Retail One Pager Sector - Useful Health & Safety
Information
Why H&S is important to this sector
Retail is an important and dynamic sector, contributing greatly
to the British economy by employing nearly 11% of the working
population (some 3 million people) and contributing approximately
6% of GDP. It is a wide ranging and varied sector covering anything
from confectionary to construction equipment.
Situation where you might need H&S support
Health and Safety is about sensible, proportionate actions that
protect people, not unnecessary bureaucracy. As well as to your own
employees, you also have duties towards contractors, customers and
members of the public who visit your premises and even others who
may be affected by your business such as neighbours and other
workpeople.
Actions you may need to take
- Ensure you hold Employers Liability Insurance and display the
certificate in a public area
- Make sure you have someone competent to help you meet your
health and safety duties
- Decide how you're going to manage health and safety within your
business
- Decide what could harm people and what precautions you need to
take. Typical hazards in retail could include:-
- Slips, trips and falls – ensuring the retail area is safe for
your staff and customers. Ensure layout is conducive the safe
access and egress.
- Manual Handling – your staff will need to lift and carry items
and these could be quite substantial. Some lifting could be
mechanised.
- Falls from Height – your staff will need to access stock items
from high shelves or racking.
- Violence and Aggression – sadly retail staff are customer
facing which occasionally means they may be exposed to verbal abuse
or in extreme cases actual violence.
- Provide health and safety training to your workers
- Display the health and safety law poster
- Report certain work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous
occurrences
RBS
Mentor can help you
with all of these aspects – be it through auditing your current
documents, liaising with and supporting your appointed Competent
Person, providing 24/7 advice or providing training.
Result of doing/Not doing something
Health and safety laws in retail will generally be enforced by
an enforcement officer from your local council. Enforcement
officers are legally empowered to
- Visit workplaces without notice
- Investigate accidents or complaints and inspect safety, health
and welfare aspects of your business
- Talk to employees and safety representatives, take photographs
and samples
- Receive co-operation and answers to questions
If there is a problem, they may issue a formal notice requiring
improvements or, where serious danger exists, a notice that
prohibits the use of a process or equipment. For the most serious
breaches of health and safety law, they may prosecute a firm or an
individual (or report to the Procurator Fiscal with a view to
prosecution in Scotland).
RBS
Mentor can support
you in ensuring you workplace is safe and complies with
legislation. By helping you instil a safety culture through
providing the correct documentation and working with your staff to
get them confident about Risk Assessments, as well as supporting
you with a 24/7 advice line, you can be confident you are in the
best position to keep your workers safe.