Safety procedure

For some tasks you need to provide staff with explicit guidance on how it should be completed safely. To ensure that you cover all points without complicating matters, make sure that your documents are simple and understandable.

Descriptive document

If your staff complete tasks which have an element of risk associated with them, for example using certain machinery, working at height etc., you need to ensure that they know how to complete the job safely. One way of doing this is to provide a procedure. This should detail precisely how the task should be completed. By completing the boxes on our Safety Procedure document, you’ll take the mystery out of the job and spell out what’s expected.

It’s not a risk assessment

This document isn’t a substitute for a risk assessment. Instead, it’s a control measure that should be identified in your risk assessment. The idea is that if staff follow a prescribed system of work, they won’t do anything that’s potentially unsafe, therefore reducing the associated risks.

To remind those completing the work of the associated risks, you should list them in your procedure. You should also add details of any other factors that may affect the safety of those involved; for example, other tasks being completed nearby.

You don’t need a safety procedure for all tasks – one is only required if there are associated risks and you want staff to follow a prescribed safe system of work.