Health and safety responsibilities in your hospitality business.

This article has been written by Pilla Founder, Liam Jones, click to email Liam directly, he reads every email.

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Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 employers have to establish clear lines of responsibility for health and safety within the organisation. A responsibility chart is a key way to meet this requirement as it assigns specific health and safety duties to roles within the business. By outlining these responsibilities clearly each person will know their part in keeping the workplace safe from top to bottom. This structured approach helps accountability, good health and safety management and compliance with the law. Review and update the chart regularly to reflect changes in personnel or business.

In the U.S the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act encourages clear assignment of health and safety responsibilities to roles within the organisation. Although the OSH Act doesn’t require a formal responsibility chart OSHA guidelines do stress the importance of defining roles for good safety management and accountability. Many U.S. businesses use a responsibility chart to outline who is responsible for what safety tasks so each person knows their part in keeping the workplace safe. This aligns with OSHA’s recommendation for structured safety responsibilities and workplace safety culture and compliance.

Create your responsibility chart

The below table lists all of the safety arrangements that should be managed in your business. You should add the name of the job role that will take responsibility for that safety arrangement. It's better to use a job role (like General Manager) rather than somebody's names because it's more consistent over time. 

Safety arrangement****Responsible person First aid(For example General Manager) Accident reporting H&S Training Emergency Lighting Fire Equipment Work Equipment Cuts/Abrasions Workplace facilities PPE Consultation Housekeeping Electrical Chemicals Manual handling Industrial diseases  Dermatitis Stress Drugs and alcohol Display screens Contractors  Violence Slips, trips Signage Noise Lifting equipment Lone working Asbestos Legionella Gas Working at height Working outside Coffee machines Driving