Health & Safety Policy

Purpose of policy

Age Care Bathrooms takes health and safety seriously and is committed to protecting the health and safety of its staff and all those affected by its business activities and attending its premises. This policy is intended to help the employer achieve this by clarifying who is responsible for health and safety matters and what their responsibilities are.

This is a statement of policy only and does not form part of your contract of employment. This policy may be amended at any time by the employer at its absolute discretion. The employer will review this policy at regular intervals to ensure that it is achieving its aims effectively.

Achieving a healthy and safe workplace is a collective task shared between the Employer and staff. This policy and the rules contained in it apply to all staff of the Employer, irrespective of seniority, tenure, and working hours, including all employees and directors.

The Employer is responsible for:

Taking reasonable steps to safeguard the health and safety of staff, people affected by the Employer's business activities, and people visiting its premises.
Identifying health and safety risks and finding ways to manage or overcome them.
Providing a safe and healthy place of work and safe entry and exit arrangements, including during an emergency situation.
Providing and maintaining safe working areas, equipment and systems and, where necessary, appropriate protective clothing.
Providing safe arrangements for the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances.
Providing adequate information, instruction, training and supervision to enable all staff to do their work safely, to avoid hazards and to contribute positively to their own health and safety at work. The Employer will give you the opportunity to ask questions and advise who best to contact if you are unsure about how to carry out your work safely.
Ensuring any health and safety representatives receive appropriate training to carry out their functions effectively.
Providing a health and safety induction and appropriate safety training to your role.
Promoting effective communication and consultation between the Employer and staff concerning health and safety matters.
If an epidemic or pandemic alert is issued, providing instructions, arrangements and advice to staff as to the organisation of business operations and steps to be taken to minimise the risk of infection.
Regularly monitoring and reviewing the management of health and safety at work, making any necessary changes, and bringing those to the attention of all staff.

Overall responsibility for health and safety lies with David Dalton. They have appointed David as the Health and Safety Officer with day-to-day responsibility for health and safety matters.

Any concerns about health and safety matters should be communicated to the Health and Safety Officer.

All staff must:

Take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.
Co-operate with the Health and Safety Officer and the Employer generally to enable compliance with health and safety duties and requirements.
Comply with any health and safety instructions and rules, including instructions on the safe use of equipment.
Keep health and safety issues in the front of their minds and take personal responsibility for the health and safety implications of their own acts and omissions.
Keep the workplace tidy and hazard-free.
Report all health and safety concerns to the Health and Safety Officer promptly, including any potential risks, hazards or malfunctioning of equipment, however minor or trivial they may seem.
Co-operate in the Employer's investigation of any incident or accident which either has led to injury or which, in the Employer's opinion, could have led to injury.
Promptly report any accident at work involving personal injury, however trivial, to the Health and Safety Officer so that details can be recorded in the Accident Book. They must also cooperate with any associated investigation.
Familiarise themselves with the instructions about what to do if there is a fire, which are available from the Health and Safety Officer.
Ensure they know the location of fire extinguishers, fire exits and alternative ways of leaving the building in an emergency.
Comply with the instructions of fire wardens if there is a fire, suspected fire or fire alarm (or a practice drill for any of these scenarios).
Co-operate in fire drills and take them seriously (ensuring that any visitors to the building do the same). Fire drills will be held at least once every 12 months.
Ensure that fire exits, fire notices or emergency exit signs are not obstructed or hidden at any time.
Notify the Health and Safety Officer immediately of any circumstances (for example, impaired mobility) which might hinder or delay evacuation in a fire. This will allow the Health and Safety Officer to discuss a personal evacuation plan for you, which will be shared with the fire wardens and colleagues working near to you.

On discovering a fire, all staff must:

Immediately trigger the nearest fire alarm and, if time permits, call and notify the location of the fire.
Attempt to tackle the fire ONLY if they have been trained or otherwise feel competent to do so. Nominated members of staff will be trained in the use of fire extinguishers.

On hearing the fire alarm, all staff must:

Remain calm and immediately evacuate the building, walking quickly without running and following any instructions of the fire wardens.
Leave without stopping to collect personal belongings.
Remain out of the building until notified by a fire warden that it is safe to re-enter.

Age Care Bathrooms takes into account fire hazards in the workplace and undertakes a fire risk assessment. All employees have a duty to conduct their operations in such a way as to minimise the risk of fire. Site Supervisors are responsible for keeping their operating areas safe from fire, ensuring that their staff are trained in proper fire prevention practices and emergency procedures. Combustible materials are to be kept separate from sources of ignition and not allowed to build up.

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015)

Contractors and the workers under their control are most at risk of injury and ill health from construction work. Contractors therefore have an important role in planning, managing and monitoring their work to ensure any risks are controlled.

Contractors on all projects must:

make sure the client is aware of the client duties under CDM 2015 before any work starts
plan, manage and monitor all work carried out by themselves and their workers, taking into account the risks to anyone who might be affected by it (including members of the public) and the measures needed to protect them
check that all workers they employ or appoint have the skills, knowledge, training and experience to carry out the work, or are in the process of obtaining them
make sure that all workers under their control have a suitable, site-specific induction, unless this has already been provided by the principal contractor
provide appropriate supervision, information and instructions to workers under their control
ensure they do not start work on site unless reasonable steps have been taken to prevent unauthorised access
ensure suitable welfare facilities are provided from the start for workers under their control, and maintain them throughout the work

Where a contractor is the only contractor working on a project, they must ensure a construction phase plan is drawn up before setting up the site.

