Health & Safety – could you be tripped up by the SRA Standards and Regulations?

Our most recent webinar focused on health and safety obligations within law firms and how they interact with the SRA Standards & Regulations (STaRs). For example, ignoring health and safety obligations could be seen by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) as lacking integrity and failing to act in a way that upholds the public trust and confidence.

What are some of the key health and safety challenges faced by law firms?

We have spoken to some of our customers about the health and safety challenges they have faced, and they had quite a few, including a lack of understanding about their health and safety obligations, a lack of time to deal with anything that is non-fee earning, a lack of understanding about what risk assessments they need to carry out and getting staff to undertake meaningful and engaging health and safety training.

Subject to the size of your business (smaller firms may not have to meet certain requirements) here are some of the obligations you may have under health and safety legislation:

• Appoint a competent person to oversee health and safety – in light of the SRA’s focus on Compliance Officers for Legal Practice (COLP) overseeing all aspects of compliance it makes sense for them to fill this role
  
  
• Health and safety policy – this must be in place, publicised, reviewed, and updated as appropriate
  
  
• First aid – appoint appropriately trained first-aiders, supply first aid equipment, and inform staff about first-aid arrangements
  
  
• Health & safety law poster – ensure one of these is displayed in a public place
  
  
• Risk assessments – make sure these are carried out as appropriate (fire, H&S, display screen, etc.)
  
  
• Consult staff – especially if they are working from home
  
  
• Training and information – ensure staff are appropriately trained and provided with relevant information
  
  
• Workplace facilities – ensure these are provided as appropriate
  
  
• Reporting – report workplace injuries, etc., as required under RIDDOR.

 

Examples of health and safety risks 

Here are some examples of health and safety risks you may need to consider:

• Tripping over obstructions (files, cables, old carpets)
  
  
• Lifting heavy boxes of files
  
  
• Fire due to large amounts of paper in the office
  
  
• Display screen issues
  
  
• Assault by clients
  
  
• Falling downstairs
  
  
• Car accidents whilst on company business.

Working from home has now become widespread, so you need to take account of this; the obligations that relate to office-based working also relate to home working. This means you will need to consider carrying out risk assessments and reduce any identified area of risk; this will be easier said than done in the current climate so it will be for your health and safety officer and their fellow managers to take a view on this; it may be more appropriate to look at risks from a higher level rather than on an individual basis (make sure you document what you decide/do just in case regulators ask). Remember - you are only responsible for safety around equipment the firm has provided and not that belonging to employees.

If you require staff to use their private cars for business purposes you must ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy and taxed, MOT tested (if appropriate), and insured for business use. You will also need to ensure that drivers will not drink/drug drive, use handheld mobile devices whilst driving, drive whilst tired.

Health and safety is a key part of running a successful business, so make sure you give it enough time and focus!

We are here to help you and can provide a number of products/services that can be used remotely:

• Health & Safety eLearning training
  
  
• Risk and compliance management system
  
  
• eLearning training library with over 500 courses
  
  
• Policies & procedures of bank
  
  
• Health & safety management system
  
  
• Risk & compliance advisory services

There is further helpful information about remote working in our blogs and social channels, and useful eLearning and Health & Safety courses here including:

• Remote Working

• Managing Virtual Teams

• Remote Health & Safety

Contact us to find out more.