If you employ anyone you need to display the Health and Safety Law poster as it is a legal requirement for employers to make sure their employees are notified of information relating to general requirements, duties and so on under health and safety law.
Information must be provided on the local contact details of the relevant health and safety enforcing authority and the Health and Safety Executive Employment Advisory Service.
The Health and Safety Law poster contains three sections that need to be completed:
Employee Representative(s)
This box is for a representative that has been appointed/elected by the employees, either under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee regulations 1977(if the workplace has a trade union) or the Consultation with Employee Regulations 1996, (if there is no union represented).
If there is no one who has been appointed/elected by the employees and the employer consults directly with the employees, then this box is left blank.
Management Representative
This box is for the person appointed by the employer for health and safety, (i.e. health and safety officer). The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, Regulation 7 states that "Every employer shall, appoint one of more competent persons to assist him in undertaking the measures he need to take to comply with the requirements imposed upon him by the regulations". This could be the employer themselves, depending on the size and structure of the business, and if the employer has the relevant training and experience.
Enforcing Authority
Your enforcing authority for health and safety depends on the type of business you conduct. In deciding who is your enforcing authority, you need to consider the type of workplace you are employed in.
We are responsible for enforcing health and safety in offices, retail shops, hotels, retail warehouses (excludes those that are part of a factory or wholesalers of hazardous substances). For further information please contact the consumer protection team
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforces health and safety in hospital and nursing homes, factories, building site, construction sites and large printers, incidents on public roads, and footpaths etc.
