Function

• A health and safety policy sets out the general approach and objectives for managing safety and health considerations for every business or organization. It also covers the arrangements the organization has put in place to maintain the desired objectives. Every health and safety policy should say who does what jobs in the organization, when they do them and how the jobs are performed. It spells out the safe way to get work accomplished.
  
  

Benefits

• Workplaces that have a written health and safety policy can reduce the chance of accident and injury. By considering the possible health risks at the workplace, an organization can take steps to reduce problems. Organizations that do not have a proper set of procedures in place may have more accidents, or they may have problems deciding what to do in the event of a workplace injury. Even very small companies can benefit from a written set of procedures to improve workplace health and safety.
  
  

Features

• Most health and safety policies have three basic parts. The first is the statement of intent -- the part which tells readers the organization's intent in writing the policies. The second includes organization details, such as who is responsible for safety and health concerns at a given company. The last part is the arrangements section, which covers how the main hazards at a given workplace should be controlled.
  
  

Considerations

• Health and safety policies should be written down, but do not need to be extremely complex or take a long time. In fact, policies that are more readable are the most effective -- a health and safety document that staff members have trouble reading and understanding is less likely to be obeyed. Employers may wish to base their documents off of existing sample policies, which provide guidelines to help them get started.
  
  

Warning

• Health and safety policies are only effective if employees follow them. They should be reviewed for effectiveness on an annual basis, or even more often. Reviews should also occur whenever work processes, equipment, employees or work locations change. An out of date health and safety policy could cause significant problems and increase risk.