Dear Reader

Welcome to your Labour Bulletin.

Last week I mentioned just how much had been going on in the world of labour law. I touched on a case where a printing company is now facing an enquiry into its health and safety measures...

If it’s found guilty, I shudder to think how much compensation it will have to pay, not to mention the huge penalties! That said, it’ll all be a bit late for the 13 people who died in the accident.

Make sure your employees are safe, and that you won’t ever have to pay the penalty.

You have 9 obligations for health and safety

Know and implement your health and safety obligations:

1. You must provide and maintain systems of work, plant and machinery that are safe and without risk to health.
2. You must take steps to eliminate or lessen any hazard or potential hazard to the safety or health of employees, before resorting to personal protective equipment.
3. You must ensure the production, processing, use, handling, storage or transport of your goods or substances don’t impact on the safety and or create a risk  to your employees’ health.
4. You must find out what the health and safety hazards involved with any work are. Once you have done this, consider what precautionary measures should be taken for these health and safety hazards and implement those precautionary measures.
5. You must provide the information, instructions, training and supervision necessary to ensure the health and safety of your employees at work.

Have a look at Chapter H04 in your Labour Law for Managers handbook for all nine of your health and safety obligations. You need to know them, so if you’re not a subscriber, I suggest you look here.

Until next week

Sarah-Jane Bosch
Managing Editor: Labour Law for Managers Practical Handbook and Practical Guide to Human Resources Management