Posted By Stephen Woods Are employers with fewer than five employees exempt from the requirement for a written statement of their general policy under as required under section 3?

Posted By Stephen Woods Frank, I hope this clarifies my question. I run a firm that employs three people. Am I required to prepare and as often as may be appropriate revise a written statement of his general policy with respect to the health and safety at work of my employees? Or am I exempt from doing this in the same way that I am exempt from having to have written records of risk assessments (which I do carry out)? If I am exempt where will I find rhe regulation or clause that exempts me? All help appreciated.

Posted By Stephen Woods Paul, I cannot see the exemption in section 3. The copy of the act in front of me reads: (3) Except in such cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of every employer to prepare and as often as may be appropriate revise a written statement of his general policy with respect to the health and safety at work of his employees and the organisation and arrangements for the time being in force for carrying out that policy, and to bring the statement and any revision of it to the notice of all his employees. It may be prescribed under exemptions but I cannot find it?

Posted By Ian Goddard stephen it would be best practice anyway to do a policy, in regards to the public and young people who may be working on your premises and also contractors. this would then cover you under section 2 subsection 3 of the 74 act. regards Ian

Posted By Frank Hallett Thanks for the response & clarification Stephen, it is most helpful and will assist with a properly focussed answer. As previously identified you are exempted from the specific legal requirement to produce a written [in any format] H&S Policy by the HSWA. You have obviously taken H&S reasonably seriously as you already produce RA's; so you're actually a long way down that management control road already. However, you will need to consider the following against your legal right to not produce or maintain a formal H&S Policy document. First, if you have a client who insists that you must produce and provide a written H&S Policy in order to get their work, that is their right in Civil Law and also in H&S as it will generally be a principle means by which they demonstrate that they are fulfilling their HSWA S3 duties and also their MHSW duties in Regs 5 & 12. Second, if your business is involved in an event that subsequently involves a Civil case for damages, how will you prove to the Court that you have a defensible means of providing consistant information to a clearly defined standard that will minimise the possibility of you being on the receiving end of a judgement? Third, but certainly no less important. If you are involved in any form of enforcement activity, how will you prove to the standard required [99%] that you have provided consistant information to a clearly defined standard that will minimise the possibility of you being on the receiving end of an enforcement penalty Hope this deals with your problem. Frank Hallett

Posted By Stephen Woods Don't want to be smug but I now know the answer to where I can find the exemption. So far no one has got anywhere near to putting their finger on it. First one to provide the correct answer proves their worth as a H&S guru. Hope someone's up to it.

Posted By Frank Hallett I didn't know that it was a competition or I would've considered letting someone else get the plaudits. But thanks for the compliment anyway - it's all down to accessible references! You don't really think that I carry that sort of stuff in my head surely? Frank Hallett

Posted By ITK Exceptions to this requirement Those employers carrying on an undertaking in which, for the time being, having fewer than five persons are being employed, are excepted from the provisions of Sec 2(3). [Employers Health and Safety Policy Statements (Exception) Regulations 1975 (SI 1975 ~ 1584)]. Regard is to be given only to employees actually present on the premises, i.e. employees for the time being (not including relief staff (Osborne v Bill Taylor of Huyton 119821 IRLR 17)).

Posted By Anthony Slinger I thought the exemption for employers having to record health and safety arrangements (policy, POPIMAR etc) was explicit in the MHSWR Reg 5(2).

Posted By Frank Hallett Applause, applause!! I can stand any amount of it; thank you fans. Just to make sure though; Charley - just what was it you learnt today? All I did was answer the question quicker than others. Frank Hallett

Posted By PaulA Frank.... Sorry to jump on the thread.. but I also commend you on the standard of your replies to certain individuals.. It is my ugly face on the 'How did i get here?' pic in SHP.. and you were certainly one of the individuals that I reffered to when saying how much much I am inspired by certain individuals answers on the forum page. Are you retired and just love to sit in your Chesterfield and answer individuals questions? Keep up great work... Kind regards PaulA (Iraq!)

Posted By Adrian Watson Stephen There is no requirement to have a written policy where you employ less than 5 employees for the time being. i.e. if you have eight employees at one premises, but only 4 work at any one time you do not need a written policy. The exemption is not in the act; it is in the health and safety (exemptions) Regulations 1977. The title may not be quite right. However, get a copy of HSE Booklet 'an introduction to health and safety' from the HSE web site http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg259.pdf. This contains a template policy which needs the names to be written in it. It'll save you grief with an enforcement officer. Regards Adrian Watson

Posted By Frank Hallett OK everyone - I am now suitably embarrassed - and this is not an easy thing to achieve, trust me. In response to what appears to be a growing fan club [boy - you lot really do need to get out more!] and to put it into perspective, I can say that I am not retired nor retiring [that's something else that has never been considered one of my foremost attributes] and I am an independant consultant [but that's not why I provide material to this Forum]. My principal reasons for my Forum involvement are to put something back into the H&S movement in the most effective way that I can and to generally try to help people to gain a better understanding of pragmatic application of H, S & F management principles. I make no apologies if that comes across as arrogant to some; just 'cos that may be how it's perceived, that's not how it's intended. Frank Hallett