A health and safety checklist summarises everything you need to have covered to stay compliant with health and safety legislation. Performing regular inspections using compliance checklists (daily, weekly or monthly) prevents accidents at work and helps maintain a safer work environment for both staff and customers. This also helps protect your business during EHO inspections which is why health and safety checklists are a compliance management tool used by thousands of hospitality venues across the UK.
There are 5 key areas that make up and effective health and safety checklist. These key areas must be covered and clearly documented to remain compliant within your pub or restaurant. This can be a relatively big task to tackle
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The definition of a risk assessment is; an industry standard process that involves identifying hazards, who might be at risk, and how hazards are managed to mitigate risk. It's a way to assess risks and ensure measures are in place to decrease the likelihood of harm.
You can learn more about ‘what is a risk assessment?’ by reading our blog on the topic which goes into more detail around the risk assessment process
Your risk assessments should cover as many potential hazards as possible to ensure a safe working environment. Some areas to consider are;
Hopefully, not something that you will need to regularly deal with, incident reporting is an important part of both the compliance, and the risk assessment process.
Reviewing accurately documented incidents can be especially useful in identifying risks you may not have considered, improving your risk assessment management process. Adequate incident reports can also help with formalities such as insurance claims for mishaps like property damage, or personal injury.
Every business has a set of policies staff need to be aware of but this goes further than simple dress codes or staff codes of conduct. There are set rules and procedures that must be followed to maintain a good standard of compliance. Some of these policies include;
With a lack of experience comes more risk so it's integral young people are not expected to;
As an employer you must consider:
As a venue that serves alcohol you must:
Most accidents happen within the kitchen due to how many risks staff are exposed to. It's important that you have risk assessments in place to minimise the chances of something going wrong.
You must consider;
Food safety is one of the most important areas of health and safety if you run a restaurant or food serving pub. If someone gets sick it can leave you liable and tarnish the reputation of your venue.
With the rise of covid this has become increasingly important, all staff should wash their hands regularly, especially if handling food or after emptying bins.
If anyone in the Kitchen is feeling unwell you must send them home to avoid passing it onto customers.
You must be vigilant when it comes to pest control. Look out for signs of pests like mice which can carry diseases and contaminate food.
You can avoid pests by:
If you do find signs of pests, there are various things you can do. Setting up mouse traps can be a starting point, zbut if you keep noticing signs of pests it might be smart to contact a pest control expert.
The equipment that you use must be in good working order, from the knives being sharp to clean deep fat fryers. By performing maintenance checks you can ensure everything is running smoothly and your kitchen staff have all the tools they need to perform their duties effectively and safely. You can maintain your equipment for longer with regular cleaning and the timely replacement of broken parts.
We understand how much goes into compliance management. That's why we have created a tool that helps you manage compliance more effectively. Focusing on measurable metrics that provides full visibility of your business no matter how many venues. Learn more about our solution to compliance management or try our compliance software for free today!
