Preparing Safety Statements

Effective health and safety training underpins the preventive approach in the 1989 Act and other health and safety legislation. Employers must provide their employees with the instruction and training necessary to ensure their health and safety. There are specific training obligations for employees involved in the safety consultation and safety representation processes. Health and safety training must form part of the training of all people who work at the workplace.

The law requires employers to prepare a Safety Statement and carry out risk assessments, but it has a practical purpose. This is to help manage employees' health and safety, to get the balance right between the size of any health and safety problems and what must have to do about them.

Preparing and implementing a Safety Statement and keeping it up to date is the most important step in managing health and safety within a business. This will not in itself prevent accidents and ill health at the workplace. But by making a commitment to promoting safety and health and specifying the health and safety measures and resources being provided, the Safety Statement plays a vital part in the implementation of health and safety policies.