1st Edition

Practical Health and Safety Management for Small Businesses

By Jacqueline Jeynes Copyright 2000
    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    by Routledge

    Looking at the needs of small businesses, this book takes you through all the aspects of Health and Safety management in a small business step-by-step. It takes a straightforward, practical approach to identifying, organising and managing Health, Safety and Fire risks in your business. Whatever your motivation for choosing this guide, it will provide a sound basis for establishing a system or approach that is relevant to the individual business concerned.


    Practical Health and Safety Management for Small Businesses will help you to identify all the potential hazards, offering advice on how best to look after your employees and how to manage Health and Safety in your business. It has been produced as a direct result of recent research, based on discussions with Health and Safety Inspectors, the Fire Authorities, Insurance representatives, Health and Safety professionals, and of course, Small Businesses themselves. Taking into account the practical issues faced in small business units, this guide takes you through all the main aspects of managing fire, health and safety step-by-step.

    Practical Health and Safety Management for Small Businesses will help you establish a system that you can maintain, add-to and keep up-to-date as official regulations and your needs change. It is NOT a legal textbook, but IS a practical guide on how to establish an approach to organising and managing these issues. While following this guide cannot guarantee that your business now fully complies with all the relevant legislation that applies to it, it does enable you to demonstrate to others that you have made a reasonable attempt at bringing all these different elements together in a structured, holistic way.

    Full of practical advice sample Site Plans and Checklists, photographs and industry-specific sections, Practical Health and Safety Management for Small Businesses will prove an invaluable guide for all those involved in running smaller business units, as well as those offering support, advice or guidance to SMEs.

    The author, Jacqueline Jeynes, has run her own small business for 13 years and has represented the concerns of UK small firms internationally for seven years, through the Federation of Small Businesses' Policy unit. She has appeared in 10 BBC TV programmes on health and safety in small firms and is currently a UK member of the Advisory Committee to the European Commission on Safety, Health and Hygiene.

    Where to start? Context: What structure is your business? The work premises: Layout; Examples of floor plans for small and large premises; different outside areas; washing facilities; storage; customer reception. Processes: Movement of goods through business; Examples of manufacturing, retail, office and service industries. Safety and Security: Hazards, how to spot them; Risks, examples of Risk Assessment evaluations; Controls. Health and Environment: Hazards; Risks; Controls. Fire, Hazards; Risks; Controls. Managing Health and safety; Your Health and safety policy. Industry case studies to identify specific aspects to look at in more detail: offices, accountants, solicitors, butchers, hairdressers, beauticians, pubs, hotels, restaurants, food outlets, retail, light engineering, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, florist, carpenter and joiner, roofing, window cleaning, petrol stations, car wash facilities, crafts, pottery, textiles, construction, vehicle repairs, services, vets, animal establishments, service providers in shared premises or on others' premises. Glossary of terms. Other sources of information. Useful publications.

    Biography

    Jacqueline Jeynes

    'the point is well made that any safety management system should be considered as an integral part of the business management structure.....this is a good book for any employer to read'
    Safety and Health Practitioner, Feb. 2001

    '..a very useful book that is short on words, long on information and easy to read.' Health and Safety Review, November 2000

    'a user friendly guide specially designed with the smaller company in mind. The advice that is given in all the chapters is both sound and practical. It will be referred to repeatedly to check and develop the company health and safety strategy as time goes on..clearly the work of an expert in the field.'
    Fire Prevention, October 2000