Hi We are currently reviewing health & safety policies and thinking of making an over arching health & safety policy which will contain all the legal bits with links to proecures behind it (ie: manual hanlding, slips trips falls, coshh etc). Although the HSE website does state that a policy is required for manual hanlding but don't see this mentioned in the guidance notes. Has anyone else gone down this route or kept to individual policies? Thought and comments would be much appreciated. Kind regards Helen

Do you have a company intranet? These days, it is often more convenient to structure information to suit web pages, topics and searches. Few are bothered about how the information is labelled or what you call it, provided it gives them the information they need. Always worth asking the simple questions:Who is this document for? Does it give them what they want or need to know? I'm for a simple overarching Policy Statement telling every stakeholder (including external Stakeholders) about the Organisation's general approach to compliance and managing risk - with a chunk of it devoted to the required behaviours of all employees. Policy Statements tend to be goal-setting and non-specific. For specific aspects of workplace risk you may have or need an in-house Strategy Document (adopted by the Board, Senior Management etc.) to eliminate or reduce risk over the short, medium and longer term and this might discuss specific commitments to investment for additional resources (training, remedial therapy, equipment, etc.)

One approach you may like to consider is: - An over-arching OSH policy, as required by UK legislation, but with any brief 'supporting policies' you think you need - for example typically they may cover: Smoking; Drugs & Alcohol; working from home; etc. - As many 'Standards' as you think you need - these are detailed documents that define expectations for the whole organisation (and so can also include the subsidiary Policies mentioned above), give references, etc. An MH Standard seems to be what you are describing. Standards are the basis for any specific training within the organisation. - Local Procedures, that define how the Policy & Standards are implemented locally, included responsibilities, etc. but don't need to be bulked out with all the detail that's in the Standard. Procedures are the basis for local inductions for personnel new to a position, and informal/on-the-job training.

Many thanks for your comments. May need to re-look at what I have done so far and tweek a little! Kind regards Helen