Occupational / Workplace health and safety policy
The Workplace Health and Safety policy outlines the company’s commitment to ensuring a safe and hazard-free environment for its employees. It details preventative actions, emergency management, and additional measures to promote health and safety, emphasizing the importance of adhering to established guidelines and procedures.
This Occupational / Workplace Health and Safety Policy template is ready to be tailored to your company’s needs and is designed as a starting point for establishing employment policies on occupational health and safety, or OHS. A Workplace Health and Safety Policy may also be referred to as an Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) policy.
This workplace health and safety policy should include:
- Preventative action guidelines, detailing risk assessments, job hazard analysis, and measures to avoid workplace-related injuries or illnesses
- Emergency management provisions, including plans for dealing with sudden catastrophes like fires, floods, and other emergencies
- Additional measures such as updating the policy based on legislative changes, analyzing past incidents, and establishing clear procedures for accident reporting
Occupational / Workplace health and safety policy template
Policy brief & purpose
Our Occupational / Workplace Health and Safety Policy help us preserve the best possible work conditions for our employees. Every employee has a right to feel safe at work. Our company is committed to follow legal standards and create a hazard-free workplace.
Our Occupational / Workplace Health and Safety Policy help us preserve the best possible work conditions for our employees.
Scope
This Occupational / Workplace Health and Safety Policy applies to all prospective and current employees of the company as well as volunteers, contractors and consultants.
Policy elements
There are two aspects to consider when establishing an Occupational / Workplace Health and Safety Program: Preventative Action and Emergency Management.
Preventative action
Preventative action is any action we take to avoid injuries or illness related to workplace conditions.
We’ll conduct periodical risk assessments and job hazard analysis to discover what is likely to harm employees. We’ll establish preventative measures accordingly.
Potential threats and dangerous situations include but are not limited to:
- Performing tasks on heights, scaffolds, ladders and other unsteady structures
- Chemical substances (toxic, flammable etc.)
- Operating dangerous equipment
- Slippery or uneven surfaces
- Electrical infrastructure
- Noise/temperature
- Quality of air
We’ll take the following preventative measures:
- When employees work in dangerous contexts or locations, we’ll make sure there are safety precautions like safety nets and ropes.
- We’ll provide protective gear like gloves, protective uniforms, goggles etc. Using safety equipment is obligatory.
- Inspectors and quality control employees will inspect equipment and infrastructure regularly
- We’ll hold employee training sessions in health & safety standards and procedures.
- All highly dangerous job tasks require at least two employees to be present
- Exposure to chemicals and radiation will not exceed a certain time limit
- Employees who do repairs or cleaning need to put up caution signs
- We’ll prohibit smoking indoors
Also, we’ll enforce a substance abuse policy to protect employees from colleagues’ misconduct.
Emergency Management
Emergency management refers to our plan to deal with sudden catastrophes like fire, flood, earthquake or explosion. These depend on human error or natural forces.
Our emergency management involves the following provisions:
- Functional smoke alarms and sprinklers that are regularly inspected by [maintenance supervisor]
- Technicians (external or internal) available to repair leakages, damages and blackouts quickly
- Fire extinguishers and other fire protection equipment that are easily accessible
- An evacuation plan posted on the walls of each floor and online
- Fire escapes and safety exits that are clearly indicated and safe
- Fully-stocked first-aid kits at convenient locations
We’ll also schedule fire drills and emergency evacuations periodically. We will monitor performance of health and safety procedures and will revise them to ensure higher level of protection.
Additional measures
Our company will also keep abreast of changes and try to promote health & safety actively. We will:
- Update our policy according to changes in occupational health and safety legislation.
- Use incentive actions for health & safety (e.g. presenting safe employee awards.)
- Analyze past incidents to discover what went wrong.
- Establish clear procedures for accident reporting.
- Revise work procedures to make them safer.
Our company will also consult experts or insurance representatives to ensure it complies with local and international standards.
Disciplinary Consequences
Every team leader is responsible for implementing this health and safety policy. Employees should follow health and safety instructions and will be held accountable when they don’t. We’ll take disciplinary action that may extend to termination when employees consistently disregard health and safety rules.
It’s everyone’s responsibility to contribute to a healthy and safe workplace.
| Disclaimer: This policy template is meant to provide general guidelines and should be used as a reference. It may not take into account all relevant local, state or federal laws and is not a legal document. Neither the author nor Workable will assume any legal liability that may arise from the use of this policy. |