_The_Risk_Assessment_Tool/

BnB, your right, sorry I wasnt purposely trying to hijack the thread. Might discuss it somewhere else sometime.

Dave, I dont claim to be an expert, I was merely saying somepeople claim they are and use the word competent as some sort of buzz word, if you broke down the meaning, sure competent in some of it, but wholly competent?? Kent needs a small bit of help, doesnt need to be blown out of the water with excess info, its not rocket science for his operation. Plus I dont get 'you would being saving him a few pound all whilst keeping your ego in check and competent h&s professionals on the dole' - I have never asked for money, I think Kent came here looking for help and advise before he went paying a consultant or such. Competent H & S on the dole - but to avoid that then they must go and charge poor Kent 500+ when he's trying to set up a business for something he can get for free from the controlling authority, thats nice! How competent should one be in this situation, not a sarcastic tone in that I'm just curious as to what you think a person should have done or experienced etc to be competent. Maybe we should post it out away from Kent's as I said above, sorry kinda ignored that sorry, but might give Kent something to think about too.


MY EGO! If only you knew... I'm too modest to admit how great and right I am.

BnB

Kent Brockman wrote: »

I am currently attending a Business developement Program and it is a requirement of the course to produce a safety statement, risk assessment and fire safety procedures for all on the course.(I believe they will be going into a business plan (?))
I do see the need for some on the course to have this done professionally (Roofer, Plumber and various tradesmen), but think it is overkill for Myself, an Accountant and a graphic designer who will all be home based.

I have public liability insurance and am a member of IOMST.( for attending trade shows/ craft fairs etc)

I use a laptop and a printer, and I put my prints into frames, All in my own home. No machinery or special tools.

I will have to do one but it seems that only the bare bones of any I have seen will apply to me. (Seems over-kill in some instances, but necessary in others).

Well if that's what you need, then the tool that Cashel King linked on the HSA website is perfect. Spend half an hour with it and at the end you will have a perfect Safety Statemet. Use the option to download it in "rtf" format so you can edit it to include some personal stuff like name, address etc.

All together, an hour will get you well sorted.