Safety policies are an important part of a business.
Freepik
Safety policies help your business more than you realise. Has your business got a safety policy in place? Plumbing work can result in injury or illness. A safety policy is in line with the law and one that you need to implement.
In terms of Section 7 of the OHS Act a safety policy must outline the following items:
- A description of the organisation’s scope of operations.
- The objectives and goals of the company’s health and safety system in developing, maintaining and achieving compliance to legislation.
- It must be signed by the CEO of the company.
- It must be conspicuously displayed within the organisation
According to the law, there needs to be one first aider for every 10 or more employees. The Law says the same for plumber as it does for everyone. Where more than 10 employees are employed at a workplace, the employer needs to appoint a first-aider.
In terms of Section 8 the employer has a responsibility to ensure a safe system of work. This is to protect all employees as well as those who might be affected by the company’s operations.
In terms of section 14 all employees need to adhere to the contents of the safety system and are responsible for their own occupational health and safety.
There is no direct law requiring manuals or files to be kept in each van we can use, two things to help us understand what would be practical and safe:
- To be reasonable and practical in terms of section 8. The question comes in would a manual or file such as this serve its purpose in helping to protect the employee and others health and safety?
- The second tool we can use is industry best practice. This means that we acknowledge that the health and safety laws and regulations stipulate only what is the minimum requirement. So naturally a higher standard of health and safety would mean that we implement anything that is necessary and effective in ensuring the health and safety of our organisations, the employees and anyone else.
Plumbers can record any incidents and accidents that require first aid treatment in their organisation. This, along with the OHSS Life Skill or FAL1 manual, as well as the Free IOPSA membership Safety File Template, they can design a bespoke first aid safety manual/procedure for their company.
The current OHS Act 85 of 1993 is undergoing revision in terms of section 7 and it is vital for plumbers and plumbing businesses to know what those changes are going to be – and what their impact will be on the industry as a whole.
