Safety Hazards

Audit and Inspection

From a procedure that isn’t being executed properly to a policy or risk assessment that’s out of date, we can conduct a thorough examination of your premises, practices and procedures to identify and remedy any areas where you’re exposed.

What form does the audit take?

There are a number of different models and templates for conducting health and safety audits. Most commonly, and the approach we adopt at Ellis Whittam, is what’s known as a General Risk Assessment (GRA). This is a systematic examination of your workplace to identify possible causes of harm, the likelihood and severity of that harm occurring given the safeguards already in place, and any further control measures needed to reduce risk to as low a level as is “reasonably practicable”.

Will you just provide a report of the issues identified?

No. The report will provide clear solutions and recommendations to address particular areas of concern. Unlike some providers, we won’t insert default ‘corrective action required’ responses unless it is absolutely clear what you need to do; we edit to provide clarity. Plus, if you have any questions or concerns, your dedicated Health & Safety Consultant will be more than happy to assist.

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Advice Line

Whether you need a steer on risk assessment or help unpacking legislation, with our unlimited advice line support, you can relieve the pressures of regulatory compliance and dramatically reduce risk.

Who will I be advised by?

At Ellis Whittam, we’re big believers in a personal approach. That’s why we assign each of our clients a named consultant, with who will become your main point of contact for advice, guidance and support on all health and safety matters. If you take up our full Health & Safety service, your consultant will also be the one to conduct your health and safety audit and produce your policy and handbook. This means you’ll receive consistent advice from a dedicated expert who truly understands your organisation’s safety system, arrangements and goals.

How do I know I’m getting good advice?

All of our consultants are professionally qualified to a minimum of NEBOSH level, with 95% having achieved Grad IOSH status or higher. They also have strong commercial acumen, extensive practical experience in supporting similar businesses with their compliance, and the knowledge and technical ability to help you develop sensible, proportionate solutions to all your health and safety challenges.

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Risk Assessment

Whether you’re looking for a full health and safety audit or a task-specific risk assessment, our experts can take a systematic look at your premises and practices and work with you to ensure safety and compliance.

Is a risk assessment a legal requirement?

Yes. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, all employers, regardless of size or sector, must undertake a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of the health and safety of risks their employees are exposed to while at work, as well as the risks to any non-employees (customers, visitors, contractors, etc.) who may be affected by their activities. If you employ five or more employees, it is a legal requirement to keep a written record of your assessment and significant findings.

If you’re not sure where to begin with risk assessment, we can help you ensure they and properly conducted, documented and kept up to date as part of our fixed-fee Health & Safety service.

Can you do risk assessments for particular pieces of machinery?

If, for example, the audit we’ve conducted for you (or that you’ve conducted yourself) has revealed a number of items of machinery that you haven’t completed risk assessments on, we could support you with this as an additional piece of work outside of our core service. The same applies to risk assessments for lots of hazardous substances, or a large workplace with interactions between moving vehicles and pedestrians. In these cases, we can discuss this as an additional fee, or you can download and modify a particular risk assessment from our Knowledge Hub (included as part of our core Health & Safety service), which we will then review for you free of charge.

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Investigating Accidents and Incidents

From advice on RIDDOR reporting requirements to serious accident and emergency support, take the stress and uncertainty out of health and safety incidents with our personalised, Health & Safety service.

Can you provide an accident investigation template?

Yes. Our fixed-fee Health & Safety service gives you full access to an extensive library of expert-created templates and helpful guidance notes available through our Knowledge Hub. This includes an accident investigation template, which you can complete and share with your consultant, who will help to make sure it contains everything it needs to (and nothing it shouldn’t).

Can you help us to prepare an accident investigation report?

Yes. This can be tricky to get right, especially as once you reach conclusions and set out the actions you have taken, the document is disclosable to the other side in the event of a personal injury claim or prosecution. We’ll help you stick to the facts, keep opinion separate, and make sure the report is presented in a way that protects your best interests.

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Legal Expenses Insurance

For many employers, a six-figure penalty will have a significant impact. An optional element of our fixed-fee Health & Safety support, our FCA-regulated Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI) can bring you peace of mind during the most difficult of times.

What happens if there’s an accident in our workplace? Is it likely we will be fined?

Normally, an accident in the workplace will trigger an inspection by a regulator. If they have taken an interest, you’re part way to some sort of enforcement action being taken. This might not always be an improvement or prohibition notice; it may be a caution and notice of being taken to court, the cost of which can be significant.

What does your LEI?

In brief, our Health & Safety LEI covers legal representation, including in court, to defend you against prosecution; appealing against the serving of an improvement or prohibition notice, and protection in the event of any Fee For Intervention (FFI) charges from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), including initial representation. If a case goes to court, we will support you with the highest quality representation and present the strongest possible defence.

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