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Small Business

Health and safety law applies to all businesses, however small. It covers employees, full- or part-time, temporary or permanent, the self-employed, young people doing work experience, apprentices, charity workers, mobile workers and home-workers. If you hire temps or casuals from agencies you have health and safety responsibilities towards them too.

Controlling danger at work is no different from any other task – you need to recognise problems, know enough about them, decide what to do and act on the solutions.

Having a good health and safety programme at work can save you money and bring increased productivity to your business – and it can be very easy to implement.

Effective health and safety precautions don't have to be costly, time consuming, or complicated; they can be simple and easy to start. The main points you should consider are:

  • Managing risk
  • Keeping Employees Healthy and Safe
  • Managing absence

Work accidents and ill health can be expensive. Stopping them happening can save you time and money. The smaller your business the bigger the impact will be if a member of your staff has a serious accident, or is off sick for an extended period of time. It could even put you out of business.

There are several important areas to consider if you want to reduce the cost of ill health or accidents caused by the working environment.

  • Absence
  • Replacement staff/Recruitment costs
  • Insurance and compensation
  • Reputation damage
  • Productivity and efficiency

You will find a wide range of information on our website related to health and safety, we also have a business advisory unit - Health and Safety Works Northern Ireland (HSWNI) who provide free confidential advice specifically to small businesses.