Hello all I am just about to do my final NEBOSH exam that will give me a National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, being a new to the industry I could really do with some guidance from you all?? I work for a small fuel company that supplies Gas, Wood, Coal etc.. to local households and business, once I am qualified I will be taking on the role of health and safety manager for the company. The business has been established for many years and has never really had health and safety as a priority, generally things are not that bad as the staff are pretty competent and sensible but from a legal and compliance perspective there are issues to deal with. The problem I face is having to build a complete health and safety system from scratch as the current set up is just not good enough, I cant see this as being a huge issue except I am worried I may miss something important. does anybody know of a check list that will help me get this done without missing and important parts?? any other advice is always welcome regards Quants

IOSH produced a helpful guide called 'Systems in Focus' - it goes through the major safety systems businesses use and can give you a heads up as how best to go about both choosing a good system and how best to implement. Given you say your a small'ish business some of the systems outlined might be a little OTT, but its worth a look if not just from a CPD perspective! http://www.iosh.co.uk/~/...Systems%20in%20focus.pdf As RayRapp says, a simple list of the regs which your work falls under would be a good start in order to populate a checklist. Good luck!

Quants I see that your company supplies gas- if you haven't already done so, you may need to look at the carriage of dangerous goods regulations. http://www.legislation.g.../2009/1348/made/data.pdf Good luck and have fun! Andy

My tips: Be aware of overload - there is a lot to look at - but much can be read up on later as you refine systems. Clarify first what it will look like when it's finished: A comprehensive large manual or collection of everything? (not advised) An intranet based selective for single topic guidance for managers? (small companies may not have this) Guidance by topic? Guidance by area / activity? Guidance segregated for managers, employees, or all together? It wont be perfect straight off – that’s fine, keep revising / reviewing with consultation and feedback (your monitoring role). Keep it as simple as possible. My absolute tip is to look at the HSE 'Farmwise'. This is a 74 page template of really good design, structure and relevant (to farms!) content, but if you were to follow this pattern you won't go far wrong. Remember – you don’t own the safety system or policy – you draft it for the organisation to take on.

Sadlass's last point is a very important one to keep I mind. I was in a similar situation to you a while back and made the mistake of trying to write, own and run the whole management system. The result was that if it had safety written at the top it was assumed to be my problem to sort. It took a gentle point raised at the company board meeting to sort it out in the end and push ownership of safety onto the line managers where it belongs. Good luck with it and feel free to drop any questions on here. I've found this board one of the most valuable resources at my disposal.