Outsourcing Health & Safety

Whilst Health & Safety is everyone’s responsibility, employers legally must appoint someone competent to help organisations meet their health and safety duties. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage health and safety.

However, health and safety legislation is not very clear. It can be challenging at times as it doesn’t allow organisations or employers the flexibility to manage health and safety in a manner which best fits their work activities. There is also sometimes confusion as to what is a recommendation and what is a legal requirement. As a result, determining what you need to do to comply with the law can be confusing, frustrating and feel like an unnecessary burden.

In some cases, staff members have the necessary skills to be able to draft a simple health and safety policy, risk assessments, checklists and inspection records, and keep businesses on the right side of the law, however, not every business has a suitable skilled competent person in their midst so the role often ends up falling to the business owner. Plus, one of the biggest challenges a business can face is getting employees (and management) to buy into the value of workplace Health & Safety.

Let’s be honest, getting your staff excited about health and safety is a little ambitious! This is where outsourcing health and safety support with Acorn Health & safety comes in. Get in touch with us to discuss our ‘Hassle-Free’ consultancy service which includes the review and creation of health and safety policies.

Acorn Health & Safety is a leading provider of health and safety consultancy in the South West. So, whether you require support with a one-off assessment, or a complete health and safety management system, we can help. Plus, there has never been a more exciting time to join us than now! We are nearing completion on our exciting new portal, our most significant project in over 20 years of business. The portal will streamline and further improve our training and consultancy, administrative processes, and overall customer experience.

All documents will be digital with our retained customers being able to export and print blank templates. The portal will enable customers to book courses, store documents, access forms / templates and record accidents. We are keeping our customers up to date throughout the process as and when new features become live.

Our health and safety consultancy services fall broadly into three main categories:

• Our retained service ‘Hassle Free‘
• General advice or tailored health and safety consultancy
• Support aimed specifically at Construction, Building Management and Trades, Education, Health and Social Care, Food Safety and Landlords

Acorn has over 20 years of experience, and our team of qualified and experienced consultants specialise in a wide range of subjects including food safety, healthcare, event management, the construction industry, fire safety and asbestos.

With experience comes a practical approach and more importantly the recognition that health and safety should complement the day-to-day business activities. Subsequently, we have developed a grounded and pragmatic approach to health and safety to help keep you and your staff safe.

Irrespective as to whether you are a new and growing business, or an established organisation, you are responsible for identifying the hazards and managing the risks within your business. We are ideally placed to allow you to identify recommendations, as well as the legal requirements to ensure that you are fully compliant. We can remove a lot of that burden and make managing health and safety in your business hassle-free.

Hassle Free – Our retained consultancy service
When you sign up for our ‘Hassle Free’ consultancy service, you are what is known as a retained client. This allows us to offer a retained service in which we can advise and support you on all things relating to health and safety as well as fire safety. In addition to accessing competent health and safety advice, you’ll also benefit from:

• Preparation of a written health and safety policy and an annual review
• A suite of documents, forms and templates with your company logo on
• Use of our on-line portal where all your documents can be accessed, stored and reviewed
• A certificate of membership
• One full day of on-site consultancy
• Monthly e-zines and information on a rolling programme of health and safety topics (Toolbox Talks) to help keep safety on the agenda
• A face to face meeting at your premises after six months to help keep you on track
• An annual face to face meeting or site visit
• A 10% discount on all Acorn Health and Safety training courses
• Additional guidance for those with SSIP accreditation’s

Our amazing team of consultants have a very large and varied skill set. When you contact us for consultancy work you will be assigned the consultant which best fits the needs of your business.

As a result, they can design bespoke health and safety policies and various other document templates that suit your business. In addition to the ‘paper’ support, your consultant is available at any time to guide and advise you in assessing, implementing and improving your health and safety management systems.

Should you be seeking accreditation with an SSIP scheme, for example, CHAS, SMAS, safecontractor and constructionline, to name but a few, or are going through a tender process with a client, we can greatly assist with this.

We provide practical advice, knowledge and confidence on all aspects of health and safety, providing as much or as little support as you require.

We regularly speak with clients where health and safety has simply slipped down the agenda meaning policies, procedures, assessments, either haven’t been done, or our outdated. As an SME ourselves, we understand this. However, we also recognise that the potential risk for business, their employees and others is significant.

Besides not complying with legal duties, businesses may find themselves not meeting requirements of insurers in addition to placing their reputation, and on occasions individual Directors, at significant risk.

If outsourcing is something you or your company are considering but are unsure of the benefits, we’ve summarised the main ones here for you:

 

•  Free up some valuable time – Keeping abreast of changes In health and safety practise and legislation takes time, and whilst this information is increasingly available on the Internet, finding it, then interpreting it can be difficult with an increasing amount of contradictory advice and comment given. This is where we can help. We make sense of HSE legislation, advise and guidance, apply it to your business activities taking a grounded and pragmatic view.

• Flexibility – There’s no such thing as a daft question, and in the vast majority of cases it’s something we will have been asked before. From drafting policies and procedures to reviewing reports undertaken by external organisations, providing advice on accident reporting, and reviewing risk assessments we are here to help.

• Reduce your costs whilst gaining expert support – Our team of dedicated, competent advisors come at a fraction of employing a full time staff member and take time to get to know and understand you team and business, whilst at the same time recognising health and safety needs to be complementary to day to day business activities. All of which is provided for a manageable monthly fee.

• Impartial unbiased views – Our consultants look at businesses objectively, through a fresh pair of eyes.  We’ll tell you what you are doing well, identify areas where improvements can be made, and certainly tell you if we feel your business is at risk.

• Reducing risk – By outsourcing, you have someone with clear knowledge on real health & safety issues who can help you review your risk assessments and ensure they are fit for purpose and means you’re more likely to be fulfilling your legal health and safety requirements.

Please visit our website for further information, contact us or call us on 0117 453 5904 for any Health & Safety needs.