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Continual Improvement to a Company H&S Policy
Rank: Forum user 
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Under the banner of 'continual improvement', i'm reviewing the companys 10 page H&S policy.
At present its split in to two, a 'statement of intent' and 'arrangements'.
I'm pretty sure nobody reads this policy given its size. My belief is that if we have a one or two page policy it will be read, but the problem i have is what do i do with the arrangements section?.
Having reviewed this section, all its points are covered within our safety management system.
Do i need to leave the arrangements section within the policy itself or can i disregard this, given its covered elsewhere?.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I think you're right to want to shorten it. I would use the policy to state that there is a safety management system and briefly explain what it consists of (eg any standard it is designed against) and where it is documented.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Morning Geezer,
We have one page of General Statement, and all that does is commit the senior management to providing the top-level support for H&S and contains a coupe of comments about everybody having H&S duties as part of their work etc. Then there is a much longer Statement of organisation, which goes through the Charity tier by tier and lists specific duties against each level of post. There is a guidance document to this which explains the techncal language and explains some of the resources and processes people will need. The rest is all various statements of arrangements, which we call Policies and Procedures, but they aren't really, it's just the way our written controls process works,
John
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Rank: Forum user
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My thoughts entirely John. A one/two page document refering to the companys commitment, signed by the MD, but backed up elswhere with the arrangements of who does what.
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Rank: Forum user
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We have a one page EHS Policy Statement that outlines briefly what the company does, that we operate an EHS management system, how the company will ensure compliance to relevent legislation and targets for improvement. This is signed by the CEO.
To back this up we have an EHS policy document that outlines EHS responsibilities at all levels within the company and another EHS Rules policy document.
The Policy Statement is a 'public' document that is displayed in all our buildings. The other 2 documents form part of the EHS Management System and are available to all employees via the company intranet.
As part of induction to the company all new starters are also issued with a copy of the Policy Statement.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Improvement does not always mean to shorten something! Making it better improves it but today people are obsessed with shortening / cutting things
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Rank: Forum user
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I wouldnt disagree Bob but the fact no one reads the 10 page document now in use tells me we have to approach the subject in a different way.
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Rank: Super forum user
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1 way to approach the subject is to take each heading and put it into a 'tool box talk' program - hence staff will get to know the contents of the policy
If an undertaking actually interfaces with a law etc it needs to be shown somewhere just how you manage that area - a single sheet of paper can give you the policy statement for many subjects as well as management and employees duties and expected actions all at the same time as well as providing references as to where the detail is
On looking at many systems I try to evaluate 1 against another and usually find that its acceptable for QA, HR and other systems to be miles deep in paper but its always the paperwork for H&S that is seen as too clumbersome [until you get to court that is]
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Rank: Forum user
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Good idea about the tool box talks Bob. The legal side of things H&S wise i think we are covered, we have a seperate procedure documented for risk assesments for example and a good way of communicating this is via the old TBT. For our drugs and alcohol policy we have a one page policy supported by a guidelines reference document along with documented procedures for monitoring and testing. This seems to work well as everyone is aware of whats expected of them.
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