Occupational Health and Safety in the workplace

The Health and Safety Executive or HSE sets the standards for workplace safety and health, as recommended by the European Union’s (EU) directive of harmonisation of the workplace standards.

The Health and Safety Executive set the guidelines that must be followed by every employer in order to ensure that all staff are working in good conditions and that there is no risk of serious illness or injury. These rules are used to determine whether companies follow safe working practices and can also set the maximum safe daily working hours and number of days off that a company can keep. Every year there are inspections of all employers in the UK to see that they are adhering to the guidelines and are maintaining good health and safety at work. If companies don’t adhere to the regulations they can be fined by the HSE and in some cases there could even be legal action taken against them. A good Occupational Health Wales company like Insight Occupational health will be able to help you follow the guidelines that are relevant to your business and keeping your staff safe and healthy.

Many people work in very stressful conditions at work which is a major cause of ill health and fatal injuries. It is important for these people to know that they have clear information about the hazards on their job and that they are able to protect themselves from these risks. Occupational Health and Safety legislation cover a wide range of different jobs – from waste management to plumbing – but it is mainly designed to protect those working in these fields. For example, if you were a plumber and were required to use water from a chemical pond at work, then it would be illegal to do so without having your company abide by the Health and Safety Act.