Whilst working as a UNISON shop steward at Westminster City Council, I learnt the importance of robust Health Safety and Welfare (HS&W) policies and procedures.
Workplace policies and procedures set out parameters for acceptable behaviour and guidelines for best practice in work situations. They should offer clear communication to your employees to set out how an organisation expects them to act. Policies and procedures contribute to the overall culture and the "feel" of the workplace, because they help to instil expectations and values.
Having clear, well communicated, easily accessible and understandable policies and procedures protects both employer and the employee in the unfortunate event of an accident or incident in the workplace.
As a minimum, an organisation should have well-developed policies and procedures in the following areas:
Workplace health, safety, welfare and security
Accident, illness and incident reporting and investigation
Hazard identification
First aid
Fire safety including bomb threat and emergency evacuation
Display Screen Equipment (DSE)
Legionella management and control (L8)
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH)
Manual handling
Home Working
Lone Working
New and expectant mothers
Occupational driving and riding
Workplace stress management
Preventing violence at work
Drugs and alcohol
Workplace bullying
Equal opportunity and sexual harassment
GDPR (2018)
Confidential information policy
Internet and email usage policy
Social media policy
Risk control and management (including risk assessment)
Communication and consultation
Performance monitoring and review
Code of conduct - which may refer to any of these other policies and procedures
Of course, not all policies and procedures are suitable for all workplaces, and others might need more. For example, depending on the nature of the work carried out by the organisation, policies and procedures regarding contractor safety, on-site traffic management, confined space entry, site lockdown, personal protective equipment (PPE), working at height and asbestos management may be needed.
At Beck Associates we specialize in advising organisations of their requirements. We work with an organisation to ensure they are involved in the process and that policies and procedures are fit for purpose, understandable and made freely and easily available to employees and stakeholders.
Workplace policies and procedures are often communicated to employees through a company handbook or policy and procedure manual which is normally provided to employees during the induction process. 1.1 See footnote
The handbook covers general categories of expected behaviour such as dress code, professional etiquette and specific workday procedures. It also addresses policy areas specific to the organisation via workplace risk assessment documents.Unfortunately, this handbook often finds its way to the bottom of an employee's desk drawer after the first week at work and remains there for the duration of their employment.
Some organisations maintain an intranet or other form of internal communication to update employees on changes to policies and procedures and new requirements.
Some forward thinking organisations are beginning to use software to manage, publish and review policies and procedures.
Any organisation can have the most robust and gold plated policies and procedures in the world but they are ineffective unless they are communicated to all employees effectively; made easily accessible to all employees and are easily understandable and not filled with business or legal jargon. In short if employees do not know where to find the policies and procedures how can they possibly adhere to them?
Policies and procedures are equally ineffectual if not created through some form of employee consultation and collaboration. If employees are alienated from the production process of policies and procedures, then they will almost certainly feel distanced from and uninterested in, the policy and procedure documents.
For business reasons the primary purpose of policies and procedures is the control and regulation of business practice. However, there is a higher purpose in that they help and protect people and make the workplace a safer environment.
Furthermore, policies and procedures help with the following;
Deliver an organisation's HS&W mission statement and enable the execution of its strategy
Outline expectations and consequences for misconduct to employees
Provide an accepted method of dealing with complaints and misunderstandings
Influence employee actions and support ethical, compliant decision-making
Create a positive and respectful workplace and organisational culture through consistency
Foster credibility and trust with clients and business partners
Improve productivity and promote smoother business operations
Meet legal standards of operational compliance
Avoid legal claims, costs, fines and fees for intervention and therefore mitigate risk and liability
Prevent, detect and react to criminal conduct
The advantages are clearly too significant to ignore. Organisations therefore need to look at the most effective ways of delivering their policies and procedures to employees. In the past I have used a very powerful policy and procedure management software package called "Every". In my experience with Every, once a policy has been written and approved through the organisation's assurance processes it is uploaded into the software. The policy can then be sent to relevant groups of staff; e.g. only certain staff members may need to know the policy on Driving and Riding for Work Purposes. Once the policy has been received by an employee with an instruction that it must be read, it is then checked as being received and read by the software. Reports can then be generated to check those employees who have confirmed they have read and understood the policy. Arrangements can be made to provide further information or training to those employees who have not understood the policy and procedure.
Making sure that employees read policies and procedures is a first step toward compliance. However, on its own it is not enough; training or further training and education can be offered to those who have not understood the substance of policies and procedures. On-line training should also be provided which allows an organisation to save time and money by allowing employees to complete training independently on their own time.
Policies and procedures should all have a review date to account for changes in the law or technology or changes in operational practices. Reminders should be set for the review date, or if you are using a software package this can be automatically set. Before the date is reached a reminder is sent to the clerk to the board, or whoever is responsible for making sure policies are reviewed regularly, for re-approval. The policy can then be electronically redistributed to the relevant employees.
Employees who have been consulted on and collaborated in the production of policies and procedures are more likely adhere to them.
When employees have a better understanding of the purpose of the policy and procedure and see them effectively and consistently enforced, this sends a clear signal about the leadership's attitudes toward the policy and the consequences of their violation.
It is therefore paramount that leadership set the tone about the value and the importance of abiding by company policies and procedures. Clear, consistent messaging from leaders in combination with comprehensive employee training and continuing education are essential in creating a solid and effective health, safety and welfare culture of compliance.
In my opinion, the "Every" software solution provides the perfect platform in order to store, manage and distribute an organisation's policies and procedures. Employees can access policies and procedures from anywhere, using a computer or mobile device. Keyword searches are possible enabling faster location of documents that are required quickly, saving time, money and resources for an organisation in the long term. Most importantly of all though, it will help to ensure that employees are certain of what is expected of them and provide clear boundaries for the safe performance of their roles. The advantage for the employer is that they have a record of employees who are familiar with the organisation's policies and procedures and those who are not can be offered further training and education.
If this more modern way of operating is beyond an organisation's capability, then as an absolute minimum they should ensure that policies and procedures are front and centre of all employee communications and are made known to employees via the traditional means of a staff intranet or staff briefings. With the introduction of policy management systems like "Every" the days of the employee handbook gathering dust in the bottom drawer are hopefully coming to an end.
Footnote 1.1
At Beck Associates Ltd we believe that this is the wrong time to engage with new employees on Health Safety and Welfare issues. The first few days of a new job are a stressful and busy time when onus may be placed upon meeting new people and assimilating lots of new information. Any focus on health, safety and welfare can easily be lost during this time.
Instead the HS&W policy and procedure should be made part of the contractual agreement between the employee and employer and sent to the employee before they commence work so that they have the opportunity to read and digest their responsibilities in relation to HS&W and return a signed document to the employer stating that they have understood these responsibilities before they commence work.
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