When working as the only contractor for a domestic client, the contractor takes on the client duties, as well as their own as contractor. However, this should involve them doing no more than they would normally do to comply with health and safety law.

Where a domestic project involves more than one contractor, the principal contractor normally takes on the client duties and the contractor will work for the principal contractor as 'client'. If the domestic client does not appoint a principal contractor, the role of the principal contractor must be carried out by the contractor in control of the construction phase, who also takes on the client duties. Alternatively, the domestic client can ask the principal designer to take on the client duties (this must be confirmed in a written agreement), and the contractor must work to them as 'client' under CDM 2015.

Training

All employees will be given training appropriate to their responsibilities. Training will be provided for the following situations:

Induction training for new employees (health and safety awareness, company procedures etc.).
The introduction or modification of new or existing machinery or technology.
A change in employee position, work activity or responsibility.

Specific training will be provided for work with hazardous substances, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), manual handling, work at height etc. Any training provided by Age Care Bathrooms will be formally recorded with a hard copy kept on file. A programme of continual professional development and refresher training will be undertaken to keep employees up to date with legislation and industry best practice.

Staff consultation

Age Care Bathrooms plan to meet their duties under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996. Consultation will take place through memos, emails, briefings, toolbox talks and formal staff meetings. Age Care Bathrooms will communicate and consult with all employees on the following issues:

The content of the policy.
Any rules specific to a site or job.
Changes in legislation or working best practice.
The planning of health and safety training.
The introduction or alteration of new work equipment or technology.

Welfare provision

Staff will have access to adequate welfare facilities, including at a minimum toilet and washing facilities and rest areas. An agreement has been made with the Client or Principal Contractor to use their facilities where this is relevant. Age Care Bathrooms will ensure that adequate welfare facilities in compliance with Schedule 2 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 are provided from the start of the construction phase.

Accident reporting and investigation

All accidents MUST be reported to your Site Supervisor and the details recorded in the accident book. Serious accidents where hospital treatment is required must be reported to the Health and Safety Co-ordinator / Representative as soon as possible after the incident.

The Company intends to comply with the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013 by reporting the following:

Deaths
Specified injuries
Injuries which have caused over seven days' incapacitation.

The Company will investigate the causes of an accident in order to:

determine the cause(s) with a view to preventing a recurrence
gather information for use in any criminal or civil proceedings
confirm or refute a claim for industrial injury benefit
prepare any notification to be made to the Health and Safety Executive

The aim of the investigation will be to seek to answer the following questions:

WHAT caused the accident?
WHO was involved?
WHEN did it occur?
WHY did it occur?
HOW could it have been prevented?
HOW can a recurrence be prevented?

First aid

Adequate first aid provision will be made at every place of work occupied by Age Care Bathrooms. First aid boxes can be obtained from Age Care Bathrooms and are placed in all vans, regularly stocked and kept in date as needed.

Asbestos management

Clear details of any survey undertaken of the Company's work premises, and of how it manages the condition of asbestos containing materials (ACMs), will be maintained.

Staff will receive annual asbestos awareness training and be confident in knowing what they should do if they believe they have come across ACMs.

Risk assessments and manual handling

Risk assessments are essentially a careful examination of what in the workplace could cause harm to people. The Employer will assess any risks and consider measures to best minimise any risk. The Employer will carry out general workplace risk assessments when required or as reasonably requested by staff. Managers must ensure that any necessary risk assessments take place and the resulting recommendations are implemented. The Health and Safety Officer is responsible for workplace risk assessments and any measures to control risks.

Guidance on manual handling (for example, lifting and carrying heavy objects) can be obtained from the Health and Safety Officer and, where necessary, training will be provided by the Employer, but the Employer will try to minimise or avoid the need for manual handling where there is a risk of injury.

Any breach of health and safety rules or failure to comply with this policy will be taken very seriously.

PPE provision

PPE will be issued free of charge to employees as and when necessary for work activities. Training will be provided for employees on the safe use, storage and maintenance of the relevant equipment before issue. Employees have a legal duty to wear PPE as specified in relevant site rules, risk assessments and method statements. Any defects or malfunction of PPE must be reported to the Health and Safety Officer.

The control of substances hazardous to health

Before any hazardous substances are used during a work process, a material safety data sheet (MSDS) will be requested from the supplier and an appropriate assessment of the risks from that substance will be undertaken by the Health and Safety Co-ordinator / Representative, in line with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002. Alternative, less harmful substances will be used wherever possible. Assessments will consider storage, handling, how the substance is used, the quantity used, the routes and level of exposure, PPE requirements, workers' health, and emergency actions.

Supervisors will brief staff on any hazard or substance precautions, with written records kept in an accessible location within each department. Health surveillance will be provided where determined as appropriate in the COSHH assessment.

Signed: S Davies (Director)

Date: 10/12/25