Law Poster

It has come to light on some of the recent training courses we deliver that many people are unaware that it is a legal requirement to display the Health and safety law poster at every place of work unless alternative means of providing this information can be used. Traditionally these alternative methods have included either a leaflet or some sort of card but in the age of digital media wouldn’t a good step to achieving this be to create a PDF copy of the Poster and forward it to all employees to keep with them on their smart phones (let’s face it, these are attached to all of our hips these days so there’s no excuse not to have it available). To follow up on this procedure why not carry out a simply employee briefing to clarify any questions they have on the points covered on the poster.

The term every workplace really does mean, EVERY whether that be a construction suite, office, retail unit or even a fast food outlet, they are all workplaces and they need to have this information freely available.

The health and safety law poster, what’s that I hear you ask? So what actually is it? The poster (see picture below)

contains the very basic information of what all parties engaged in work must do to comply with health and safety legislation. This information is aimed at employees so they know what his/her employer should be providing for them but also what they as employees are legally bound to do to when carrying out works. In my experience this is an area in which many employees are failing, it is a common slogan for many companies the ‘DON’T WALK BY’ policy but it is actually more than that, each employee has this responsibility under H&S Law and most don’t realise or apply it.

The posters final section gives information to the employee on what to do should they have a query or issue with regards to H&S. There is a contact number for the HSE to report significant failings in HS and also contact details for the HS representative of the employer, this could be the most senior member within the organisation i.e the MD or perhaps the HS department or if these entities do not exist or aren’t suitably qualified in HS then the details of and independent HS advisor will be required.