Odd question but, I know that an employer with less than 5 employees is not required to have a written down policy but I am now getting questions from small companies who have employees some of which are 16, regarding their safety on site.
Due to the accident & claims culture am I right in thinking that they should really have this covered especially high risk activities/equipment. They are not even supposed to have an accident book unless they have more that 10 but surely the employees they do have deserve some attention/controls if it goes wrong.

The 'under 5 employees' thing is hog wash and was a political thing at the time as if an employer has only one employee and that employee gets killed or has a bad accident at work a judge will not say that its OK and do not bother as U have less than 5 employees will they!

The tax man nor any other organisation etc. does not treat a small employer any different to a large employer e.g. Employers with less that 5 employees do not pay smaller insurance premiums just based on their employee size so why should H&S be different?

I would advise all employers irrespective of how many employees they employ to have a suitable management system in place that accounts for their business risk rating and manage thereafter and having a 'management' policy is a good place to start. Remember that one employee can bring an business down

Many thanks all. You have confirmed my thoughts. I do like reading these discussion forums, you are all so helpful.