Are you doing what you need to do?

This part of the site gives you, as leaders, owners, trustees and line managers, examples of evidence to look for when deciding if you are doing what you need to do to manage for health and safety effectively. It will help you answer fundamental questions such as:

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your organisation's health and safety performance, and are there any barriers to change?
• How reliable and sustainable for the future are the measures currently in place?
• If your organisation is getting risk control right, why is that? For example, does performance depend on one person's dedication and enthusiasm or is it a key value across the organisation?
• If there are problems, what are the underlying reasons, eg competence, resources, accountability, lack of engagement with the workforce?
• Have you learned from situations where things have gone wrong?

The advice also reflects the areas that the health and safety regulator will consider when assessing the effectiveness of your arrangements.

The examples in the following pages with key areas of 'What it looks like when done effectively' indicate positive health and safety attitudes and behaviours. On the other hand, the examples also cover facets of 'What it looks like when done badly or not at all' as this could indicate underlying cultural issues. 

• Risk profiling
• Leading and managing for health and safety
• Competence
• Worker consultation and involvement