Posted By Robert Woods In an organisation with 3 equal partners how do you decide who is to take overall responsibility for H&S. Must one individual do this? My understanding is this decision must be made as there must be an individual to hang when things go wrong. Advice please.

Posted By Eric Letherman Depending upon what type of work the organisation is involved in, it might not matter that there is no one person with responsibility for health and safety as long as the arrangements are effective and produce the desired result. However, if the organisation is a limited company there are some legal responsibilities that cannot be dealt with on a collective basis. The company's articles of incorporation will specify the officers of the company and this might suggest which partner is best placed to take on the safety responsibilities. The purpose of having one person with health and safety responsibilities is to ensure that the organisation has a clear allocation of responsibility within its leadership, rather than serving up a scapegoat. Unless this person has been grossly negligent it is unlikely that s/he will be held responsible for the negligence of other senior officers of the company. If things go badly wrong I'm sure the HSE will find a noose big enough for three heads. I hope this is helpful.