Putting good health and safety measures into practice does not have to be complicated, expensive or time-consuming. This page sets out what you need to know and do to effectively manage health and safety.
Health and safety law requires all businesses and the self-employed to ensure we do not put ourselves or others in danger - this includes members of the public.
Enforcement Responsibilities
Inspectors from HSENI or your local district council enforce health and safety law.
See Enforcement Responsibilities which details what falls to HSENI or local councils for inspection and enforcement.
Accident reporting
All accidents and incidents at work must be reported and recorded. If there has been an incident at work which results in an employee being off work for over 3 days you must complete and submit an accident form (NI2508) to the enforcing authority. You must also keep records of all injuries, accidents and work-related diseases under health and safety law.
For more detailed information please see:
Information you must display
There is certain information that all businesses (no matter how small) must display in a prominent place where all staff can see it. The Health and Safety Law Poster must be displayed, or alternatively, an employer could provide staff with a poster pocket card. For more detailed information please see:
Insurance
It is the law, if you employ anyone, to have Employers' liability compulsory insurance and you must display a valid copy of your certificate.
See our Insurance page for more information.
Risk assessments
All employers and self -employed people must assess risks at work. You need to do risk assessments to find out about the risks in your workplace, put sensible measures in place to control them, and make sure they are controlled. A risk assessment should be a practical exercise aimed at getting the right controls in place - keep it simple and put the results into practice. Businesses with five or more employees must record the significant findings of their risk assessment.
See our page on risk assessments for more information.
Health and safety policy
Businesses with five or more employees should have a written health and safety policy which clearly sets out how you manage health and safety in your workplace by defining who does what, and when and how they do it.
See our page on health and safety policy for more information - this page also includes an example policy and a downloadable template to help you create your policy.
Resources
- An introduction to health and safety
- Protect your profit
- Five steps to risk assessment
- Employers' liability insurance
- RIDDOR - guidance
Legislation
- Health and Safety at Work Order (Northern Ireland) 1978 - legislation.gov.uk
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (NI) 2000 - legislation.gov.uk
- Employer's Liability (Defective Equipment and Compulsory Insurance) (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 - legislation.gov.uk
Please note that these links are to the original legislation on the OPSI website, visitors should verify for themselves whether legislation is in force or whether it has been amended or repealed by subsequent legislation.