Your responsibilities for health, safety and the environment

Checklist: protecting health, safety and the environment

Here are some of the key steps you need to take to meet your legal obligations to protect employee and customer health and safety. You also have a legal responsibility to limit your impact on the environment. Make sure you:

• Register for health and safety with your local authority or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) if necessary. See our guide on how to register for health and safety.
• Conduct a risk assessment. See our guide on risk assessment - an overview.
• Consider how your business and its activities affect employee health and safety as part of this assessment. See our guide on occupational health and welfare: an overview.
• Include an assessment of the use of hazardous substances in your business and how you can minimise risks. See our guide on how to manage harmful substances safely.
• Find out what environmental regulations affect your business. You can check environmental regulations applying to your sector on the NetRegs website.
• Conduct an environmental audit of your business to see what you need to do to comply with the law and how you could minimise waste. See our guide on how to manage waste, pollution and effluent.
• Get the right insurance. See our guide on liability insurance.
• Provide the right information to employees and visitors - for example, through training, operating procedures and signage. See our guide on how to communicate your health and safety procedures.
• Put in place equipment and procedures to minimise the dangers of fire. See our guide on fire safety and risk assessment.
• Put in place adequate first-aid facilities and appropriate accident and incident procedures. See our guide on how to record and report an accident, incident or near miss.
• Prepare a health and safety policy including key information and procedures. If you have five or more employees, this must be in writing. Read about health and safety policies on the HSE website.

Get information on health and safety issues affecting businesses in Northern Ireland at the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) website or contact the HSENI Enquiry Line on Tel 0800 0320 121.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Comply with key health and safety rules
• Comply with key environmental rules
• Who ensures that health and safety and environmental law is being complied with?
• Do I need to license or register my business?
• Make sure your business is properly insured
• Substances covered by health, safety and environmental law
• Activities covered by health and safety laws
• Maintain high standards of occupational health
• Health, safety and the environment in specific sectors
• Checklist: protecting health, safety and the environment
• Here's how my business approaches health and safety issues