What are Safety Inspections?

Regular spot-checks of your workplace to make sure all obvious hazards have been fully-covered by your safe systems of work; and that your workforce is actually adhering to your safe-working practices.

Why bother?

Apart from helping cover your legal responsibilities, regular safety inspections will also help minimise your level of accidents (with all that means in terms of hassle & consequential loss), and show your workforce you're serious about health & safety.

How often?

Most businesses undertake checks at about three-monthly intervals, perhaps concentrating on one or two activities/aspects of your business each time; so that the whole of your business is covered at least once every twelve months (but more frequently for high-risk activities).

Why use Diamond?

Perhaps because you're short on in-house resources, or perhaps because you feel a fresh pair of eyes might spot things that you and your team haven't noticed.

What exactly are Safety Audits?

A bit like a quality audit, a safety audit is a systematic check of one of your written safe systems-of-work. The general process is to 'walk-through' your procedures, to ensure that your safe system-of-work is:

• in-place.
• appropriate to the tasks being undertaken.
• accessible to your workforce and (if appropriate) other site visitors.

and that your workforce:

• is aware of the procedures.
• know where to find information should they need it.
• do adhere to those procedures.

Why bother?

Because things change. Your safe system of work may have been fine at the time it was devised, but even quite minor changes at the sharp end (e.g. new equipment, different materials or even the layout of the workplace) could be making it irrelevant or even unworkable now.

How often?

That's a judgement that depends on the risks involved. If you have high-risk activities in your business, then we'd advise you to audit those at least once every twelve months.

Why use Diamond?

Perhaps because you want reassurance that your critical safety systems are up to scratch, and you'd rest easier if someone took an independent look.

What's a Risk Assessment?

An assessment - in writing - of the hazards & risks posed to your workforce (and to anyone else for that matter) by every aspect of your business; together with a plan of what must be done to bring those risks down to acceptable levels.

Why bother?

Well first of all because its a 'must do' under safety legislation! But beyond that, these Risk Assessments will form the bedrock upon which all of your safe systems of work will be built.

How often?

Once written, most of your Risk Assessments will only need a quick check every twelve months or so, just to make sure that they still reflect the actual situation in the workplace.

Why use Diamond?

Because we have already written (literally) hundreds of Risk Assessments for clients. By writing Risk Assessments specific to your business, but based on those already on-file, we can provide you with a complete set in a fraction of the time it would take you to write your own from scratch.

 

What are Method Statements?

A overview - in writing - of one of the tasks your workforce undertakes. It will list the main steps in the process and give a summary of any specialist skills your workforce will need and the equipment & materials they will be using.

Why bother?

Because if you don't know how you're going to undertake a task, then you can't undertake a Risk Assessment for that activity.

Beyond that, if you undertake work for customers on their premises, then you'll find that most of them ask for your Method Statements, as proof that you've fully thought-through what you're intending to do, and all of the safety-implications.

How often?

Once written, they only really need updating when how you do things changes. But since changes always seem to creep-up on you, most businesses undertake at least a cursory review every twelve months or so.

Why use Diamond?

To free up your time to get on with the main business of running your company. Using our easy-to-follow template system, we can quickly compile Method Statements for you, leaving you with a format you'll find easy to update when that's necessary.