Time For Your Annual Health And Safety Review?

It's January - the start of a new year.

Now is a great time to review your health and safety documentation and management procedures*. To check that your paperwork is still accurate, after all, things change over time.

Having health and safety documents is great, it's often a legal requirement to write things like health and safety policies and risk assessments.

But when was the last time you carried out a formal review of your health and safety policies, documentation and procedures?

Do you have health and safety documents from 2 or 3 years ago? Or older?

Having your health and safety documentation in place is super, but as with any system, it needs maintenance. And with the years going by so fast, it's also important to remember when it is time for your annual health and safety review.

*You don't have to do your annual review in January. Maybe you have a quiet month at another time of the year that gives you a better chance to review your health and safety management. Pick a time that works best for you and your business.

Why do an annual health and safety review?

The annual review is a time to check that your policies and procedures are working and keeping people safe. It's their purpose in the first place.

Your annual review can help you to:

• Keep up to date with changes. Both inside and outside of your business.
• Improve health and safety performance. Find weaknesses in your current procedures by identifying areas of concern.

If your documents and procedures were created a few years ago, they might need to be brought up to date. After all, things change over time. What has changed that needs updating in your systems of work?

You might have changes in your work activities, for example:

• New machinery and equipment
• New staff
• New methods of work

Does your paperwork cover these new ways of working?

And changes can also happen outside of your business. For example, health and safety regulations might change, meaning you need to change your work procedures to comply with new rules and duties.

Changes to health and safety regulations can happen in April and October each year, so it's worth checking the HSE website, trade and industry resources and other sources of information (like our blog) to see what changes are happening.

And your annual review shouldn't just focus on things that have changed, but also be a chance to improve. Looking beyond documents and what's written down, how is your health and safety performance? Are there any areas of concern - for example, accident trends?

Review the results of audits and checks. Look at near-miss reports. Assess accident statistics. Get feedback from your team.

• Audits
• Checks
• Statistics
• Records
• Reports
• Feedback

Your documents are regularly requested by potential clients, investors, stakeholders and insurance companies. So your health and safety records must be clear and communicate the current priorities, arrangements and targets for your business.

By regularly reviewing changes and performance, your annual review can help keep your document up-to-date and make your workplace safer.

How to do an annual health and safety review

If this sounds like a lot of work - don't panic! An annual review doesn't mean you need to re-do everything.

You don't need to completely rewrite every health and safety document in your business. It doesn't need to be a month-long task. The annual review is a review, not a re-do! And that means you need to review your existing documentation and policies to ensure they are up to date, working, and compliant with best practices and current legislation.

So start by reviewing your documents.

• Are they still legally compliant?
• Do they still reflect your current work activities?

You should review your health and safety documentation and check if it is no longer valid or for any significant changes. If you haven't reviewed your documentation for a while, you might be surprised how much has changed.

If you are changing your work practices, or if regulations changes happen mid-year, you should review your documents at that time too, to keep them up to date.

Small changes over time might not trigger a review mid-year, but together, these small changes add up. So it's good practice to review your health and safety policy and other documentation such as risk assessments as a whole, at least annually.

1. Any assessment such as is referred to in paragraph (1) or (2) shall be reviewed by the employer or self-employed person who made it if—
   1. there is reason to suspect that it is no longer valid; or
   2. there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates; and where as a result of any such review changes to an assessment are required, the employer or self-employed person concerned shall make them.

The annual health and safety review should cover all levels of your business. Not only should your health and safety documents be legally compliant, but they also need to be read and understood by your team and others.

• Are employees and management working together to achieve the same health and safety goals?
• Do your policies and procedures work at all levels of your business?
• Is everyone doing what they need to do?
• Are inspections being carried out when they should?
• Are rules being followed?
• Do problems get resolved quickly?

The annual review means you can identify any areas that need changing or updating, and make the necessary improvements.

You might identify policy updates, problems to fix, training requirements or additional monitoring that's needed. You might find processes that need updating, hazards that need controlling or communication issues. These are all things that can be planned for the year ahead and used to promote health and safety performance.

Each year, you can compare performance against the year before. You can make adjustments and move forward with a safer and healthier team.

It doesn't matter when in the year you do your review. It could be at the start of the year, the end of the year, the start of the tax year, or at any other time of your choice. The important thing is you carry out your annual review around the same time every year so that your documents and procedures don't go out of date.

Make sure the review is carried out according to the plans, and that a report is issued to senior leaders at least annually.

Remember that best practice is to review if you need to make any changes to your health and safety documentation at least annually. But you might need to carry out reviews more frequently, for example:

• If there are changes to your work procedures
• Changes to your business activities
• Changes to relevant legislation impacting your business activities
• Evidence of any failings in health and safety management
• If there's an accident or incident

The above might sound time-consuming, but keeping your health and safety documentation accurate and up to date can save you time and money in the long term. How? Because good health and safety can save you money.

You might find a weakness or a failure in your review that can improve health and safety performance, reduce absences and risks, and improve productivity by protecting your workforce.

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Do you need help keeping your health and safety documentation up to date? We have a huge library of health and safety policy documents, health and safety forms and risk assessment templates you can edit and use for your business activities.