Good evening All,

I am a newly appointed H&S Manager within a Company.

I am unsure if I need my own insurance? Also when writing the Company H&S policy etc is it worth having a Commercial Solicitors validate these documents?

I want to ensure that if anything were to happen that I was covered.

Just looking for some general advice!

Hi Kate,

Many thanks I will enquire to ensure that this is the case. With regards to not me but the employer - there seems to be a large discussion at the moment on personnel of the business rather than the Company itself being fined etc?

In HR - the Company's solicitors create the relevant policies. My question is that is it not worth doing the same for H&S? I.e. formal documentation that would be used in the event of a claim? Or would it rather be something that if written by me (being new to the role and all) that could be externally checked over?

Personally I believe everything is now covered within the H&S policy however if it were to be verified it would at least set my mind at ease!

First of all - good luck in your new role.

Your company's insurance will cover you, however for your own piece of mind just ask your employer to confirm this. Any claims submitted will be against your company as Kate mentioned in her response. If you were self employed as a H&S consultant you would need to get yourself insured. A health and safety policy is only a statement of intent and included in it should be a written statement of assigned responsibilities so it should be straight forward and as brief as possible because if must be displayed within your company.
I find that networking within IOSH is extremely helpful and asking colleagues for examples of a H&S policy would be a good place to start.
I once did some work for a company and when I asked to see their H&S policy they proudly gave me a 250 page document to read. That's not a H&S company policy that was their complete H&S system.

Yet again good luck

The trouble with insurance is that it doesn't cover fines (although it may cover other costs related to prosecutions eg legal advice, and it will cover compensation claims). If someone (whether individual or organisation) is fined, they have to pay the fine from their own resources regardless of what insurance they have, as insurers are prohibited from insuring against fines.

Prosecutions of individuals do occasionally happen, and they are discussed a lot when they do partly because they are so unusual.

I can see why you might have legal advice for HR policies, because these cover legally complex areas with many pitfalls, such as dismissal. If the dismissal policy is flawed, it may result in unfair dismissal claims succeeding even though dismissing the person might have been the right thing to do (but it was done in the wrong way). A solicitor might well be able to recognise such flaws. The H&S policy doesn't have these kinds of ramifications. All it really says is "We care about health and safety and in general terms this is how we go about it." That's something a solicitor can't help you with.

Making sure your H&S documentation is good enough is your job, I'm afraid - but if you are anxious or unsure, there is lots of help available, here or elsewhere. It could be useful to make contact with your counterparts in similar organisations - some sectors have groups that meet up regularly to discuss common issues and that can be very helpful in seeing what you need to do.

As far as I know the only insurance employers all must legally have is employer's liability insurance. That only covers compensation for employees who are injured or made unwell through work. It is possible that the policy has some add-ons for employees who get into legal difficulties - but it doesn't have to.

Best of luck in your new role but with all due respect should not a H&S manager know the answers to such questions?

Double check your employers legal and insurance cover as if in doubt/ in a problem situation the employers insurers and legal people will always work for the employer and not U the employee